How to use your own custom HTML to create an email

To create a blank email:

1. Click the Messages folder
2. Click Create New Message
3. Click Blank Email to create an email from scratch
4. OR click Paste in Your Code if you want to directly paste your HTML code into the editor.
   1. To preview your email in the WYSIWYG editor after pasting in your HTML code, click Source
5. Click Save

Insert Email Content

1. Type in the Subject and Name of your email
2. Enter the body of your email in the large box. You can format it using the tools below.
3. To save your progress, click Save.  Or, when complete, click Save and Close.
4. To send a test email, click the Send Test Email button.

Familiarize yourself with the basic editor controls:

You can edit the email using HTML by clicking on the Source button on the top left of the toolbar.

Spam Report / Link Verification Tool

You can also check the quality of your email to find broken links and check for spam indicators. To do this:

1. Click Test, then Spam / Link Check. The dialogue box appears letting you know the results of the test. You will receive a spam score based on a scale of 100.

How to Insert an Image into Your Email Message

Use our insert image tool to add an image.

Insert a Custom Field

You can add a new custom field under the subscriber menu area.  Use the add a custom field tool for proper “text” to add.

Insert a link within the body of your email

1. Highlight the text that you would like to link and then click on the Link icon. 

Getting Started

To create a version of your message that will be seen only on mobile devices, open the second tab of the message editor, called Mobile Message. Insert your content into the message editor like you would for the desktop version.

If the Mobile Tab is left blank, the desktop HTML Message will show on desktop and mobile devices.  Only use the Mobile Message tab if you want to create a unique version to make the message easier to read on mobile devices.

If a message is created using a template, that template must have an editable content region set up in the Mobile tab.  Otherwise, the mobile tab will not be editable.

Best Practices

Copy Content from Desktop Version into the Mobile Version

If you leave the message blank in the Mobile Message tab, mobile devices will receive the email from the HTML Message tab, too. When creating a different version for mobile devices, you can use this option to replace the mobile version with a copy of the desktop version.  To copy the HTML message and paste it into the mobile message:

1. Click the Options button
2. Click Create Mobile from HTML
   
3. Edit the content in the Mobile Tab so that the mobile version is different from the desktop version and click Save

Preview

After creating the mobile version, click the refresh icon and navigation arrows to preview approximately how the message will look on an iPhone.  Click the center circle button to center the iPhone preview.

Use Template Blocks

Template blocks are a great way to quickly create a mobile message. You’ll be able to insert predesigned templates, layouts, and content regions.

1. Click the icon in the Mobile Message tab message editor toolbar
2. Select a simple layout or a designed mobile template like shown below:
   
3. Edit the content and you’ll be ready to go.  Please also review the Mobile Guidelines and Known Issues below.

In order to insert an image, simply press the  button on the toolbar. Click Browse Server to upload the image to your account.  The Image Properties dialog window that will open lets you set configuration options that define image source, its size, display properties, or other advanced properties. 

Image Info

The Image Info tab is the default tab that opens after you press the  button on the toolbar. It allows you to set the image URL and configure the way it will appear in the document.
Below is an overview of all Image Info tab elements:

• URL – the web address of the image. The image may be located on the same server as the web site you are currently in or on an external server.
  • External server: If you want to use an external address, use the full absolute path.

  • Local server: If the image is located on the same server, you can use a relative path that omits the domain name and starts with a slash.

• Alternative Text – a short textual description of the image that tells users with assistive devices (like screen readers) what the image is about. You should always provide your images with meaningful alternative text in order to make it accessible to users with disabilities.

• Width – the width of the image in pixels. By default this is the size of the original image.
• Height – the height of the image in pixels. By default this is the size of the original image.

• Border – the size of the solid border around the image in pixels.
• HSpace – the horizontal spacing (or margin) between the image border (if present) or the image itself and other document elements that surround the image, in pixels.
• VSpace – the vertical spacing (or margin) between the image border (if present) or the image itself and other document elements that surround the image, in pixels.
• Align – the alignment of the image in the document. Available options are Right and Left.
• Preview – a preliminary view of the selected image formatted according to the options chosen on the left.

Link

The Link tab lets you assign a link to an image inserted into the document, effectively converting the image into a clickable link. The link can point to any kind of object available in the Internet, like a simple URL address, a PDF document, or an online video.

This might prove especially useful if, for example, you want to add a thumbnail that would lead the reader of your document to a full-size copy of the image or add a company logo and point to its website.

To use the Link functionality, first you need to insert an image into a document using the Image Info tab. After you configure the display options, switch to the Link tab and configure the image target using the available options.

Below is the overview of all Link tab elements:

• URL – the web address that the image should be pointing at. This may be a plain website address, an image, or other file that is located on the same server as the web site you are currently in or on an external server.
  • External server: If you want to use an external address, use the full absolute path.

  • Local server: If the target location is on the same server, you can use an absolute path that omits the domain name and starts with a slash.
  • Browse Server button: select an image or a file from the ones that are available on the server.
  • Target – the window where the assigned link will open after clicking the image. You can choose between New Window (_blank), Topmost Window (_top), Same Window (_self), or Parent Window (_parent).

If you want to edit an image that is connected to a link, use the context menu and choose the Image Properties option. The Image Properties window will let you modify both the image and the link that it is pointing to. If you double click such image instead, you will open the Link dialog window that will only allow you to edit the link properties and not the image itself.

Upload

The Upload tab of the Image Properties dialog window allows you to send your own images to the server.

To upload an image file, click the file input field or the Browse button next to it. When the file browser of your operating system opens, navigate to an appropriate folder and choose a file by double clicking it or using the Open button. To send the file to the server, click the Send it to the Server button.

Advanced

The Advanced tab lets you configure additional image options such as assign it an ID, a class, a longer description, a tooltip, or CSS style properties. It is meant for advanced users with knowledge of HTML as well as CSS, and gives nearly endless possibilities as far as the presentation of the image is concerned.

Below is the overview of all Advanced tab elements:

• Id – a unique identifier for an image element in the document (id attribute).
• Language Direction – the direction of the text: left to right (LTR) or right to left (RTL) (dir attribute).
• Language Code – the language of the image element specified according to RFC 1766 (lang attribute).
• Long Description URL – the web address of an HTML page containing a longer description of the image (longdesc attribute).
• Stylesheet Classes – the class of the image element (class attribute). Note that an image element might be assigned more than one class. If this is a case, separate class names with spaces.
• Advisory Title – the text of the tooltip that is shown when the mouse cursor hovers over the image (title attribute).
• Style – CSS style definitions (style attribute). Note that each value must end with a semi-colon and individual properties should be separated with spaces.

How to Edit an Image with the Message Editor

To edit an image:

1. Click the edit image icon: 
2. Click Edit photo
3. Use the image editor to resize, enhance, or add text to the image
   1. Note: One advantage of resizing the image using this editing tool is that you can reduce the image size and the time it will take readers to download it.  Whereas if you only type in the width and height in the image properties window, the file size will remain the same.

   

4. When done making changes, click Apply, Save, Close, and OK

Contact eMail Networks Support at (866) 271-5908 with any questions.

What is whitelisting?

Whitelisting is the process of configuring a spam filter to exempt certain email messages from being filtered or rejected. In this case, it means configuring your own corporate email server in such a way that important email campaigns you send via eMail Networks  don’t end up getting rejected for delivery by your own mail system.

Why do I have to whitelist my own email messages?

Previously, email messages with your from address or domain were probably only sent from a mail server located on your internal networks. Spam filters usually only expect that email from your domain will come from this existing, internal mail server. Email messages that claim to be from you—but actually come from any other server outside your network—are more likely to be blocked as spam, spoof, or phishing email. Some filters also reject email messages that have the same domain name in both the “from” and “to” addresses in the headers if the messages did not originate inside your existing internal network.

Spammers love to dress up their email messages to look like they originated from somewhere they didn’t. Many companies protect themselves by allowing email from their own domain, but only if it comes from the company’s mail servers. If that wasn’t the case, it would be easy for someone to create an email message that appears to be from the head of your company telling everyone to take the day off with pay. They could send it from any mail server and fool the recipients. You’d likely be none the wiser and head home—and chaos would reign supreme.

How do I whitelist my email messages sent from the eMail Networks system?

• Contact our office to determine your eMail Networks sending IP address and domain. If you have a private IP address and/or a private domain—or if you’re not sure—contact your technical service manager who will be able to provide you with that information.

• If you don’t have a private IP address or domain from us, your sending IP address will vary based on system volume. You can try whitelisting the individual IP address that the system is using to send your messages, but there’s no guarantee that mail you send tomorrow will originate from the same IP address as it did today.

• Alternately, you can whitelist our public sending IP’s. Your IT department will likely understand how they’re to be used.  Please contact our support team at (866) 271-5908 to confirm which IP addresses you need to whitelist.

• Consult the manual for your spam filter—or with your IT department—on how to configure your filter’s whitelist, using all of the information gathered above. You will need to whitelist the sending IP addresses (or network blocks) as well as your private domains (if any).

Do I absolutely have to do this?

Not necessarily. Some spam filters are smarter than others and this is not always an issue. Feel free to skip this process until and unless you find that you have an issue receiving copies of your own email messages.

Doesn’t this mean that everybody else will have problems receiving my mail?

No. This only applies to how spam filters work when sending email messages “from yourself, to yourself.” This is specific to clients sending to themselves and is an issue completely unrelated to successfully delivering mail to the regular recipients on your email list.

How do I ensure that everybody else on my email list will receive the email messages I send with the eMail Networks system?

The most important best practice is do not send spam. Permission is the key to successful inbox delivery. Companies and Organizations that send mail only to recipients who have explicitly requested to receive that mail are the most successful at getting their email messages delivered.

Contact our support team to learn more about the tools and expertise we have to measure your current “deliverability” and help you investigate and fix any problems you might encounter.