PulseWriting follow-up emails
The feature that drafts a thank-you or minutes email after a meeting, and what the Act on Specified Commercial Email requires.
After a meeting with someone outside your company, Pulse uses the transcript, the calendar event and your past email exchanges to prepare a draft email thanking them and setting out what was decided. The draft appears ready to send, but always check the recipients and the body yourself before sending.
Personal plan Team plan Enterprise plan
What you need
- Plan: the Personal, Team or Enterprise plan, or an account in its trial period. It is not available on the free plan.
- Sign-in method: signed in with a Google account (Gmail or Google Workspace). Microsoft / Outlook accounts are not supported at this time.
- Email connection: Gmail connected. Permission to both read and send mail is required.
Connecting Gmail
You only connect once; it stays in effect until you change the setting.
Start from the home screen
On the “Follow-up email” banner on the home screen, choose Connect Gmail, then Continue.
Grant permission on Google's screen
A browser opens; follow Google's prompts to allow Pulse to read and send mail.
Check the behaviour on the first drafts
Once permission is granted, drafts are created automatically for your two most recent external meetings. Start by reviewing those two.
- Settings > Integrations > Gmail shows the same address you are signed in to Pulse with
- “Suggested follow-up emails” appears on the home screen
Showing where the banner sits and the explanatory text displayed before connecting.
The address you are signed in to Pulse with and the Gmail address you connect must match. Aliases are not supported. If they differ, the connection itself still goes through and you only get an error when you actually try to send, so it is worth checking the address shown after connecting.
You can connect and disconnect at any time from Settings > Integrations > Gmail.
When a draft is created
A draft is created for meetings that meet all of the following.
- at least one external participant
- ten participants or fewer in total
- the prerequisites above are met (an eligible plan or trial period, and Gmail connected)
Even when the conditions are met, no draft is created if sending an email is judged inappropriate — for example where the exchange with that person is running mainly through Slack, where it was agreed during the meeting that a colleague would handle the follow-up, or where an unresolved issue remains before the next action.
The draft appears one to two minutes after the meeting note has finished generating. If you cannot see it immediately after the note appears, wait a moment and check again.
Opening and sending a draft
Open a draft from either of these places.
- the “Suggested follow-up emails” list on the home screen
- “View draft” at the top of the meeting note
In the editor you can:
- Edit the subject and body, and apply formatting such as bold and bullet points.
- Add CC / BCC recipients if needed.
- Attach files. Attachments total up to 25 MB.
- Switch the signature you have set in Gmail on or off.
- If any 〔 〕 placeholders remain in the body (company name, date, amount and so on, to be filled in later), replace them before sending.
- Send. Within about ten seconds of sending you can stop it with Undo.
The editor with recipients, subject, body, attachments and the send button.
Note the following about how the editor behaves.
- Edits to a draft are saved only on the device you made them on. They do not sync to other devices and are lost when you sign out.
- Attachments are not saved. If you close the draft or quit the app, attach them again.
- Suggestions stay on the home screen for three days.
Turning the feature off
Settings > Preferences and switch off “Suggested follow-up emails” under “Features”. Turning it off leaves the Gmail connection itself in place, so switching it back on later works immediately. To remove the connection itself, disconnect from Settings > Integrations > Gmail.
How this relates to the Act on Specified Commercial Email
A follow-up email goes directly to the person you met. In Japan, sending email for the purpose of advertising or promotion is regulated by the Act on Regulation of Transmission of Specified Electronic Mail, so what you put in the body changes its legal position.
Sharing minutes alone is normally outside the rules
What the Act regulates is “specified electronic mail”, defined as follows.
“Specified electronic mail” means electronic mail sent by a sender as a means of advertising or promoting their own or another party's business. Guidance from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications and the Consumer Affairs Agency states that email relating to a transactional relationship — administrative correspondence setting out terms of business, billing notices and the like — which contains no advertising or promotional content and does not direct the recipient to an advertising or promotional website, does not constitute specified electronic mail.
An email to someone who attended a meeting containing only that meeting's minutes, summary, decisions and to-dos is administrative correspondence sent as an extension of the meeting, and cannot be said to be for the purpose of advertising or promotion. So long as it stays within that scope, it can be treated as not constituting specified electronic mail.
Adding anything promotional changes that
The problem arises when you mix sales-oriented material into the same email. Introducing your other services, announcing a campaign, linking to a brochure request page, adding a “find out more” link to your product site — any of these gives the email the character of a means of advertising or promotion, and it may then constitute specified electronic mail.
| Content of the email | Specified electronic mail? | What is required |
|---|---|---|
| Sending only the minutes, summary, decisions and to-dos of a meeting to that meeting's attendees | Normally not | As a matter of good practice, identify who the sender is and give a contact for opting out of future messages. |
| The above, plus a banner promoting your own service or a link to your product site | Increasingly likely to be | You need consent, or confirmation of a transactional relationship, plus all of the disclosure items described below. |
| Separately contacting someone you met to tell them about your products or a campaign | Yes | Prior consent (opt-in) is required. Merely having attended a meeting does not make someone a party “in a transactional relationship”. |
| Billing, renewal, security or incident correspondence to an existing customer | No | This can be sent as usual, as notice relating to a transactional relationship. |
What is required where the Act does apply follows from these provisions.
A sender must not send specified electronic mail except to, among others, a person who has given notice requesting or consenting to receive it (item (i)), a person who has provided their own email address, or a person in a transactional relationship with the party carrying on the business being advertised or promoted (item (iii)).
Paragraph 2 requires a party who has received notice of consent to retain a record evidencing that consent. Paragraph 3 provides that where notice is received requesting that mail not be sent, specified electronic mail must not be sent against that person's wishes.
Article 4 requires accurate display of the sender's name, an email address for receiving notice of refusal, and other matters prescribed by ordinance. Article 9 of the Enforcement Regulations lists those other items: a statement that notice may be given asking that mail not be sent (item (i)), the sender's address (item (ii)), and a telephone number or email address able to receive complaints and enquiries (item (iii)). Article 7 governs where these appear, requiring that the opt-out notice sit immediately before or after the place where the refusal address is displayed.
If you add promotion of your own company, a campaign announcement, or a link to a promotional website to a follow-up email and send it, the party bearing the sender's obligations under the Act is you (or your company) — whoever performed the send. In that case you need to obtain and retain a record of the recipient's consent, display the sender's name and address, display where refusal notices should be sent, and display a contact for complaints and enquiries. Sending without those disclosures risks an administrative order.
Bulk email to addresses collected from business cards or forms is a separate matter
Sending sales email in bulk to addresses collected by exchanging business cards at an exhibition, through a brochure request form, or through a webinar sign-up form needs to be considered separately from follow-up email. There you must check, address by address, whether the person is already in a transactional relationship with you or has consented to receive advertising email. The follow-up email feature assumes you are writing to someone who attended, or was invited to, that meeting; adding unrelated recipients and sending in bulk is not an intended use.
The practical conclusion
The safest approach is to keep follow-up email strictly as “the email that hands the record of this meeting to the other party”, with no promotional element at all. An email containing only minutes, a summary, decisions and next actions requires neither consent nor management of disclosure items, and spares you a legal judgement every time you send. Keep sales messages separate, sent as their own email to people who have opted in.
You can stop announcements about new Pulse features and campaigns at any time from “Email preferences” in your account settings. Even if you do, we will continue to send email relating to your contract and its performance, such as billing, plan renewals, security and incidents.
Email templates
Wording you can use as a starting point when revising a draft. Replace the 〔 〕 parts to suit the meeting. Neither template contains any advertising or promotional element.
External (after a first meeting)
Subject: Thank you for today's meeting, and the minutes (〔project name〕)
〔Company name〕 〔Department〕 〔Name〕
Thank you for your continued support. This is 〔name〕 from 〔our company〕.
Thank you for taking the time today to discuss 〔project name〕 despite your busy schedule. I have set out what we discussed below for your review.
■ Points discussed today - 〔point 1〕 - 〔point 2〕
■ Decisions - 〔decision〕
■ Actions before next time - Us: 〔action〕 (by 〔date〕) - 〔Their company〕: 〔action〕 (by 〔date〕)
If anything above does not match your understanding, I would be grateful if you could let me know. Our next meeting is scheduled for 〔date and time〕.
I look forward to continuing to work with you.
〔Our company〕 〔Department〕 〔Name〕 〔Phone〕 / 〔Email〕
Internal (sharing minutes of a regular meeting)
Subject: 〔Meeting name〕 minutes (held 〔date〕)
Everyone in 〔department〕
Hello, this is 〔name〕. Sharing the minutes of 〔meeting name〕, held on 〔date〕.
■ Attendees 〔name〕, 〔name〕, 〔name〕
■ Decisions - 〔decision〕
■ Items taken away, and owners - 〔action〕 — owner: 〔name〕 / due: 〔date〕
■ Next meeting 〔date and time〕 / 〔location or meeting link〕
If you have anything to add or correct, please reply to this email by 〔date〕.
Thank you.
If you produce the same kind of email repeatedly, saving the instructions as a recipe keeps the tone and structure of the drafts consistent. For how to create one, see Recipes (saved instructions).
If something is not working
Q. No draft was created for a meeting where I expected one
A. It may have been judged that no email was needed. No draft is created where the exchange is running mainly through Slack, where a colleague is handling the follow-up, or where an unresolved issue remains before the next action. Also check that the meeting had an external participant, that there were ten participants or fewer, and that you are on an eligible plan (Personal, Team or Enterprise) or in the trial period with Gmail connected.
Q. A draft that was there yesterday has gone
A. Suggestions stop appearing on the home screen after three days. Drafts you have sent or dismissed also leave the list. If the conversation has moved on — because you or the other person has already replied, for instance — a draft can disappear before the three days are up. If every draft has gone, check that the connection is still in place under Settings > Integrations > Gmail.
Q. Can I bring back a draft I dismissed?
A. No. A dismissed draft cannot be restored, so make a copy of anything you need before dismissing it. Drafts you have already sent can be found in Gmail's “Sent” folder.
Q. I get an error when I try to send
A. The connected Gmail address and the address you are signed in to Pulse with must match exactly. Aliases are not supported. Reconnect with the address you sign in with from Settings > Integrations > Gmail.
Q. Disconnecting Gmail signed me out
A. The Gmail connection uses the same authentication as signing in with your Google account, so disconnecting signs you out. Sign in again with your Google account. Your calendar connection comes back automatically, and Gmail stays disconnected.
Q. I use Microsoft / Outlook
A. Not supported at this time. Follow-up email is only available when you are signed in with a Google account.
Q. Someone I met has asked me not to send any more
A. Remove their address from the recipients and stop sending them follow-up email. For email containing advertising or promotion, sending after receiving notice of refusal is prohibited by Article 3(3) of the Act on Specified Commercial Email. If your company manages who is sent to, we recommend keeping the addresses of anyone who has asked in a shared list.
For anything else, please contact tharada@the-unchain.com.