Guide: Create a reusable template

[JohnM5246]

Can I build a custom template for my email campaigns in Affinity Pro 2, import into Constant Contact and use for my email campaign?  If so, in what format?  PDF?

[William_A]

Hello @JohnM5246 ,

If you use an outside program to design your email, your only real options for importing would be to generate a PDF version of the email, or using the custom code editor.

If you go the PDF route, keep in mind PDFs can't be embedded into emails, so you'd only be able to have an image of the first page (or every page if you convert the full document into separate images and import) and a link to the actual document. It's also important to keep in mind that you'd want to add additional content to the PDF-conversion email to avoid spam filters filtering out an image-only email. Additionally, at this time, the PDF-to-email conversion still uses the older third generation editor (3GE), so there's some design, formatting, and block elements that won't be consistent with our current Cross Device/Platform Editor (CPE).

If you go the custom code route (assuming the program you use for designing the email allows you to access the HTML), then you can use the custom code editor to plug in that code, make the adjustments necessary to comply with the custom code, and send it out. 

If you don't have a lot of experience coding emails from scratch using HTML, and you don't want to make a short, basic email that ultimately just links to a fuller document, then I'd advise building your email within the standard CPE builder. For general guidance on what a reusable template should and shouldn't include for easy copying/creating from, I'd recommend referencing our main article on the topic. 

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When you have the time, we also have a Getting Started guide (also available in video format), with relevant links for newcomers using the system. You're also welcome to call our general support so you can work 1:1 with an agent, and also screenshare while you're logged into the account.

Our Community also has resources under the Get Help and Resources tabs at the top, particularly for the Marketing Digest page and Onboarding Hub pages.

Otherwise, our Knowledge Base has articles available for all the different tools in our system, with written instructions, visual aids, video tutorials, and common troubleshooting steps as well.