Quick Start Guide

Email &
INVAS

Set it up once, then let 1nicorn draft your replies, and move every correspondent one step closer to done.

4 parts
10 minutes
Once setup only

Getting Started · Daily Use · Settings · The Strategy

Welcome

1nicorn relieves you of the daily burden of the inbox. It reads every incoming message, understands where each correspondent stands, and drafts the best next reply for you. Its default posture is simple and safe: drafting only. Nothing is ever sent without you. You review, then send, delete, or improve.

This guide takes about ten minutes. You will do a one-time setup, learn the daily rhythm, tour the settings that keep you fully in control, and see the strategy working underneath it all.

What you'll learn

First-time setup: teach the AI and set the board. Done once, top to bottom.
Daily use: review drafts, handle attachments, sign with your own signature.
Settings tour: segments, time zone, inbox sync, undo, bucket & stage names.
The strategy: the eight stages every reply is written to move forward.
A gentle nudge for later

Some mature 1nicorn users already run hands-off, letting whole segments auto-send. Give it a couple of weeks of confidence first, then graduate a segment when you're ready. 1nicorn awaits you to join the club.

01
Part A

First-Time Setup

A one-time “sign-off” milestone: teach the AI and set the board. Work top to bottom. When you finish, your email is live.

01

Triage every draft on INVAS Email Drafts

Go down the drafts list top to bottom. Send the good ones. Delete the ones you don't want, and mark why. That reason is a lesson: it teaches 1nicorn not to draft that kind again.

Why the “why” matters

Every delete-with-a-reason sharpens the next batch. A few minutes of honest triage now saves you hours later: the drafts you keep will look more like you with each pass.

02

Reclassify correspondents into the right bucket

Open Pipeline, click a name in the left column, choose Re-classify, and pick the right bucket: Customers, Investors, Vendors, Partners (or HR). Correct buckets mean sharper, better-aimed drafts.

Fig 1. Pipeline → click a name in the left column → Re-classify, then choose the correct bucket.
Fig 1 Pipeline → click a name in the left column → Re-classify, then choose the correct bucket.
03

Reclassify each correspondent's engagement stage

The square dot on the lane is where 1nicorn thinks a correspondent stands. Read it, and fix any that are off. This is the single most valuable thing you teach the system.

Click the dot, open the stage list, and set the true stage

Fig 3. Open the stage dropdown and choose the real stage (here: Cust Req) to correct it.
Fig 3 Open the stage dropdown and choose the real stage (here: Cust Req) to correct it.
Fig 2. Agrhentus reads blue on the lane: a ‘customer requirement’ 1nicorn inferred from the 3 Sep email.
Fig 2 Agrhentus reads blue on the lane: a ‘customer requirement’ 1nicorn inferred from the 3 Sep email.
04

Hit “Sign off classifications”

When the board looks right, click Sign off classifications at the top right. That is the milestone: your email is now set up, and daily use begins.

Fig 4. When the board looks right, click ‘Sign off classifications’ (top right). Setup is done.
Fig 4 When the board looks right, click ‘Sign off classifications’ (top right). Setup is done.

Your setup checklist

  • Triaged the drafts: sent the good ones, deleted the rest with a reason.
  • Bucketed every correspondent: Customers, Investors, Vendors, Partners, HR.
  • Fixed each engagement stage: the dots on the lane now read true.
  • Signed off: your email is live and 1nicorn is drafting for you.
Setup complete

That's the whole one-time milestone. From here 1nicorn keeps drafting; you just review. Everything below is day-to-day rhythm and the controls that keep you in charge.

02
Part B

Daily Use

1nicorn keeps drafting replies. You review, then send, delete, edit, or improve. That's the loop.

Attachments

Every document 1nicorn attaches comes with a Microsoft .docx twin beside the .pdf, so you can always edit before sending:

  • Preview: click an attachment to open a PDF overlay preview.
  • Open the folder: the folder icon opens the on-disk 1nicorn Docs folder holding the file in both .pdf and .docx.
  • Open as Word: the dropdown ▾ next to the folder opens the .docx directly.
  • Edit & send: open folder → double-click the .docx → edit → save as PDF → reattach → send.
Every PDF has a Word twin

You never have to fight a locked PDF. Edit the .docx, save, reattach, and 1nicorn keeps both formats in step.

Your signature, captured for you

1nicorn scanned your sent mail, captured your latest signature, and signs every draft with it: links, images and all, rendered cleanly in Outlook. Edit it any time at INVAS Settings → Email signature.

Fig 5. INVAS Settings → Email signature. 1nicorn captured your signature from sent mail; edit it any time.
Fig 5 INVAS Settings → Email signature. 1nicorn captured your signature from sent mail; edit it any time.
03
Part C

INVAS Settings Tour

Be 100% in control. Every control lives on one panel. Here is the whole tour.

Draft-only by default

Nothing on this panel sends mail on its own. Auto-send is off everywhere until you turn it on, one segment at a time, which is exactly where the tour starts.

Fig 6. One panel holds every control: names, timing, signature, inbox sync, time zone and segments.
Fig 6 One panel holds every control: names, timing, signature, inbox sync, time zone and segments.
1
SegmentsWhat drafts vs. auto-sends
2
Time zoneOne zone for the whole board
3
Inbox syncWhat gets marked read
4
Undo & lingerThe 10s unsend window
5
Bucket namesRename & recolour buckets
6
Stage namesRename & recolour stages
01

1 · Email draft / send segments

1nicorn groups your mail into segments: Cold outbound, Warm inbound replies, Investor threads, Vendor quotes & RFQs, Partner intros, Recruiting screens, Notifications / no-reply, and News / prospects. Every one ships Draft only.

Flip a single segment to Auto-send only when you trust it

Fig 8. Flip a segment to ‘Auto-send’ when you trust its drafts (here, Cold outbound).
Fig 8 Flip a segment to ‘Auto-send’ when you trust its drafts (here, Cold outbound).
A tidy-inbox use case

A favourite first auto-send: junk / marketing → a polite “please remove me from your list.” The inbox de-clogs itself while you watch.

Fig 7. Every segment ships ‘Draft only’. Nothing leaves your outbox without you.
Fig 7 Every segment ships ‘Draft only’. Nothing leaves your outbox without you.
02

2 · Time zone

Set it once. The Calendar, the Gantt, and every “today” on the board all follow it.

Fig 9. Time zone: set once; Calendar, Gantt and ‘today’ all follow it.
Fig 9 Time zone: set once; Calendar, Gantt and ‘today’ all follow it.
03

3 · Inbox sync

Only mail 1nicorn drafted or replied to is marked read in your native inbox (Outlook / Gmail). 1nicorn never opens your mailbox client, so nothing else is touched. Unhandled mail stays bold and unread. In time you can stop visiting the main inbox entirely; 1nicorn never misses an incoming email.

Fig 10. Inbox sync: only mail 1nicorn handled is marked read. Off by default; nothing else is touched.
Fig 10 Inbox sync: only mail 1nicorn handled is marked read. Off by default; nothing else is touched.
04

4 · Undo-send & send-card linger

Two separate settings. On Send, a slider fills 0→10s, and within those seconds you can Unsend; after that it's committed. Separately, the sent card lingers on screen as a confirmation for a few minutes, then quietly leaves the list.

Fig 11. Send timing: the 10-second Undo window and how long a sent card lingers. Two separate settings.
Fig 11 Send timing: the 10-second Undo window and how long a sent card lingers. Two separate settings.
05

5 · Bucket names & colours

Rename the five pipeline buckets and pick each one's colour. Your names and colours then show everywhere the bucket appears: the lane, the Gantt and every card.

Fig 12. Bucket names: rename the five pipeline buckets and pick each one's colour.
Fig 12 Bucket names: rename the five pipeline buckets and pick each one's colour.

Recolour a bucket to match your brand

Click a colour swatch to open a full picker with a live hex value. Make the pipeline yours.

Fig 13. Bucket colour: a full picker with a live hex value, so the pipeline matches your brand.
Fig 13 Bucket colour: a full picker with a live hex value, so the pipeline matches your brand.

Type a new name and it flows through the whole pipeline instantly

Fig 14. Rename a bucket in place; the new label flows through the whole pipeline at once.
Fig 14 Rename a bucket in place; the new label flows through the whole pipeline at once.
06

6 · Stage names & colours

The same freedom applies to the eight engagement stages: rename and recolour each one. These are the rungs every drafted reply is written to climb.

and here they are, live on the lane, as a dot beside every correspondent

Fig 16. Every correspondent carries a stage dot on the lane: the engine that moves each one forward.
Fig 16 Every correspondent carries a stage dot on the lane: the engine that moves each one forward.
Fig 15. Stage names: the eight native stages, each renameable and recolourable (Cold/Sourced → Closed/Won).
Fig 15 Stage names: the eight native stages, each renameable and recolourable (Cold/Sourced → Closed/Won).
04
Part D

The Strategy

Why it works: every email is classified to a stage, and every drafted reply is written to move that correspondent one stage forward (politely, professionally, methodically) toward Closed / Won.

Every reply moves one correspondent one step to the right

Never lingering, always progressing

1nicorn doesn't dwell on a prospect. It pulls every scrap of context and drafts the best next step, so the board keeps moving one stage at a time, without you chasing it.

Ready to go hands-off? Once a segment's drafts have earned your trust, flip it to auto-send and 1nicorn runs that lane end-to-end (classify, draft, and send) while you watch the board advance. Some mature 1nicorn users already run whole segments this way. Give it a couple of weeks, then graduate your first segment. 1nicorn awaits you to join the club.
✓
You're all set

Now, let 1nicorn write your emails.

People wrote emails from 1986 to 2026, word by word. Let 1nicorn take it over. From here on, review your drafts, send with a click, and watch every conversation move quickly toward its destination. When you're ready, graduate a segment to auto-send. The club is waiting.

1nicorn - Email & INVAS Quick Start