Reply to a prospect from Distro

Open the conversation in the Inbox, write your answer in the reply box and click Send reply. Distro sends it from your connected Google account, in the same email thread, so the prospect sees it as a normal reply in their inbox.

Send a reply

1. Go to Outreach → Inbox and click the conversation.
2. Type your answer in the box at the bottom. Leave an empty line between paragraphs.
3. Optional: click the attachment control under the box to add files.
4. Click Send reply. The note under the box reads "Sent from your connected Google account, in the same thread."

When it's sent you'll see "Reply sent.", your message appears in the thread as You, and the conversation moves to Replied (it leaves Needs reply).

What the prospect receives

• Same thread. The subject is "Re:" plus the original subject, and the email is linked to the earlier messages, so it stays in one conversation in their mail app.
• Plain paragraphs. The reply box is plain text. Formatting and images aren't available here.
• No automatic signature. Campaign signatures are not added to Inbox replies. Type your sign-off yourself.
• One recipient. The reply goes to the person who replied to you. Other people in the thread aren't copied in.

Attachments

You can attach PDFs, images, Office documents, text, CSV or ZIP files. Each file can be up to 10 MB, with up to 10 files and 25 MB in total per reply. Files that went out with a reply are cleared from the box afterwards.

Which address your reply comes from

Inbox replies are sent from the main address of the Google account that received the reply. If that address can't be used, Distro picks another verified address on the same account.

This means that if your campaign went out from an alias (say sales@yourcompany.com on maya@yourcompany.com's account), a reply sent from the Distro Inbox comes from the main address, not the alias. Distro doesn't currently let you choose the From address in the Inbox.

Draft a reply with Distro

If AI replies are switched on for the campaign (they are, as Draft only, unless you changed it), a Draft reply with AI button appears above the reply box.

1. Click Draft reply with AI. If you already typed something, Distro asks before replacing it.
2. Distro writes a suggestion into the reply box, marked as an AI draft to review and edit before sending. It also shows how it read the reply (for example "Meeting requested").
3. If your campaign has an approved booking link, tick Offer my booking link before drafting to include it.
4. Edit the text, then click Send reply. Nothing is sent until you do.

Use Regenerate for another version, or the × to discard the draft. Each draft counts toward your plan's AI writing allowance. Drafting sends that conversation's text to Distro's AI provider to write the suggestion; the in-app note explains how that data is handled.

No draft is offered for unsubscribe requests, bounces, out-of-office replies, automatic replies or spam challenges, because there's nobody to answer or they asked you to stop.

Draft only vs controlled auto-reply

Each campaign has an AI replies setting. Open the campaign and click the sliders icon next to AI replies in its settings.

On the free trial and on Growth, replies are always drafted for you to approve; nothing is sent to a prospect automatically.

With Controlled auto-reply you choose which kinds of reply Distro may answer on its own: Interested, Needs more information, Meeting requested and Pricing question (only with approved pricing in the campaign's context). You also set a maximum of 1 to 3 automatic replies per conversation and a daily maximum. Before it turns on, you confirm four statements about your campaign facts, booking link, responsible use and limits, and the campaign's Google account must be connected and healthy.

Some replies always come to you, whatever the settings: objections, "not interested", "not now", referrals to someone else, anything about legal matters, security, refunds or complaints, and anything Distro isn't sure about. If the option reads "Not available in this workspace yet", automatic replies aren't switched on for your account.

In a conversation, AI activity in this conversation lists what Distro did and why, for example "Sent automatically" or "Sent to you for review". Turn off AI replies stops drafting, automatic replies and AI follow-ups for that campaign straight away.

If sending fails

Distro tells you what happened, for example "Google refused the send. Reconnect the account in Outreach → Sending accounts, then try again." Each message and its fix is listed in A reply could not be sent.