Email Templates: Drafts, Publishing, Version History, and Association Overrides

The email designer opens your current live email so you can edit it where it is, with changes saved as a draft until you publish. This article covers drafts and publishing, Version History, association overrides, and Apply Branding. For building and styling an email, see the "Email Templates" article.

Important: Coming Soon. If your account looks different from what's shown here, don't worry! This update is rolling out gradually and will be available to you soon. Emails that are already configured and approved in the email builder are not changed.

Contents

• Edit Your Current Email
• Save a Draft and Publish
• Cancel or Discard Changes
• Use Version History
• Association Overrides
• Apply Branding
• FAQs

Edit Your Current Email

When you open the Email Template tab for an action item step, the email builder opens the email that is sending now. If the step still uses your original email, it opens as editable content, and your original email keeps sending until you publish.

Click into the email and start editing. The status at the top changes from Live to Editing draft, with a note that the draft is not sending yet.

Save a Draft and Publish

Your changes save automatically as a draft, and the status shows Saving, Saved, or Unsaved. Only the published version sends, so you can stop at any point without sending a half-finished email. While you have a draft, click View published to see the email that is sending now, and click Continue draft to return to your draft.

To send your changes:

1. Click Publish.
2. Review the message, and then click Publish again.
   The message tells you where the email will publish. For the default email, it publishes to all associations that use the default template, and associations with their own email do not change.

Note: The version that was sending is archived and stays in Version History.

Cancel or Discard Changes

To undo the edits you made since you opened the editor, click Cancel. The draft goes back to how it looked when you opened it. Cancel appears after you make a change.

To drop your draft completely and go back to the email that is sending, click Discard Changes.

Use Version History

Version History lists every version of the email that has been live, with the date it was published and who published it.

To review or restore a version:

1. Click Version History.
2. Click Preview Email next to a version to see how it looked. The version that is sending now is marked Current Version.
3. To bring back an earlier version, click Restore, and then click Restore again on the message.
   The restored version becomes the live email right away. The version that was sending is archived and stays in Version History, and your open draft is not affected. Your original email also appears in the list, so you can restore it at any time.

Association Overrides

Association overrides let you send a customized email for a specific association, such as one with its own logo or wording, without creating a new action type.

To add an override:

1. Click Add association override.
2. Select the association.
   The override starts as a copy of your default email. Edit it, and then click Publish. The message confirms that the email publishes for that association only.

To switch between the default email and an association's email, select it from the Scope dropdown. Each association with an override has its own draft and Version History.

To return an association to the default email, select the association, and then click Remove override.

Apply Branding

Apply Branding restyles the email you are viewing with the logo and brand colors saved on your Email Branding screen (Settings > Logo Management > Email Branding). It works on any email, including ones you have edited, and it runs only when you click it, and the result is added to your draft so you can adjust it or discard it.

To apply branding:

1. Click Apply Branding.
2. Select a style, and then click Apply.
   Your content stays, and only the header and footer around it change. The result is saved as a draft, and a message confirms Branding applied to draft.

The styles are:

• Basic: No color, logo, or imagery.
• Subtle: A small logo and a thin accent line.
• Classic: A full-width color banner at the top.
• Bold: A color rule at the top and a color footer.

If you are viewing the email that is sending while a draft is open, a message asks you to discard your draft first, and you can click Discard and Apply to continue.

If your company has no logo or brand colors yet, a message says Email Branding is not set up. Set up Email Branding in Settings, or click Apply Styling Anyway to use a neutral version of the style.

See the "Email Templates" article for how to set your logo and brand colors. Email Branding also applies your colors automatically to Vantaca-provided templates, and Apply Branding is how you add your logo and style to any other email.

Note: Apply Branding restyles only the email you are viewing, either the default email or one association's email.

FAQs

Q: Does this change emails I have already approved in the email builder?

A: No. Emails that are already configured and approved in the email builder are not changed.

Q: Does my draft send to homeowners?

A: No. Only the published version sends. If a step has only a draft, the email that was sending before continues to send.

Q: What happens to my original email?

A: It keeps sending until you publish a new version. You can restore it from Version History at any time.

For more information, see the "Email Templates" article for building, styling, and testing an email, and the "Coming Soon" article for other upcoming changes.

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