Appearance
Set up your own Room
Use this when none of the ready-made rooms fits and you want Pencel to look after a process that's specific to your business. You describe it in plain words and Pencel creates the room. The room's lead then asks what it still needs, one question at a time, right in the conversation.
It takes about 5 minutes.
1. Describe the room
Click the + next to Team in the sidebar (Add a teammate).
In Describe your new room, say what it should keep on top of, the way you'd brief a new hire. For example:
Every Monday, check the state small-business grant portals for new grants we qualify for. We're a 12-person food manufacturer in Ohio. Flag anything over $50K and write a one-page summary of each.
Click Create room.
If one of the ready-made rooms fits, Pencel says so. Click Use it to install it, which is usually faster, or Create my own to go on.
Good descriptions
- Say what "done" looks like. "A one-page summary of each grant" beats "look at grants".
- Say how often. "Every Monday", "each morning" or "whenever a new order arrives".
- Say what matters. Your size, location, limits and deal-breakers: "over $50K", "only in Ohio", "never cold-email".
- Name the accounts. "From my Gmail", "in our QuickBooks", "in the #sales Slack channel".
2. Answer the lead's questions
The new room opens and its lead says hello. The room appears under Team in the sidebar, listed by the lead's name. The lead asks one question at a time. Click one of the suggested answers, or type your own and press Enter.
3. Connect what it needs
When the room needs an account, such as Gmail or QuickBooks, a card in the conversation names it. Click the button on the card to sign in or connect, and the card shows when access works. Click Not now to connect it later; the room asks again when it needs it.
4. Accept the settings
When it has what it needs, the lead posts one settings card: the goal, the team, the rules and the schedule. Click Looks good to save it. To change something first, click Change something and say what to change. The room starts its first work once you accept.
Click Skip setup on the lead's first message to set the room up yourself instead. The room then asks for each remaining step on its own card.
Ideas to start from
Copy one of these into Describe your new room and edit it to fit.
Weekly executive briefing
Every Monday morning, review the documents in my workspace from last week and write a one-page briefing for me: what happened, what's at risk, and the three decisions I need to make this week.
Customer escalations
Every hour, check my Gmail for angry or urgent customer emails. For each one, pull together the customer's history from our past emails, summarize the problem, and draft a calm reply for me to review.
Competitor watch
Each weekday, check the websites and news for Acme Foods, Bright Kitchen and FreshCo. Tell me only about price changes, new products and major announcements, with links.
Grant watch
Every Monday, search federal and Ohio small-business grant programs for new grants a 12-person food manufacturer qualifies for. Flag anything over $50K and summarize eligibility and deadline for each.
Meeting follow-ups
Each weekday morning, look at yesterday's client meetings on my Google Calendar and draft a follow-up email for each one, with the next steps we agreed, for me to review.
Change it later
Tell the room what to change, or click its name to change its goal, instructions, teammates, schedule, knowledge or budget. To pause everything, choose Pause room in the room's ⋯ Room options menu or under Schedule. To retire the room, use Advanced ▸ Archive. You can restore archived rooms from the Add a teammate page.