> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.dealtoaster.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Quickstart

> From sign-up to a launched sequence in about 15 minutes

This page takes you from a new account to a launched sequence. The Home page of the app shows the same path as a
checklist called **Get your first sequence out**: five steps, and each one ticks itself off when it is done.

**1. Create and confirm your account**

Open the sign-up page and enter your email address and a password of at least 10 characters, then select
**Create account**. DealToaster sends a confirmation link to your inbox. Open it, and when the page says
**Email confirmed**, select **Sign in**.

If the email does not arrive, select **Resend email** on the **Check your inbox** page.

> [!NOTE]
>
> While DealToaster is in a closed beta, the sign-up page can show **Registration is not open yet** instead of the
> form.

**2. Connect a mailbox**

Open **Mailboxes**. The page offers four ways to connect:

* **Connect with Google**
* **Gmail with an app password**: sends and detects replies with one app password, without the Google consent screen
* **Connect with Microsoft**
* **Connect with SMTP**

Once you have a mailbox, the **Connect mailbox** menu in the page header offers the same choices as **Google or
Gmail**, **Gmail with an app password**, **Microsoft 365 or Outlook** and **Other, with SMTP**.

For SMTP, fill in the **Email address**, **Display name**, **Server**, **Port**, **Security**, **User name** and
**Password** of your outgoing server, then select **Connect**. DealToaster tests the connection: if the test fails,
the mailbox is still saved and sends nothing until you fix the settings. To let
DealToaster detect replies, tick **Add IMAP settings** and fill in your incoming server: without it, follow-ups do
not stop when a contact answers.

On the mailbox page you can change the **Daily limit** and the **Sending window**. DealToaster never sends more
than the daily limit from the mailbox.

**3. Import your contacts**

Open **Contacts** and select **Import CSV**, or select **Import contacts** in the checklist. The import has four
steps: **Upload**, **Map**, **Review** and **Report**.

1. **Upload**: drop a CSV file or choose one. The page links a sample file, **Download a sample CSV**, that shows
   the format. Nothing is imported until you review the rows.
2. **Map**: DealToaster suggests a field for each column. Exactly one column must go to **Email**. If the columns
   look wrong, change the **Delimiter** or untick **First row is a header**. Set a column to **Ignore this column**
   to leave it out, or to **Custom field** to keep it under a name of your own.
3. **Review**: the counts show **Ready to import**, **Invalid**, **Duplicates in the file**, **Already contacts**
   and **Suppressed**. Select **Import** with the number of contacts to start.
4. **Report**: the page shows what was **Imported**, **Skipped** and **Errors**. Rows that were skipped or rejected
   are listed under **Skipped and rejected rows** with the row, the column and the reason, and **Download errors
   (CSV)** saves the list. A contact who is already in DealToaster is skipped and left unchanged.

**4. Build the sequence**

Open **Sequences**. Select **Start from a template** for three ready-made emails in one thread (an intro, a
follow-up 2 days later and a short break-up 4 days after that), or select **New sequence** to write your own with a
**Name** and a **Mailbox**. You can write the steps before you connect a mailbox, but you need one to launch.

The sequence has four tabs: **Overview**, **Steps**, **Settings** and **Preview**. On **Steps**, open an email to
edit it:

* **Subject** and **Email** hold the text.
* **Wait** sets the delay after the previous email, in days or hours.
* A follow-up is set to **Reply in same thread**, so it keeps the subject of the first email, or to **New thread**.
* **Insert variable** adds a variable such as the contact's first name.

A variable is written between double braces, for example `{{first_name}}`. Add a fallback after a vertical bar for
contacts who have no value: `{{first_name | "there"}}` writes "there" when the first name is empty.

Select **Save step** or **Save changes** to keep your edits.

**5. Preview and send a test**

Open the **Preview** tab, select **Choose a contact** and pick a real contact. Each email is shown as that contact
will receive it, with a warning when a variable is empty for them. Select **Send test to me** to receive the email
in your own inbox. Save a step before you send it: the saved version is what goes out.

**6. Add contacts and launch**

On the sequence, select **Add contacts**, choose the contacts and add them. Then select **Launch** and **Launch
sequence**. If something is missing, such as a mailbox or an email with a template problem, the dialog says **Fix
these before launching** and links to each fix.

## What happens next

* DealToaster sends step 1 to every added contact within the sending window, and each later step after its delay. It
  stays within the mailbox's daily limit.
* Follow-ups set to **Reply in same thread** go out in the thread of the first email.
* A contact stops receiving emails when they reply (the **Stop when the contact replies** setting, on by default),
  when an email to them bounces, or when they unsubscribe. The sequence's contact list shows them under **Replied**,
  **Bounced** or **Unsubscribed**.
* The checklist on Home ticks itself as you finish each step, and you can hide it with **Hide checklist**.


This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.