> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://support.parker.work/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Set up an automation > Give Parker a standing job on your inbox, such as drafting replies to customer emails, then preview it, turn it on, edit it, or pause it. Automations are jobs Parker runs on your inbox. It reads new mail, decides which emails match, and drafts replies or tells you about them. You decide what is sent. ## Before you begin [Connect your mailbox](/email/connect-mailbox). Automations work with Outlook and Gmail. ## What is an automation? An automation is a job Parker does when new email arrives. You tell it: * **Which emails** to look out for, in your own words. * **What to do** with them, such as drafting a reply. * **How far it may go**, and **when to tell you**. With **Draft replies**, "Drafts land in your Outlook Drafts. Nothing is ever sent on its own." You send each reply yourself. An automation is different from a [routine](/automate/routines). A routine runs a saved prompt on a schedule. An automation reacts to your incoming email. Automations page listing four automations under Needs you, Running, and Not running, with examples and a preview panel showing When, If, and Then. ## Create an automation Go to **Automations** in the sidebar and select **Create with Parker**. You can also select **New blank** to fill in the form yourself, or pick one of the cards under **Start from an example**. In **What should it do?**, describe the job in a sentence or two. Select **Fill in the form**. Parker names the automation and fills in the form. To try again, change your description and select **Ask again**. If Parker needs a decision from you, it shows **Worth deciding before you save** with a few options. Picking one rewrites the form for you. You can still change every word. Read each field and edit anything that isn't right. The **What Parker will and won't do** box sums up what the automation can do. See [Form fields](#form-fields). Select **Save and preview**. Parker saves the automation, paused, and runs a preview on your recent email. To save without a preview, select **Save as paused**. New automation page with a description, What Parker will and won't do, questions worth deciding, and the filled-in form. ### Form fields | Field | What it sets | | - | - | | **When** | What starts it. **New email arrives** checks your inbox on a schedule, **checked every** 5, 10, 15, 30, or 60 minutes. **Only when I run it** runs only when you select **Run now**. | | **Mailbox** | **Outlook** or **Gmail**. | | **Which emails** | The emails to act on. "Parker decides each email with exactly these words." | | **Only if** | Optional: **The sender is a lead or contact in my Salesforce**, **It has an attachment**, or **Only some senders…**. Out-of-office replies, bounces, and no-reply senders are always skipped. | | **What to do** | What Parker does with each matching email. It's followed with the agent's rules and your sign-off. | | **It may** | **Read and tell me**, **Draft replies**, or **Draft, send when I OK it**. | | **Also** | **Log sent replies to Salesforce, on the lead or contact**, and **Up to** a number of drafts a day. | | **Tell me** | **When it acts** or **Only if it needs me**, and where: **In Parker**, **Push**, or **Email**. | **Writes as** shows which Parker agent writes the drafts, "using its knowledge and rules, in your writing style." See [Writing style](/email/writing-style). Drafts you have not changed move to **Deleted Items** after 7 days. ## Preview and turn it on After you save, the automation's page opens with **Preview · nothing is written**. It shows what the automation would have done with your recent email: how many it **would reply** to, how many were **already answered by you**, and how many it **would pass over**, with a reason for each email. If the preview looks wrong, select **Edit**, change the wording, save, and select **Run preview again**. Preview of a new automation on the last 50 emails: 0 would reply, 0 already answered, 29 would pass over, each with a reason. When you're happy with it, select **Turn on**. As the preview says, "When you turn it on, you choose: also draft the emails from the last 3 days that still need a reply, or start with mail that arrives from then. Nothing is sent either way." ## Check it worked * The automation's badge changes from **Paused** to **Healthy**, and the panel shows **Working normally** and the next check time. * The **Activity** tab lists its checks. * New drafts show up in the **Review** tab, and the **Automations** link in the sidebar shows how many are waiting. See [Review drafts and runs](/automate/reviewing-drafts-and-runs). To run a check straight away, select **Run now**. ## Edit an automation Open the automation and select **Edit**. The form is the same one you used to create it. Make your changes and select **Save**. Saving makes a new version. Drafts already written keep the version that wrote them. The **Setup** tab lists the automation's settings and its **Versions**. Setup tab listing When, Which emails, Only if, It may, What to do, Tell me, and Limits, with writing style, knowledge, and versions. You can also change an automation while you review its drafts. When you revise a draft, choose **This automation** under **Remember this change for**. See [Revise a draft](/automate/reviewing-drafts-and-runs#revise-a-draft). ## Pause, duplicate, or delete * **To pause**, open the automation and select **Pause**. To start it again, select **Turn on**. * **To copy it**, open the **More** (**…**) menu and select **Duplicate**. * **To delete it**, open the **More** (**…**) menu and select **Delete**. Type the automation's name to confirm, and select **Delete**. A deleted automation "stops for good and cannot be restored." What it did stays in your organization's activity log. ## Example descriptions Enter one of these in **What should it do?** and adjust it to your business. When someone asks about booking a table for a large group, draft a reply with our group menu options and ask for their preferred date. Tell me when a person, not a newsletter, asks me a question or needs a decision and I haven't replied yet. ## Troubleshooting Make **Which emails** more specific, including what to skip. You can also teach it from the **Review** tab: on an email it passed over, select **Should have drafted**. See [Review drafts and runs](/automate/reviewing-drafts-and-runs). ## Related Send, revise, or discard what your automations draft. Run a saved prompt on a schedule. Make drafts sound like you. Link Outlook or Gmail so automations can read your email. This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.