Project Signal · Coming soon

A live project memory inside Outlook

Project Signal turns the threads, meetings and documents around important work into a controlled, goal led project workspace your whole team can see. Built for tenders, proposals, client projects, legal reviews, recruitment and confidential matters.

Project Signal is in active development as the enterprise add on to SMART Reply. We are taking expressions of interest from teams who want to be considered for early access.
Why this matters

Important work rarely lives in one email thread

A tender, proposal, client project, legal review, senior recruitment process or internal initiative will involve several email threads, several meetings, several departments and several documents. The picture is real, but nobody owns it. The lead has to reconstruct it from memory every time a new email arrives. Senior leaders ask "where are we on this" and get a different answer from every person they ask.

Project Signal fixes that. It is a parent workspace inside Outlook for one specific piece of work. It links the right email threads, the right meetings, the right people, the right files, the right actions, the right risks and the right decisions, all in one record, with explicit ownership and explicit permissions.

You do not have to copy your work into a separate project tool. The work already happens in Outlook. Project Signal turns what is already happening into a controlled project memory layer.

Other tools help users manage email.
SMART Reply manages the work hidden inside email and meetings.

Project Signal is the enterprise core of SMART Reply. Goal led, owner controlled, permission aware project tracking inside Outlook.

The thirteen things in every Project Signal

A complete project record, by design

Title

A clear project name, such as ABC Group SMART Reply Tender.

Description

A plain English explanation of what the project is about.

End goal

The outcome the project is trying to achieve.

Target date

The date the goal should be achieved by, where known.

Lead owner

The person accountable for the Project Signal.

Sensitivity

Normal, Confidential or Restricted, with stricter controls at each level.

Access list

Named users and the role each one holds.

Linked email threads

Approved Outlook threads that belong to the project.

Linked meetings

Meeting notes, transcripts and actions attached to the project.

Actions

Open, completed and blocked actions across the project.

Documents and folder

Project files, attachments and the SharePoint or OneDrive folder.

Risks and decisions

Important risks, blockers, approvals and decisions.

Status

Current state, risk level and recommended next step.

An example

What a Project Signal record looks like

A worked example of one Project Signal, the way a lead owner would see it inside Outlook.

ABC Group · SMART Reply Tender

Amber · Goal at risk
Description
ABC Group are considering SMART Reply for their recruitment team.
End goal
Submit proposal and secure approval for a paid pilot.
Target date
30 June 2026
Lead owner
Daniel Reeve
People
Jane · customer lead Mark · information technology security Sarah · procurement
Open actions
Send security answers Confirm implementation timeline Send pricing document
Project folder
SharePoint · Clients · ABC Group · SMART Reply Tender
Status reason
The pricing document is ready, but the security questionnaire is still unanswered and the final proposal has not been submitted.
Sensitivity model

Safe for confidential work

Project Signals can hold sensitive internal work such as redundancy planning, legal disputes, senior recruitment, acquisitions, disciplinary issues and confidential negotiations. Each Project Signal has a sensitivity setting that controls who can see it and how it surfaces in search and dashboards.

Normal

Standard project visibility

Visible to named users on the access list. Appears in search and dashboards for permitted viewers. Standard audit logging applies.

Confidential

Limited to named users

Reduced exposure on dashboards. Stricter audit events. Surfaces only to people the lead owner has explicitly added. Folder permissions tightened.

Restricted

Invisible to anyone outside the access list

Not visible in general search, suggestions or dashboards unless the viewer has explicit permission. Document additions may require lead owner approval.

Where teams will use it

The work Project Signal is built for

Tenders and proposals

One Project Signal per opportunity. The threads with the customer, the security questionnaire, the pricing document, the meetings with procurement and IT, all in one record with a target submission date.

Client projects and accounts

Account managers keep one Project Signal per client engagement. Senior leaders see status without asking.

Mergers, acquisitions and confidential negotiations

Restricted Project Signals visible only to deal team members. Folder permissions tightened. Document additions audited.

Legal reviews and disputes

One Project Signal per matter. The conversation history with counsel, the documents, the decisions and the risks, all in one place with explicit access control.

Senior recruitment

Confidential Project Signals for executive hires. The candidate communications, the interview notes, the panel decisions, scoped to the search committee only.

Internal initiatives and redundancy planning

Restricted Project Signals for sensitive internal change. Visible only to the leadership group running the work. Folder permissions aligned with the access list.

Frequently asked

Questions enterprise buyers ask first

What is Project Signal?

A live project workspace inside Outlook. It brings together the email threads, meetings, people, actions, files and decisions around a specific piece of important work, so the project record stays complete without anyone having to reconstruct it from memory.

How is Project Signal different from a project management tool like Asana or Monday?

Asana and Monday sit outside email and require people to copy work into them. Project Signal lives inside Outlook where the work actually happens. It captures the threads, meetings and documents you already produce as the project record, with explicit ownership and permissions, so nothing has to be duplicated.

Who can see a Project Signal?

Only people the lead owner has explicitly added. Project Signals are private by default. There are four roles: lead owner, contributor, viewer and leadership viewer. People in the same organisation cannot see a Project Signal just because they share the tenant.

Can Project Signal handle confidential work like redundancy, mergers and acquisitions or disciplinary cases?

Yes. Each Project Signal has a sensitivity setting of Normal, Confidential or Restricted. Restricted Signals are not visible in general search, suggestions or dashboards unless the viewer has been granted permission. Folder permissions align with the Signal access list where possible.

Will Project Signal automatically link every email from the same person?

No. People and domains are clues, not proof. The same person may be involved in multiple projects at the same time. A new email thread can only be linked when the lead owner adds it manually, the user explicitly chooses an existing Signal, the lead owner approves a suggestion, or the thread has been linked previously.

When will Project Signal be available?

Project Signal is in active development as the enterprise add on to SMART Reply. We are taking expressions of interest now from teams who want to be considered for early access. Email [email protected] to start the conversation.

Be one of the first to use it

If your team runs tenders, client engagements, legal matters, M and A processes or any work where the picture is scattered across threads and meetings, we want to hear from you. Early access spots are limited.