# Create a draft email contact in Connect Customer agent workspace
<a name="3P-apps-email-requests-createdraftemail"></a>

Creates a draft outbound email contact; can either be an agent initiated outbound draft email, an agent reply draft email, or a forwarded email. Upon successful draft creation, the email contact will be in connected state. Returns an object that includes:
+ `contactId: string`: The contact id of the newly created draft email contact

 **Signature** 

```
createDraftEmail(contactCreation: CreateDraftEmailContact): Promise<EmailContactId>
```

 **CreateDraftEmailContact Properties** 


|  **Parameter**  |  **Type**  |  **Description**  | 
| --- | --- | --- | 
| initiationMethod | "AGENT\_REPLY" \| "OUTBOUND" | "OUTBOUND" indicates that this draft email is the start of a new email conversation; "AGENT\_REPLY" indicates that this draft email is being sent in response to an incoming email contact | 
| relatedContactId | string | The id of the contact that is the reason for creating the new draft email; this is required when initiationMethod="AGENT\_REPLY" and should be the contact id of the email that this email is being sent in response to. Also required when messageType="FORWARD" and should be the contact id of the email being forwarded. | 
| messageType | "FORWARD" | Optional. The type of message being created. Use with initiationMethod="OUTBOUND" to create a forward email contact. | 
| expiryDurationInMinutes | number | Length of time before an unsent contact expires; Minimum is 1 minute, Maximum is 1 week; Default is 12 hours. | 
| attributes | Record<string, string> | A custom key-value pair using an attribute map. The attributes are standard Amazon Connect attributes, and can be accessed in flows just like any other contact attributes. | 
| references | Record<string, { type: string; value: string; }> | Well-formed data on a contact, used by agents to complete a contact request. | 

 **Usage for Agent Initiated Outbound** 

```
const contact: EmailContactId = await emailClient.createDraftEmail({
   initiationMethod: "OUTBOUND",
});

const { contactId } = contact;
```

 **Usage for Agent Reply** 

```
const acceptedInboundEmailContactId = "exampleContactId";

const contact: EmailContactId = await emailClient.createDraftEmail({
   initiationMethod: "AGENT_REPLY",
   relatedContactId: acceptedInboundEmailContactId,
});

const { contactId } = contact;
```

 **Usage for Forward Email** 

```
const emailContactIdToBeForwarded = "exampleContactId";

const contact: EmailContactId = await emailClient.createDraftEmail({
   initiationMethod: "OUTBOUND",
   relatedContactId: emailContactIdToBeForwarded,
   messageType: "FORWARD",
});

const { contactId } = contact;
```