5-Minute Setup
The bare minimum to be productive in AwardLettr. Five steps. Five minutes. Skip everything else for now.
You'll learn
- The smallest set of settings that make AwardLettr work properly
- Why skipping setup hurts you immediately on your first invoice
- What you can safely defer to later
You signed up on a Sunday night because a busy week is coming and you want to be ready Monday morning. You do not want to spend two hours clicking through every settings screen. You want the shortest possible path from "account created" to "first invoice goes out branded and correct."
The cost of skipping setup hits on your very first invoice. It prints with no logo, no firm name, and a $0 rate sheet because AwardLettr has nothing to multiply your logged hours against. Your first outbound message goes from a no-reply-style fallback address that adjusters do not recognize, so it lands in spam or gets ignored. None of this is broken, but all of it is fixable in five minutes, and the fix takes ten times longer once the file is already open and the invoice is already due.
This is for anyone, carrier or insured, solo or firm owner, who wants the smallest viable setup before they open their first real file. If you want the role-specific version with party-aware defaults, see the Carrier or Insured quick start instead. Otherwise, the five steps below work for everyone.
The 5 steps
Set default representing party
Account → Profile → Default Representing Party. Pick Carrier, Insured, or Always Ask. Save.
Add your email signature
Same screen, Profile. Paste your standard email signature into the Signature field. This appears on every outbound message you send through AwardLettr.
Create a Business Profile with rate sheet
Settings → Business Profiles → New. Firm name, address, logo, hourly rate, travel rate, mileage rate. This drives invoices and dashboard revenue numbers.
Connect one email account
Account → Integrations → Email Connection. Pick Gmail, Outlook, or generic SMTP. Outbound messages will now come from your address.
Create your first appraisal
Appraisals page → New Appraisal. Insured name, claim number, carrier, property address. Save. You are ready to work.
What this gets you
Skip setup
- Invoices missing your branding and address
- Pending revenue dashboard reads $0 (no rate sheet)
- Emails go from AwardLettr fallback address
- "Which side are you on?" prompt on every new file
- Documents missing your signature block
5-min setup
- Invoices look professional and branded
- Pending revenue calculates correctly from logged time
- Emails go from your address with your signature
- New appraisals pre-fill the right party
- Documents render with your signature in the right slot
What you can defer
- SignWell connection (add it before the first award letter you originate)
- Calendar sync (add it once your inspection volume picks up)
- Cloud storage backup (add it when you want a second copy of files)
- CompanyCam (add it before your next field inspection)
- Custom fields, folder templates, document templates (add as needs surface)
- Workflow message library (the defaults are reasonable on day one)
Tune as you go
Common pitfalls
- •Trying to configure everything before creating your first appraisal. Most settings are easier to tune once you have a real file in front of you.
Related Articles
Integrations: Required, Recommended, Optional
A three-tier breakdown of every AwardLettr integration so you know which to set up on day one and which to defer.
Where Do I Find X? Navigation Reference
The most-requested doc. A lookup table of common "where do I change ___" questions, organized by Account, Workspace, and Appraisal level.
Quick Start: Carrier Appraiser
A fast path from signup to sent message for appraisers who represent insurance carriers.