Drift User Guide

What is Drift?

Drift is an AI-powered out-of-office management platform that monitors your inbox while you're away and delivers a prioritized Return Playbook when you come back — so you're caught up in 2 hours instead of 2 days.

Creating Your Account

1. Go to withdrift.io and click Get Started
2. Choose your signup method:
   • Google — Fastest option, one-click signup
   • Email & Password — Enter your details manually
3. If using email signup:
   • Enter your full name
   • Enter your work email address
   • Create a password (minimum 12 characters)
   • Accept the Terms of Service
4. Verify your email by clicking the link sent to your inbox
5. Sign in to begin onboarding

Onboarding Walkthrough

After signing in, you'll complete a 5-step onboarding:

1. Welcome — Overview of Drift and what you'll accomplish
2. Choose Your Plan — Select the plan that fits your needs
3. Connect Email — Link your Gmail or Outlook account via secure OAuth
4. Connect Slack (Optional) — Available for Team Growth subscribers
5. Complete — Review your setup and access your dashboard

Gmail Integration

1. Go to Settings → Integrations
2. Click Connect Gmail
3. Sign in with your Google account
4. Grant permissions for reading/sending email, managing labels, and accessing Google Calendar
5. Select which email aliases to use for auto-replies

Once connected, Drift will monitor your inbox during OOO periods, sync your Google Calendar, and send auto-replies from your selected alias.

Outlook Integration

1. Go to Settings → Integrations
2. Click Connect Outlook
3. Sign in with your Microsoft account
4. Grant permissions for mail and calendar access

Slack Integration

Available on Team Growth plan

1. Go to Settings → Integrations
2. Click Connect Slack
3. Select your workspace and authorize Drift

Calendar Sync

Both Gmail and Outlook integrations include calendar access. Drift uses your calendar to detect existing OOO events, check for conflicts, add OOO events automatically, and understand your return date.

Schedule New OOO

1. Go to Out of Office from the main navigation
2. Click Schedule OOO
3. Select your Start Date and End Date
4. Configure options: auto-replies, custom message, inbox sync, Slack sync, Slack status, and calendar event
5. Review your settings and click Create OOO

During Your OOO

While you're away, your dashboard shows your current OOO status, end date countdown, total emails received, emails filtered by AI, urgent email count, and real-time categorization preview.

Cancel or Modify OOO

• Click Cancel OOO to end early
• Auto-replies stop immediately
• Email monitoring continues until the original end date
• Your Return Playbook will still be generated

What is the Return Playbook?

The Return Playbook is an AI-generated summary delivered when you return from OOO. It transforms hundreds of emails into a prioritized action plan.

What's Included

• Executive Summary — A brief overview of what happened while you were away
• High Priority Items — Urgent emails requiring immediate attention
• Medium Priority Items — Important but not time-critical emails
• Low Priority Items — FYI emails and general updates
• Resolved Items — Issues handled without your input
• Time Estimates — Approximate time needed for each item

Working with Action Items

• Mark Complete — Click the checkmark to mark items done
• View Email — Click to open the original email
• Progress Tracking — Watch the progress bar update as you complete items

Delivery Settings

Go to Settings → Out of Office to configure your delivery time (default: 6:00 AM) and whether to receive playbooks via email in addition to in-app.

How It Works

Drift uses AI to analyze incoming emails based on sender information, email content, subject line, thread context, and your custom rules.

Categories

Customizing Categorization

Enable Auto-Replies

1. Go to Settings → Out of Office
2. Toggle Enable Auto-Replies on
3. Edit your custom message
4. Auto-replies activate when OOO starts

Backup Contact Routing

1. Go to Settings → Out of Office
2. Toggle Enable Backup on
3. Enter your backup's email address
4. Urgent emails will be forwarded to your backup, kept in your inbox, and flagged in your Return Playbook

Smart Auto-Reply Behavior

• External Only — Team members don't receive auto-replies
• Once Per Sender — Each person receives only one auto-reply
• Thread-Aware — Doesn't reply to every message in a thread

Getting Started with Teams

Creating a team (for the team owner)

1. During onboarding, toggle to Team when selecting your plan
2. Choose Team Starter (up to 10 members) or Team Growth (11–50 members)
3. Enter your team name and select the number of seats you need
4. Complete checkout — your team is created automatically after payment
5. You become the Owner with full control over the team

Joining a team (for invited members)

1. You'll receive an email invitation from your team's owner or admin
2. Click the Join Team link in the email
3. If you don't have a Drift account yet, you'll be prompted to sign up first
4. Review the team name and who invited you, then click Accept Invitation
5. You're in — your account is now linked to the team with access to all team features based on your role

Inviting Team Members

1. Go to Team from the main navigation
2. Click Invite Member
3. Enter their email address
4. Select their role: Admin (manage team settings and members) or Member (access team features only)
5. Click Send Invite

Team Roles

Team Dashboard & Coverage Calendar

• View who's currently out and upcoming scheduled OOO
• Visual calendar showing all team OOO periods, color-coded by member
• See who's covering for whom and overlapping OOO periods
• Filter by person or date range

Account Settings

• Profile — Update your name, set your timezone, view connected accounts
• Email — Change your account email (requires verification)
• Security — Change password or set one if you signed up with Google

OOO Settings

• Enable/disable auto-replies and customize message
• Configure backup contact
• Manage VIP contacts and urgent keywords
• Set playbook delivery time

Integrations

Connect or disconnect Gmail, Outlook, Slack, and manage calendar sync from Settings → Integrations.

Data & Privacy

• Export Data — Download all your data as JSON (profile, OOO sessions, email metadata, playbooks, settings)
• Delete Account — Go to Settings → Account, click Delete Account, type "DELETE" to confirm. Account removed within 30 days.

Plans

Plan Features

Managing Your Subscription

1. Go to Settings → Billing
2. View current plan and usage
3. Upgrade or downgrade plans
4. Update payment method
5. Download invoices

Common Issues

Integration Recovery Steps

If an integration stops working:

1. Check Integration Status — Go to Settings → Integrations, look for error indicators
2. Disconnect and Reconnect — Click Disconnect, wait a few seconds, reconnect and grant all permissions
3. Recreate Your OOO — Integration actions only run when OOO is created, so create a new session after fixing
4. Clear Browser Cache — Try in an incognito window, clear cookies for the affected service

Getting Help

Email us at hello@withdrift.io.

• Personal plan: Response within 24 hours
• Team plans: Response within 4 hours (priority)