Building HTML e-mail templates

If you plan to configure workflow E-mail Notifications in HTML format, you can create custom HTML e-mail templates. Templates eliminate the need to manually design every HTML notification. You can create individual templates for each type of notifications used in your workflow (such as invitations, reports, reminders, etc.) and then use them when configuring E-mail Notifications. HTML templates are applicable across all object classes. When you need to change the design for all notifications of a specific type, you can just edit the template that they are based on.

An HTML e-mail template is an HTML file where you build a message layout template that contains all the common elements of your notifications (static text and macros) and defines sections that will be populated in specific E-mail Notifications.

NOTE: The appearance of E-mail Notifications in HTML format is controlled by standard cascading style sheet (CSS) rules. For details, see Customizing E-mail Notification styles.

You manage HTML e-mail templates in the Notifications > E-mail Notifications > HTML Templates section.

To build an HTML e-mail template:

1. Click New. The E-mail Template window opens.

2. Design your HTML template using the WYSIWYG HTML editor integrated into the E-mail Template window. For details, see HTML formatting.
   
   Alternatively, click Design > HTML Code to switch to the HTML code mode and build the source HTML code directly. You can also use third-party tools to build your HTML template and paste the resulting HTML code into the text box.

3. Insert placeholders for each message content section that you need to add: greeting, body, footer, etc. To insert a section placeholder, place the cursor in the position where you want to insert it, click Insert Section, and select the section. You can use up to ten section placeholders in every HTML template: Header, Greeting, Sidebar, Body, Footer, Section 1 - Section 5.

   NOTE: Placeholders for the content of message sections have the SEC prefix, for example: %[SEC Header]%.

4. To insert an element common to all HTML e-notifications based on this template, place the cursor in the position where you want the element to appear and type in your text or click Insert Placeholder and use the Select Placeholder window to choose a macro that will be replaced with the actual value at runtime.

   TIP: If you want to see in details a User Macro or a Workflow Parameter referenced by the placeholder, right-click the selected placeholder and choose Placeholder Definition. It opens the Macro window (Workflow Parameter window). If necessary, update details and click OK. The placeholder would be updated with new values.

5. Click OK.

To edit an HTML e-mail template:

1. Double-click the template you want to edit. The E-mail Template window opens.

2. Make your changes and click OK. The design of all E-mail Notifications that are based on this template is changed.

To delete an HTML e-mail template:

• Select one or multiple templates and click Delete.

  NOTE: A template can be deleted only when there are no E-mail Notifications based on this template.

Related Information:

Configuring E-mail Notifications

Customizing E-mail Notification styles

Creating user macros