Create a new rich template from an existing one

1. Ensure that the required workspace is on the Workspace toolbar.
2. Hover over the workspace to view the Workspace menu.
3. Under Template Studio click My Templates.
   The My Templates page that opens displays the rich templates that have been saved to the current workspace (that is, templates that users have either created by saving an existing template with a new name or created from scratch) or have been copied, moved or mapped from the Template List page in another workspace.

4. Go to Step 2. Choose a template and save it with a new name.

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You can either choose a template that has been saved to the workspace’s My Templates page or choose one from the Template Library.

1. Find the template on the My Templates page or click Choose template from library and find it in the library.

Tip! You can scroll down the page or use the Search function or find it by category in the Category pane on the left.

2. Do either of the following:
   • To preview the template hover your mouse over it and click Preview.
     The page shows you how a message created using this template will appear on a desktop computer or mobile phone. Click a channel selector to switch between different content views.
     
   • To choose a template without previewing it hover your mouse over the template and click either Edit or Use (depending on the template's location).
     The template opens at the Details step.

3. Click Save As at the top right of the page.
   The Save Template As pane opens.
4. In the Template name field give your template a new name.
5. (optional) Add information to the template to make it (and messages created from it) more readily searchable in Whispir:
   • In the Subject field edit the subject if required.
     This is an important field. It’s used both as the subject line in the email message and as searchable content in Whispir itself.
     
   • In the Category field select a category.
   • In the Description field enter a short summary of the template's purpose.
6. (optional) In the Template Thumbnail section you can add an image that will display on the template on the My Templates page. Click Replace and then browse for or upload an image.
7. Click Confirm.
   Your new template is saved with its new name (which appears at the top left of the page).
8. Go to Step 3. Edit the template content.

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The content in the template you selected is built from components. You now need to review the components on each of the channels and then edit or delete any of them. And you can also add new components to the template from the Components Library. See Use the rich message/template components for more information.

Important! The default components added in Whispir’s 2018 Brenner release (sometimes referred to as the ‘V4 components’) are not compatible with rich templates created in earlier versions of Whispir. All your older templates are still available and their components are still editable. However, you cannot add the new components to them. And any components you saved prior to the Brenner release can’t be added to new templates. To use the new components you can only add them to a new blank template or to any of the ready-made templates provided in the Brenner release.

Note: On the My Saved Components tab of the Components Library watch out for the icon with a blue triangle in the top right corner . It indicates your older saved components, which can’t be used with new messages or templates.

At the Edit step:

• The channel selector shows the available channels (such as Mobile, Email and Web). (The Social and Custom channels are only shown if your company is using these channels.)
• The currently active channel is highlighted.
• A green tick indicates channels that already contain content.
• If you don’t want to use a particular channel but it already contains content you can delete that content. Hover your mouse over each component and click the delete icon .
• The Components Library pane is open on the right.
• You can add @@ tags (at-at tags) to your content to automatically insert system, recipient and sender information when the messages are sent. See About @@ tags (at-at tags).

Note: When you double-click a component in your message the editing pane opens on the right in Content mode. It displays all the editable properties for this component. Clicking Code switches to Code mode. It can give you greater control over your changes but you should only use it if you’re experienced in editing HTML code.

Edit the Mobile channel:

Note: You can only add plain text in the Mobile channel. You can’t include rich content in an SMS message.

1. Select the Mobile channel.
2. If there is no content yet find the Plain Text component in the Components Library (under Text, image and display) and either click beside it or drag it onto the message.
3. Hover your mouse over the component and click the edit icon .
   The editing pane opens on the right in Content mode.
4. In the Plain Text property type add or edit the text.
   The changes are immediately reflected in the content on the left.

Warning! Try to keep your message short. Be aware that a message that uses @@ tags (particularly the @@web_link@@ tag), special symbols, variables or different language character sets might hit the single message size limit more quickly. If it gets split over multiple messages your company will be charged for each one. See About SMS message length and About @@ tags (at-at tags) for more information.

5. Click Done.

Edit the Email channel:

By default Whispir sends email messages as a rich content email (that is, its content is in HTML format). If you specifically need the template to handle plain text email messages you can do this as well.

1. Select the Email channel.
   • If you only want to configure rich content emails go to Step 3.
   • If you want to override the default mode and configure both rich email and plain text email (or only plain text email) go to Step 2.
2. Do the following:
   1. Click the arrow beside Email.
   2. Click the link icon.
      

The channel selector now includes both Rich Email and Text Email options.

3. Click Rich Email or Text Email to activate either option, as required.
3. If there is no content in the Email channel yet, go to the Components Library and:
   1. Expand a category to find the required component.
   2. Click beside the component or drag it onto the template.
4. In the template hover your mouse over the component and click the edit icon .
   The editing pane opens on the right in Content mode. It displays the editable properties, grouped by property type. The main property type is expanded automatically.
5. Expand a property type and add or edit the details.
   The changes are immediately reflected in the content on the left.
6. Click Done to close the editing pane.
7. Add and edit all other components as required.
8. Reorder your components if you need to: Hover your mouse over a component, click the move icon and drag the component to its new position.

Edit the Web channel:

You can add rich content to the Web channel – formatted text, images and interactive features. In fact, anything that can appear on a web page can be included.

Important! If you’re using the Web channel ensure that you also add the @@web_link@@ tag to your content in all other relevant channels. This will insert a URL link to the web page into those message channels when a message that uses this template is sent. See About @@ tags (at-at tags).

1. Select the Web channel.
2. If there is no content in the Web channel yet, go to the Components Library and:
   1. Expand a category to find the required component.
   2. Click beside the component or drag it onto the template.
3. In the template hover your mouse over the component and click the edit icon .
   The editing pane opens on the right in Content mode. It displays the editable properties, grouped by property type. The main property type is expanded automatically.
4. Expand a property type and add or edit the details.
   The changes are immediately reflected in the content on the left.
5. Click Done to close the editing pane.
6. Add and edit all other components as required.
7. Reorder your components if you need to: Hover your mouse over a component, click the move icon and drag the component to its new position.

Note: You can quickly apply a theme to your Web channel content by using a Shared Template Styles component. See Use the Shared Template Styles components.

Edit the Social channel:

The Social channel is only available if it has been configured for your company. It allows you to publish messages to social media services (such as to your company’s Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts) or to other types of end point (such as an RSS feed, or a document file or XML file).

Depending on how the channel has been set up, you can enter the message content directly into the Social channel fields or it can be pulled automatically from any of the other channels.

To add or edit content for this channel, follow the process that has been put in place for your company. Remember to also complete the details on the Publishing tab at the Features step. See Understand a message’s Features settings.

Edit the Custom channel:

The Custom channel is only available if it has been configured for your company. It’s effectively an extension to the Social channel, providing a second avenue for publishing messages to a range of end points, such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, RSS feeds, or a document file or XML file.

It can be used to support messaging needs that are much more complex than standard messaging (for example, fire emergency warning messages that display on a website’s Home page).

Depending on how the channel has been set up, you can enter message content directly into the Custom channel fields or it can be pulled automatically from any of the other channels.

To add or edit content for this channel, follow the process that has been put in place for your company. Remember to also complete the details on the Publishing tab at the Features step. See Understand a message’s Features settings.

Now go to Step 4. Select features to apply to your new template.

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You can apply a range of advanced features to a rich template. Any messages that you later create using this template will inherit those features.

1. Click Features in the progress bar to go to the Features step.
2. Click each tab in the Features steps to activate the required options and enter further details where required.
   See Understand a message’s Features settings for more information about each setting.
3. Go to Step 5. Preview your template.

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1. Click Preview in the progress bar to go to the Preview step.
   The page shows you how a message created using this template will appear on a desktop computer or mobile phone.
2. Click a channel selector to switch between different content views.
   

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3. If you need to make further changes return to the Edit step by clicking Edit in the progress bar.
4. Go to Step 6. Save your changes to the new template.

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