Create or Edit a Message Center Custom Template

Create, save, schedule, and reuse message templates for your community’s communication needs.

To create a new template:

1. Click on the “Message Center” tab on the vertical Dashboard menu at the left side of the screen.
2. Click on the “Templates” tab.
3. In the “TEMPLATES” window that opens, click on the “Custom” tab below the name of the window.
4. Click on the “+New” button to the right of the search controls.
5. Click in the “Template Name (Required)” box and enter a distinctive name for your message template. NOTE: The template name is the internal identifier for this template. Message recipients will NOT see the name of the template used to create the individual messages they receive.

To edit an existing template:

1. Click on the “Message Center” tab on the vertical Dashboard menu at the left side of the screen.
2. Click on the “Templates” tab.
3. In the “TEMPLATES” window that opens, click on the “Custom” tab below the name of the window.
4. In the “Custom” tab’s “Actions” column, click on the three-dots menu to open it, and choose “Edit.”

To use the default modular message sections:

• “Subject” is the title that the message recipient will see listed in their e-mail inbox. Click on the Edit icon (pencil) or directly into the “Subject” entry box to type your message subject. When you have finished entering the subject, click on the “Done” link in the editing controls to save your content.
• “Heading” is the large, emphasized headline that appears at the top of the e-mail message itself. It is visible to the message recipient after they open the message. Click on the Edit icon (pencil) or directly into the “Heading” entry box to type your message subject. When you have finished entering the heading, click on the “Done” link in the editing controls for the “Heading” entry box to accept your entry and move on. To delete the “Heading” altogether from the message template, click on the Delete icon (trash can) in the editing controls for the “Heading” entry box.
• “Body” provides the main text content of the message. Click on the Edit icon (pencil) or directly into the “Body” entry box to type your message content. When you have finished entering the body text, click on the “Done” link in the editing controls for the “Body” entry box to accept your entry and move on.
  • Both the “Heading” and the “Body” modular message sections provide additional editing controls for use in styling these sections. These are the same editing controls you use to create message content in Membership > Members > Members Actions > Message Filtered Members (and in the text-content widgets on the website pages you create in Site Setup). For more information about these editing controls, see the “Style Controls for the Text Editor in Widgets (Site Setup), E-blasts, Message Center, and More” topic in these instructions.
• The “Attachments” section provides the option to include an attached document with your template. NOTE: This attachment will appear in every e-blast that uses this template. If you want to add an attachment only to specific e-blasts, create a regular e-blast that does not use a template.
• Click on the “Upload file” button to open a file-upload dialog box. Locate the document on your computer and add it to the template.
  • NOTE: The “Template Name” and “Subject” are required parts of every message template. You cannot save your template unless and until you complete these two areas.
  • To save your Message Center Custom Template, click on the “Save” link to the right of the “Template Name (Required)” field.
  • To cancel creating the template, click on the “Cancel” link at the left end of the controls at the top of the template-editing window. Neither your template nor its content will be preserved.

Why and how to add dynamic fields:

An e-blast that’s based on a custom template can address each recipient by name and refer to other specifics in each individual message. Set up this customization with dynamic fields. Each dynamic field’s name tells you what information will replace it in the actual message.

• “Member First Name” (encoded as “$MemberFirstName”) becomes the first name of each individual message recipient.
• “Member Last Name” (encoded as “$MemberLastName”) becomes the last name of each recipient.
• “Organization Name” (encoded as “$OrganizationName”) becomes the name of your community.
• “Member Email” (encoded as “$MemberEmail”) becomes the e-mail address of each recipient.

So the following body text—
$MemberFirstName, $OrganizationName welcomes you and the $MemberLastName family at $MemberEmail.
—and the following Member information—
Jane Doe, janedoe@example.com, Happy HOA
—becomes the following customized message content—
Jane, Happy HOA welcomes you and the Doe family at janedoe@example.com

To add a dynamic field, choose either of these two methods.

Add a dynamic field via drag and drop—

1. Click on the desired content module to start editing it. Either click inside the boundaries of the box that encloses it, or click on the Edit icon (pencil) at the top right edge of the module interface.
2. Click where you want the dynamic field to appear.
3. Locate the desired dynamic field in the field sidebar at the right side of the template-editing interface.
4. Drag the dynamic field into the content module and drop it in place.

Add a dynamic field by typing its name (for advanced users)—

1. Click on the desired content module to start editing it. Either click inside the boundaries of the box that encloses it, or click on the Edit icon (pencil) at the top right edge of the module interface.
2. Click in the module where you want the dynamic field to appear.
3. Type the official coded name of the dynamic field. NOTE: You must type the field name exactly as it would appear if you dragged and dropped the field into the content module. The dynamic field names that appear in the field sidebar at the right side of the template-editing interface are not the official coded names of these fields.
4. Click on the “Done” link in the editing controls to save the content in the specific content module. If the dynamic field name you typed looks the same as the dynamic field listing in the field sidebar, you have typed the field name correctly, and it will function properly when you use the template.

How to edit a content module:

1. Click on the desired content module to start editing it. Either click inside the boundaries of the box that encloses it, or click on the Edit icon (pencil) at the top right edge of the module interface.
2. Type into the text area below the editing toolbar.
3. Use the tools in the editing toolbar to style your text, embed an image or iFrame, etc. For more information about these editing controls, see the “Style Controls for the Text Editor in Widgets (Site Setup), E-blasts, Message Center, and More” topic in these instructions.
   • NOTE: “Subject” and “Image” modules do not include an editing toolbar. You add regular text and/or dynamic fields to a “Subject” module, but you cannot style the “Subject” text or apply the other editing tools to it.
   • An “Image” content module provides access to a dialog box from which you can select an image file on your computer.
4. For a “Button” content module, click inside the boundaries of the box that encloses it, or click on the Edit icon (pencil) at the top right edge of the module interface. The module contains two boxes.
   • Enter the button text into the first box. By default, it says, “Button.”
   • In the “Enter Custom Link” box, type or paste the URL (address) of the location you want to load when a message recipient clicks on the button in a message.
5. When you have finished adding or editing a content module, click on the “Done” link in the editing controls to save the content in the specific content module.
   • To cancel creating or editing module content, click on the “Cancel” link at the left end of the module’s editing controls. Your template edits will not be preserved.

Why and how to add static fields:

Dynamic fields make it easy to personalize the messages you send with variables that are replaced with data from your Member records. Static fields enable you to add content modules to your messages.

1. The static fields you add from the field sidebar at the right side of the template-editing interface enable you to add the types of content areas that “Automated” templates already contain.
2. Static fields include the following types of content modules.
   • A “Heading” field creates a content area that is styled with the “H1” tag. This is large type that is used for headlines.
   • A “Body” field creates an area that is style with an appropriate tag for body copy. This is much smaller text than a “Heading” field produces. It is designed, appropriately enough, for the body of an e-blast.
   • A “Button” field adds a clickable button that links to an internet destination.
   • An “Image” field adds a content area to which you can upload an image directly from your computer. The file must be a GIF, JPG, or PNG that is smaller than 15 MB.
3. To save your changes to an automated template, click on the “Save” link to the right of the “Template Name (Required)” field.