Schedule tests

Before you start

• Add your staff.
• Ask whoever runs your email to let OutPhish’s emails through, so tests aren’t blocked or sent to junk. See Allow OutPhish emails.
• Review the email templates your organisation will get. See Choose email templates.
• Check your timezone on the Settings page under Timezone. The Campaigns page shows dates in this timezone, and it decides which seasonal templates suit you.

Switch on scheduled tests

1. Click Campaigns in the menu.
2. Under Schedule & email content, choose your settings. Each one is explained below.
3. Turn on the Scheduling switch.
4. Click Save changes at the bottom of the page.

The top of the page now says Scheduling active.

OutPhish plans tests once a day. Your first round starts at the next daily run, within 24 hours of saving. Until then, Next scheduled date shows Not scheduled.

Note

When you switch scheduling on or off, OutPhish emails everyone who can sign in to your account and every active staff member. It tells staff that phishing simulations are now active (or paused). You may want to tell your staff about the programme yourself first.

Choose how often tests go out

Use Email frequency. Each active staff member gets one test per period:

Option	How often each person gets a test
Daily	Once a day
Weekly	Once a week
Monthly	Once every 30 days
Quarterly	Once every 90 days

New accounts start on Weekly.

Within each period, each person’s test goes out at a random time. Tests aren’t limited to working hours, so one can arrive in the evening or on a weekend.

Next scheduled date shows when the next round of tests starts. To see when each person’s next test is due, check the Next email column on the Staff page.

Note

Changing Email frequency starts a new round at the next daily run. Anyone who isn’t already waiting for a test gets one in that round. Saving other changes doesn’t start a new round.

Choose when staff redo training

Use Training frequency:

• Annually and On Fail: staff redo training a year after they last finished it, and after any test they fail.
• On Fail Only: staff redo training only after they fail a test.

See Staff training.

Set your email platform

Use Email platform to choose the email system your business uses: Google, Office365 or Both.

This decides which fake sign-in page staff see if they click a test: one that looks like Google or one that looks like Microsoft. Both picks one at random each time. At higher difficulty levels, AI-written emails can also mention your platform.

It also decides which templates are used. Microsoft 365 templates are only used with Office365 or Both, and Google templates only with Google or Both. That way a Microsoft 365 email doesn’t lead to a Google sign-in page, or the other way round. With Both, the sign-in page is still picked at random. See Choose email templates.

Set the tone

Use Email tone to set the tone of AI-written emails: Random, Pushy, Formal, Friendly, Aggressive or Urgent. Random picks one of the others for each email.

The tone doesn’t affect template emails.

Set the maximum difficulty

Use the Maximum difficulty slider, from 1 (Easy to spot) to 20 (Highly convincing). New accounts start at 20.

Each staff member’s difficulty level goes up by 1 each round until it reaches this maximum. Clicking a test lowers their level, and entering details on the fake sign-in page drops it to 0. See How tests work.

Lowering the maximum doesn’t lower anyone who is already above it. Their level just stops rising.

Change the advanced settings

Under Advanced you can choose:

• the mix of email links, QR codes and PDF attachments. See Test formats.
• how often emails are AI-written or come from templates. See Test formats.
• which templates your organisation gets. See Choose email templates.

Click Save changes after any change. The bar at the bottom says Unsaved changes until you do.

Pause scheduled tests

1. On the Campaigns page, turn off the Scheduling switch.
2. Click Save changes.

The top of the page now says Scheduling paused. Tests that haven’t gone out yet aren’t sent while scheduling is paused. Your staff and everyone who can sign in to your account get an email saying simulations are paused.

You can still send one-off tests while scheduling is paused. See Send a test now.

If you can’t change the settings

• Your role: the Organization Admin and Campaign Manager roles can change campaign settings. If you see “You have view-only access to these campaign settings”, ask an Organization Admin. See Users and roles.
• Too many staff for your plan: if the Scheduling switch is greyed out and the page says to reduce active staff, you have more active staff than your plan covers. The Free plan covers up to 15. Archive staff or increase your capacity. See Staff and your plan.
• Free trial: if the page says “Explore your campaign settings”, your account is on a free trial. You can look at the settings but can’t save them or switch on scheduling. See Subscription and billing.