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Template Content and Formatting

Templates can include any of the following content elements:

• A single block of template text specified in the Text field.
• One or more template items providing component parts for the template. A template item can be based on a Siebel literature item or a text file.
• A combination of template text and template items.

NOTE:  For template users to be able to work with literature items or files, the Siebel File System must be properly configured.

For email or fax messages, the content of a template item can be specified to appear in the body of a message or to appear as an attachment. Both plain-text and HTML content are supported for email or fax templates, with some limitations for fax. Standard HTML tagging options can support text formatting, images, hyperlinks, tables, and so on. For more information, see HTML Formatting.

HTML Formatting

For email or fax templates, HTML can be defined in the template text or, for advanced templates, in template items. (Template items are supported only for advanced templates, which are sent using outbound communication requests.)

Template text can be formatted as HTML using controls in the Text field. When a template is saved, formatting of text in this field is preserved only if the HTML Template check box is checked for the template.

For advanced templates, checking the HTML Template check box also specifies that HTML text from template items specified for the message body is sent as HTML. If HTML Template is not checked, this text is converted to plain text before sending.

If the default message format (specified in the Send Email group in the Outbound Communications options of the User Preferences screen) is set to HTML, then HTML formatting is enabled for the Send Email and Send Fax windows. HTML templates only are listed in the Body drop-down list.

Similarly, if the default message format setting for Siebel Email Response is set to HTML (also in the Outbound Communications options of the User Preferences screen), then HTML formatting is enabled for email replies in the Outbound Messages form of the Communications screen. HTML templates only are listed in the Body drop-down list.

For more information, see:

• Template Visibility and Access
• Preference Settings for Outbound Communications
• Editing and Formatting Controls for Template Text
• Editing and Formatting Controls for Send Email and Send Fax
• Defining Outbound Communication Requests
• Using HTML Email

For more information about HTML formatting for Siebel Email Response, see Siebel Email Response Administration Guide and Applications Administration Guide.

HTML Wrapper Templates for Email

You can create a special template to serve as a wrapper around each outbound email message, in order to format messages with HTML. Such a wrapper template can contain links to your Web site, marketing messages, and so on.

To create a wrapper template, you can use any HTML editor. To use this feature with outgoing email, create communications templates as described in this section, and modify the appropriate workflows in Siebel Workflow. By default, the applicable workflow is Email Response - Client Send Email.

Users send messages as they normally do. When a user clicks Send, the email is embedded in your wrapper template and sent to the message recipient.

For more information about using HTML wrapper templates with Siebel Email Response, see Siebel Email Response Administration Guide.