How to use Nova email in UpKeep

How to use Nova email in UpKeep: Send, receive and reply from your inbox

Nova now has its own email address: [email protected]. It can send email to people on your team, receive their replies and answer in the same thread, with nothing to connect and no personal mailbox to link. This guide covers the three ways to use it, prompts to try, and what to know before your team starts emailing Nova.

Three ways to use Nova email

1. Ask Nova to email a teammate

Any time you are working in Nova chat, you can ask Nova to share what it finds with someone who is not in UpKeep at that moment.

1. Open Nova chat in UpKeep.

2. Tell Nova who to email and what to say, for example "Email Maria a summary of this week's overdue PMs."

3. Review the draft Nova writes and confirm it.

4. Nova sends the message from [email protected].

When Maria replies with a follow-up question, Nova answers her in the same thread using the work orders, assets and history behind the summary. One instruction can reach a group too: "Send the open work order list to the Line 2 technicians."

[IMAGE: Nova chat drafting an email with the confirm step visible. Caption: Confirm the message before Nova sends it.]

2. Let your workflows email your team

Nova Workflows can now notify people by email, with no connected inbox required. Add an email step to a workflow and describe the rule in plain language, for example "When a P1 request comes in, email the technician assigned to the asset." The technician gets the email from Nova the moment the condition is met, and they can reply to ask Nova for more detail before they head to the floor.

A workflow email whose content you write yourself does not use Nova credits. Credits are used once someone replies and Nova composes an answer.

[IMAGE: Workflow builder showing an email step. Caption: Add an email step to any Nova workflow.]

3. Email Nova from your own inbox

You can start a conversation without opening UpKeep. Send a new email from the address you sign in with to [email protected] and ask your question, for example "How many open work orders do we have at the Denver site?" Nova replies to you by email. Attach PDFs, documents, CSVs or images and Nova reads them as part of the request.

[IMAGE: Email thread with a question to Nova and Nova's reply. Caption: Reply to Nova's answer to keep the conversation going.]

Prompts to try

In Nova chat:

• "Email [name] a summary of this week's overdue PMs."

• "Send the open work order list to the Line 2 technicians."

• "Email [name] about work order #[number] and include the asset's recent history."

From your inbox, in a new email to [email protected]:

• "How many open work orders do we have at the [site] site?"

• "Which assets had the most work orders this month?"

• "Here is the vendor quote (attached). Add the parts and cost to work order #[number]."

In reply to an email from Nova:

• "Has this asset had the same issue before?"

• "Assign me to this work order."

• "Change the priority to high and add a note that parts are on order."

Who can use it and how it works

• Your organization only: Nova emails verified users in your UpKeep account. It cannot email vendors, customers or anyone outside your organization.

• Paid roles: Admins, custom roles, limited admins, technicians and limited technicians can send and receive email with Nova. View-only and Requestor accounts cannot.

• Use the email you sign in with: Nova only replies to messages sent from the address you use to log in to UpKeep. Mail from any other address gets no reply.

• Nova credits: Emailing Nova uses Nova credits the same way chatting in the app does. If your account is out of credits, Nova will not reply.

• Your permissions apply: Nova acts as you. It can only do what your role allows, and every action is recorded under your name, exactly as when you use Nova in the app.

• One conversation at a time: On a thread with several people, Nova reads the message written to it and replies to that person. Others on the thread are not copied on Nova's answer.

• Prefer your own address? The Gmail and Outlook connectors still work when you want Nova to send from your mailbox.

Frequently asked questions

Does Nova email cost extra?

No. It uses the Nova credits already on your account, at the same rate as chatting with Nova in the app.

Can requesters or outside contacts email Nova?

No. Requestor accounts do not have Nova access, so this is separate from creating a request by email. Point requesters to your request portal.

Can I see what Nova did on my behalf?

Yes. Anything Nova does from an email is recorded against your user, the same as work done in the app.

Do I need to set anything up?

No. Nova sends from its own UpKeep address, so there is no connector to configure and nothing for IT to approve.

Try it now

Open Nova chat and ask it to email a teammate a summary of your open work. Then reply to the email it sends and see Nova answer in the thread.