In ContactsLaw, e-mail templates are typically created using Microsoft Outlook. This makes it easy for users to create and maintain templates, and facilitates features such as automatic sending, PDF conversion and more. However, Outlook Mail Templates (.OFT) are not well-suited to mass mailouts because of their high overheads and potential inconsistencies in other mail clients (Gmail, etc). These templates also cannot be used with the ContactsLaw Daemon owing to the unavailability of Microsoft Outlook in that environment.

Therefore, ContactsLaw offers an alternative format for e-mail templates in the form of HTML e-mails. These templates are self-contained and build documents very quickly without the need for an external mail client. They support a subset of the features available to Outlook templates.

Creating HTML e-mail templates

1. The first step in creating an HTML e-mail template is to create the HTML document from which the template is constructed. If the resulting e-mails are intended for mass marketing, special care must be taken to ensure that formatting is consistent across different mail clients and that the message will not be regarded as spam. The authoring of HTML documents is beyond the scope of this article, but there are many techniques to achieve this.
2. If the e-mail template contains content that is to be inserted from ContactsLaw, add placeholder fields in the same manner as you would for an Outlook template; i.e. by surrounding them in double angle brackets («MyField»). You can also add placeholders for fragments.
3. Upload the template to ContactsLaw by selecting the New -> HTML e-mail template command from the ribbon. You will be prompted for the location of the HTML document. Select the appropriate document type and workgroup.
4. Map the fields and save the template.

If you wish to subsequently edit the HTML document associated with the template, it will open in the default editor (as configured in Windows). If there is no default editor configured, the document will open in Notepad.

Converting from Outlook templates

As a convenience measure, you can convert existing templates created in Microsoft Outlook to the HTML e-mail format by using the Convert feature in the document template editor. Note that Outlook uses non-standard markup and your message may not display correctly in other e-mail clients. It is recommended that you test any template that you convert from the Outlook format in a variety of different applications and platforms before attempting widespread use.

Working with HTML e-mails