Using the Email Marketing Editor

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Using the Email Marketing Editor

You create the HTML email using all the features of the editor, described in the following sections, including merge fields, conditional content, response fields, graphics, and links to documents.

To make changes using the HTML Editor, enter your changes in the workspace. Use the editing toolbar at the top of the HTML Editor to format and work with text. Most of the buttons on the toolbar are the same buttons that appear in standard text editing applications.

NOTE: Not all toolbar buttons appear by default. You can add toolbars by right-clicking on the editor bar and choosing the toolbars you want to add.

You can also right-click highlighted text and make selections from the menu to perform some of the same tasks that you perform using the editing toolbar.

For information about more advanced features of the editor, see:

Adding Response Hyperlinks

Using Merge Fields in Email Content

Using Conditional Content in Email Marketing

Table 5 describes how to use the toolbar. Place the cursor over a tool button to view its name.

Table 5. HTML Editing Toolbar Buttons
Button	Keystroke	Function
Cut	Ctrl+X	Removes selected text and graphics. Place that data on the clipboard. (If you later cut or copy more information onto the clipboard, the new information overwrites the original information.)
Copy	Ctrl+C	Copies selected text and graphics to the clipboard.
Paste	Ctrl+V	Inserts the most recently cut or copied text and graphics at the current cursor location.
Paste Text	None	Pastes the contents of the clipboard as plain text. This removes all HTML tags (including images).
Replace	None	Launches the Search and Replace dialog box. The dialog searches for (and lets you optionally replace) text that you specify.
Find Next	None	Finds next occurrence of the string entered into the Find What field of the Search and Replace dialog box.
Print	Ctrl+P	Prints the editor content.
Undo	Ctrl+Z	Reverses the most recent action, as if it never occurred. You can undo as many actions as you wish.
Redo	Ctrl+Y	Reverses the undo action.
Spell Check (manual)	None	Begins spell checker.
Spell Check (automatic)	None	Turns on or off spell check as-you-type feature.
Bookmark	None	Creates a bookmark. A bookmark identifies a location on a page. You can then create a hyperlink to target the bookmark.
Edit Hyperlink	None	Changes information about a hyperlink.
Remove Link	None	Removes a hyperlink.
Horizontal Line	None	Inserts a horizontal line.
Table	None	Inserts or edits a table.
Edit in Word	None	Edits content in Microsoft Word. NOTE: This is not a best practice. For more information, see Editing in Microsoft Word.
Clear Content	None	Clears the selected content.
Find an Email Template	None	Browses for an email template.
Link to Document	None	Inserts a hyperlink to a document.
Insert Picture	None	Inserts a picture.
File Upload	None	Uploads any external files (such as images) to the server.
View as WYSIWYG	None	Displays the page content as WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get). WYSIWYG is the ability to see in the editor what will appear when a recipient views the email.
View Source	None	Displays the email content as HTML.
Number	None	Makes this line a numbered step. If the line above this line is: not numbered, makes this step 1 numbered, makes this the next sequential step number
Bullet	None	Begins the line on which the cursor rests (or all selected lines) with a bullet ( ).
Indent	None	Increases or decreases the current line's distance from the left margin.
Left, Center, and Right Justify	None	Aligns paragraph: left (with ragged right) centered right (with ragged left) both sides
Remove Style	None	Removes all style information from selected text.
Style	None	Picks a style and applies to selected text.
Heading Size	None	Changes the heading size.
Font Style	None	Changes the font style.
Font Size	None	Changes the font size.
Font Color	None	Changes the font color.
Background Color	None	Changes the background color of the text. NOTE: To remove background color from selected text, click the Normal button ( ).
Bold	Ctrl+B	Makes the text bold.
Italic	Ctrl+I	Makes the text italic.
Underline	Ctrl+U	Makes the text underlined.
Normal	None	Removes all formatting from selected text.
Superscript	None	Makes the selected text a superscript.
Subscript	None	Makes the selected text a subscript.
Copyright	None	Inserts copyright symbol.
Registered Trademark	None	Inserts registered trademark symbol.
TM	None	Inserts trademark symbol.
and Special Characters	None	Inserts special characters (such as £, µ, Ñ) from a drop down list.

NOTE: As with other HTML editors, when you press Enter, you create a new paragraph with spacing of 1.5 lines. If you want to create a line break, press and hold the Shift key while you press Enter.

Position Objects Options

These buttons let you specify the absolute position of elements such as pictures, tables, and so on, anywhere on a page. Table 6 describes the object positioning buttons.

NOTE: Not all toolbar buttons appear by default. You can add toolbars by right-clicking on the editor bar and choosing the toolbars you want to add.

Table 6. Object positioning buttons
Button	Function
Position	Moves selected table or image anywhere on the screen.
Lock	Locks selected table or image at its current screen position. Nothing can move a locked object. To unlock the object, click the button again.
Move to Front	If two or more images overlay each other, moves the selected image in front of the others.
Move to Back	If two or more images overlay each other, moves the selected image behind the others.
Above Text	If text overlays an image, moves the image in front of the text.
Below Text	If an image overlays text, moves the text in front of the image.

Text Direction Options

The text direction menu options allow bi-directional editing of text, which is useful for Arabic, Farsi and Hebrew. The client computer must also support the language.

To display the text direction toolbar, right-click on the editor bar and choose Text Direction.

The text buttons determine the editing direction, while the edit buttons determine the side of the editor that displays the scroll bar.

For right-to left languages, such as Arabic, Farsi and Hebrew, the text editing is right to left, and the scroll bar is on the left side.

For western European languages, the text editing is left to right, and the scroll bar is on the right side. Table 7 describes the text direction buttons.

Table 7. Text direction buttons
Button	Function
Left-Right Text	Text is entered left to right.
Right-Left Text	Text is entered right to left.
Left-Right Edit	The vertical scroll bar appears on the right side of the window.
Right-Left Edit	The vertical scroll bar appears on the left side of the window.

Using an Existing HTML Template

If your company has established standard email templates, or you want to reuse a previous email design for your current campaign, you can select an existing template from the Email Marketing Library. This shortens the process of creating email content as it allows you to select any previous campaign's creative and use it as a template.

To insert an email template

From the HTML email editor, click the Find an Email Template button.

The select an email template pop up window appears, with the recently used templates listed first. You can sort the templates or search for a specific file.

To preview the content, click the View link.

To select a template, click on the name.

The template is inserted into your email.

NOTE: Each email campaign is automatically saved as a template under the Campaign Name. For example, if your Campaign Name is November 2007 Newsletter, the template will be added to the Email Marketing Library under the same name.

You can add a template from an external location, such as the desktop.

To insert a template from an external file

On the Edit HTML tab, click the Find an Email Template button.

The Select an email template pop up window appears.

Click the New button in the template library.

Click Browse, navigate to the HTML file you want, and select it.

Apply the appropriate encoding from the Character Set drop-down list, then click Submit.

The HTML content appears in the body of your email.

Copying Information from Other Applications

You can copy information from most other Windows applications into Email Marketing On Demand and retain the formatting from the original application.

To copy formatted HTML content from another source

Sign on to the application in which the information resides.

Select the information to be copied and press CTRL+C.

Go to the Email Marketing On Demand HTML editor window and click the View as WYSIWYG button. See Table 5.

Press CTRL+V to paste the selected information into the Email Marketing On Demand HTML editor workspace.

You can then click the HTML Preview tab to see how your content will appear when a recipient views your email.

You can copy unformatted HTML source code from another source, such as a text editor.

To copy HTML source code from another source

Sign on to the application in which the information resides.

Select the information to be copied and press CTRL+C.

Go to the Email Marketing On Demand HTML editor window and click the View Source button. See Table 5.

Press CTRL+V to paste the selected information into the Email Marketing On Demand HTML editor workspace.

You can then click the View as WYSIWYG button to see the HTML layout of your content.

Experiment by copying from different sources to test the results.

Editing in Microsoft Word

If your computer has Microsoft Word 2000 or greater, you can edit content within Microsoft Word. You may prefer to do this if you are familiar with the Microsoft Word user interface, and want to use additional functionality available in Microsoft Word.

NOTE: It is not a best practice to use Word to generate HTML email content, because some Microsoft Word formatting may be incompatible with HTML and therefore cannot be transferred to the Email Marketing On Demand HTML editor.

To edit with Microsoft Word

From the HTML Edit tab in the editor, click the Microsoft Word toolbar button. For a list of buttons, see Table 5.

A dialog may appear, warning you that some Microsoft Word formatting may not be transferred back to Email Marketing On Demand. Click Yes if you still want to edit in Microsoft Word.

Microsoft Word opens. Any content that was in the HTML editor when you clicked the Microsoft Word button is copied to Microsoft Word.

Edit the content as necessary.

Click File > Close.

When another warning like the one in Step 1 appears, click Yes to copy the edited content back to Email Marketing On Demand.

If you want to restore the content to the way it was before you edited it in Microsoft Word, click the Undo button. For a list of buttons, see Table 5.

If you want to restore the Microsoft Word changes after clicking Undo, click the redo button. For a list of buttons, see Table 5.

Published: 05 March 2008