Overview
Raycaster provides two modes for composing emails: Template Mode for writing emails with dynamic variables, and AI Draft Mode for generating personalized emails with AI. Both modes work directly from your sheets.Opening the Email Composer
Select Recipients
In any sheet, select the rows for the people you want to email by clicking the checkboxes on the left side.
Open Composer
Click the Email button in the toolbar that appears above the sheet. This opens the email composer modal.
Template Mode
Template mode lets you write a single email template with variables that get replaced with each recipient’s data.Using Variables
Insert variables using the{{Column Name}} syntax. These resolve to the actual value in that column for each recipient row.
Example:
First Name = "Sarah", Company = "Novartis", and Research Area = "oncology", this becomes:
Editing Per-Recipient
After writing your template, you can switch to the recipients panel to customize individual emails:- Click on any recipient to see their resolved email
- Make edits specific to that person
- Edited emails are marked as customized and won’t be overwritten if you change the template
Variables are resolved from the sheet row data at the time of sending. If you update your sheet data after composing but before sending, the emails will use the updated values.
Generate Template with AI
If you need help writing your template, click “Generate template with AI” and describe what kind of email you want. Raycaster will generate a template with appropriate variables from your sheet columns.AI Draft Mode
AI Draft mode generates fully personalized emails for each recipient based on a prompt you provide and the data in your sheet.Write Your Prompt
Describe the email you want to send. Be specific about tone, purpose, and what information to include.Example prompt:
Write a professional outreach email introducing our drug delivery platform. Reference the recipient’s recent publications and explain how our technology could complement their research. Keep it under 200 words.
Generate Drafts
Click “Generate drafts”. Raycaster’s AI creates a unique, personalized email for each selected recipient using their sheet data.You’ll see real-time progress as each draft is generated (e.g., “Generating 3/10”).
Sending Options
Once your emails are composed, you have several options:- Send Immediately
- Schedule
- Save as Draft
Click Send to deliver all emails right away. Emails are sent through your connected email provider (Gmail or Outlook).
Managing Emails
Navigate to the Emails page (/emails) to view and manage all your emails.
Email Statuses
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| Draft | Saved but not sent. Can be edited and sent later. |
| Scheduled | Set to send at a specific time. Can be cancelled before the scheduled time. |
| Sent | Successfully delivered through your email provider. |
| Failed | Delivery failed. Check the error details for troubleshooting. |
Bulk Actions
Select multiple emails using the checkboxes to perform bulk operations:- Bulk Send — Send all selected draft emails immediately
- Bulk Schedule — Schedule all selected drafts for a specific time
- Bulk Delete — Remove selected emails
Email Detail Panel
Click on any email to open the detail panel, which shows:- Full email content (subject, body, recipients)
- Sending status and timestamp
- Associated sheet and row information
- Sequence information (if part of a sequence)
