Arbor AI: Using Suggest Comms to draft Emails, Letters, SMSs and In-App Messages

Staring at a blank draft can take up valuable time during a busy school day, especially if you need to draft things in multiple languages or you are trying to stick to a consistent tone representative of your school. The Suggest Comms feature acts as your built-in writing assistant, helping you draft professional, tailored, and multilingual communications to parents, students, or staff in seconds.

This guide explains how to find the Suggest Comms tools, how to configure your drafts, and how to ensure your messages are ready to send.

Permissions

If you cannot see the 'Suggest Email', 'Suggest Letter, 'Suggest In-App Message' or 'Suggest SMS' buttons, please contact your school's administrator and refer them to this guidance on managing AI permissions. To use this feature, you must have:

• The School: Arbor AI: View Arbor AI permission
• Permission to draft the kind of communication you want to create yourself.
• The Suggest Comms Feature Permission 

Where do I find Suggest Comms?

You can find Suggest Comms buttons wherever you would normally draft a communication from scratch, like School > Communications > Compose > Email, or when editing an unsent draft from School > Communications > Mail Merge > Drafts.

Note: It's not possible to use Suggest Comms outside of the standard message builder; it is not possible to use Suggest Comms from a Quick Action button to send a reply from your Outbox, for example.

Above the main text box where you would normally type your message, look for the Suggest... button featuring the Arbor AI sparkle icon. Click this to open the AI drafting tool.

How do I get Suggest Comms to draft something?

In the pop-up menu that appears after clicking the Suggest Comms button of choice, you will see a text box asking, "What do you want to write about?" 

• Type a brief explanation of what you want the message to be about. You don't need to write in full sentences; simple bullet points or a rough outline will do!

Below that, you see a Launages(s) dropdown. Use this to select the language(s) you want your message to be created in. 

• You can select one or more target languages directly from the dropdown menu (e.g., English and Welsh). If no language is selected, the system will default to English. If multiple languages are selected, the message is created in both, one stacked above the other, and all recipients will receive both translations.

Lastly, use the Style checkboxes to broadly choose how you want the message to sound (Friendly, Concerned, Firm, Business-like or Jolly). 

• You can use a combination of multiple options at once (for example, Friendly and Frim). The options you select, combined with the Tone Guide set for the whole school under Arbor AI > Settings > Personalisation, determine the tone and style the AI uses for the draft.

Then, click Suggest Email to draft the message.
 

Reviewing, editing, and sending suggested drafts

As the name indicates, the draft this feature creates is a suggestion. Once drafted, you can:

• Edit or refine the draft using the message builder, like you would any other communication draft
• Add attachments (email only)
• Add or adjust recipients 
• Change the sender

If you are happy to send the draft, use the Proceed button to continue sending the communication on the next screen. IF you want to save the draft for later, simply use the Save Draft button.

Should I review AI drafts?

Yes, AI can get things wrong or misinterpret your instructions. Please always review drafts before sending them.

Can Suggest Comms send a communication without my approval?

No, Suggest Comms can only draft communications; it is not able to send them. AI-drafted communications always need to be sent by a human.

What if I am unhappy with the draft? Can I leave feedback?

Yes, once the draft is generated, you'll see a "Thanks for using Arbor AI. You can click here to give us feedback on your experience" message.

Click this to provide a rating and reason for that rating. Your feedback is then used to improve the feature.

How does all work with multiple languages and translations?

If you selected multiple languages, Arbor uses Stacked Formatting. The AI will automatically generate the English version first, followed by the translated versions in a clear, sequential format underneath. For emails, the Smart Subject Line will automatically display in both languages (e.g., English Subject | Translated Subject).

Things to bear in mind:

• This feature does not translate each individual email in a mail merge to the individual recipient's main language. All of the emails sent out will contain all selected translations stacked together.
   

•  While we have refined our prompts to ensure translations remain professional and easy to understand, AI is not a native speaker. Please double-check translations for accuracy, especially for important messages.
   

• Suggest Comms is a drafting tool designed to help you send messages in other languages. It does not automatically translate incoming replies from parents back into English, so you may want to include language requirements for parents replying in your message.