Email Templates Overview

An email template in Outreach defines the content, layout, sender identity and attachments for an email campaign. It opens as a full screen overlay, either from Create in the Templates library or from the Template step of a campaign.

The Overlay

The overlay covers the whole screen so the editor has room to work. Name and Description sit at the top, the rest of the template is split across tabs, and Save is explicit.

Tab	What it controls
Template	The email body content, built with either the design or the code editor
Sender	From email, Reply-to email, subject line
Attachments	Files sent with the email to every recipient
Test Data and Defaults	Sample values for previewing, and the default value used when a contact has no value

Nothing is kept until Save is used. Closing the overlay with unsaved changes warns first, so content is only lost by choosing to discard it.

The Three Dot Menu

The three dot menu in the overlay holds the actions that change the template as a whole rather than its content:

• Switch Editor moves between the design and the code editor. Switching clears the email body, and a confirmation explains what is kept and what goes. See Choosing an Email Editor.
• Use a Saved Template appears when building a template inside a campaign, and swaps to a template from the library instead of the one being built.

Editor Experiences

There are two ways to build the email body:

• Design editor: a block based editor for building emails visually without writing code
• Code editor: a full HTML editor with syntax highlighting and live preview

The choice is made the first time the Template tab is opened, and can be changed later from the three dot menu.

See Choosing an Email Editor for a comparison, or go straight to the Design Editor Guide or the Code Editor Guide.

Variables

Variables are placeholders that resolve to a contact's own data when the message is sent:

• They can be inserted into the email body and the subject line
• In the editor they appear as tags, for example a tag showing "first_name"
• In the preview they resolve to sample values where those are set, and stay as the raw placeholder where they are not
• An unsubscribe variable is always available for inserting the required unsubscribe link

Where the values come from, and what a contact sees when one is missing, is covered in Variables and Default Values.

Required Elements

Before an email campaign can be finished, a requirements check reviews the template:

Element	Required?	Notes
From Email	Yes	A verified sender, or the address the brand supplies
Reply-to Email	Yes	A verified sender, or the address the brand supplies
Unsubscribe link	Yes	Inserted with the unsubscribe variable or the unsubscribe block
Default values	No	Flagged where a variable in the template has no default value
Subject	No	Recommended, warning shown if missing
Test email sent	No	Recommended, warning shown if not done

Preview

The preview panel sits beside the editor:

• Toggle between Desktop and Mobile views
• Variables resolve to sample values where those are set
• The preview updates as content changes

Import and Export

A template can be exported to a file and imported back into Outreach for reuse, backup or sharing. Each editor uses its own file format and an import must match the editor currently in use. See Importing and Exporting Templates.

Guides in This Section

• Choosing an Email Editor. Compare the design and code editors
• Design Editor Guide. Full walkthrough of the block based editor
• Code Editor Guide. Full walkthrough of the HTML editor
• Sender Settings. From, Reply-to and subject
• Attachments. Attaching files to an email template
• Importing and Exporting Templates. File types, matching rules and workflows