User Guide Version: 1.
User Guide Version 1.5 Last Revision: 2017-04-12 Objectif Lune, Inc. 2030 Pie-IX, Suite 500 Montréal, QC, Canada, H1V 2C8 +1 (514) 875-5863 www.objectiflune.com All trademarks displayed are the property of their respective owners.
© Objectif Lune, Inc. 1994-2017. All rights reserved. No part of this documentation may be reproduced, transmitted or distributed outside of Objectif Lune Inc. by any means whatsoever without the express written permission of Objectif Lune Inc. Objectif Lune Inc. disclaims responsibility for any errors and omissions in this documentation and accepts no responsibility for damages arising from such inconsistencies or their further consequences of any kind. Objectif Lune Inc.
Table of Contents Table of Contents 5 Welcome to PrintShop Mail Connect 1.
Stationery (Media) Creating a Print template with a Wizard Print context Print sections Pages Master Pages Media Email Designing an Email template Creating an Email template with a Wizard Email context Email templates Email header settings Email attachments Content elements Element types Editing HTML Attributes Inserting an element Selecting an element Styling and formatting an element Barcode Boxes Business graphics Date Hyperlink and mailto link Images Table Text and special characters Snippets Adding a s
How to position elements Styling text and paragraphs Background color and/or image Border Colors Fonts Spacing Styling a table Rotating elements Locale Personalizing content Variable data Conditional content Dynamic images Snippets Scripts Loading data Variable Data Formatting variable data Showing content conditionally Dynamic Images Writing your own scripts How scripts work Creating a new script Writing a script Managing scripts Testing scripts Optimizing scripts Loading a snippet via a script Control Scr
Job Creation Presets Output Creation Settings Designer JavaScript API Designer API Control Script API Designer Scripts API Control Script API Generating output 396 405 423 424 424 424 472 488 Print output Email output Optimizing a template Scripts Images Generating Print output Saving Printing options in Printing Presets. Connect Printing options that cannot be changed from within the Printer Wizard.
Printer Status pane Messages pane Print Manager Preferences Release Notes 523 524 524 527 Overview Connect 1.5 Designer Enhancements and Fixes Connect 1.5 Output Enhancements and Fixes Connect 1.
Welcome to PrintShop Mail Connect 1.5 Note Since we are always looking for new ways to make your life easier, we welcome your questions and comments about our products and documentation. Shoot us an email at doc@ca.objectiflune.com, or visit the online help: help.objectiflune.com and use the feedback tool at the bottom of the page. PrintShop Mail Connect is a tool designed to optimize customer communications.
Tip Information that is useful or suggests an easier method. Technical Information that may require specific knowledge to understand. Warning Information that is potentially critical to using PrintShop Mail Connect. Pay close attention.
Setup And Configuration This chapter describes the PrintShop Mail Connect installation and the different considerations that are important in regards to the installation and use of PrintShop Mail Connect. l "System and Hardware Considerations" below l "Installation and Activation" on page 21 System and Hardware Considerations There are a variety of considerations to be aware of.
Note Windows 8.0, Windows XP, Windows 2003 and older versions of Windows are not supported by PrintShop Mail Connect. Minimum Hardware Requirements l NTFS Filesystem (FAT32 is not supported) l CPU Intel Core i7-4770 Haswell (4 Core) l 8GB RAM (16GB Recommended) l Disk Space: At least 10GB (20GB recommended) Note For tips and tricks on performance, see "Performance Considerations" on page 19.
time. Terminal Server/Service PrintShop Mail Connect does not support Terminal Server (or Terminal Service) environment as possible under Windows 2000, 2003 and 2008. This is to say, if Terminal Service is installed on the server where PrintShop Mail Connect is located, unexpected behaviours may occur and will not be supported by Objectif Lune Inc.. Furthermore, using PrintShop Mail Connect in a Terminal Service environment is an infringement of our End-User License Agreement.
l Click on Start, Run. l Type in services.msc and click OK. l Locate the Windows Search service and double-click on it. l Change the Startup Type to Disable, and click Stop to stop the service. l Try the installation again. l Once completely, you may re-enable the service and start it. Commandline switches and .ini entries PrintShop Mail Connect is intended to work stably and reliably, based on Java and the Eclipse framework.
available. l l max_allowed_packet = 500M : In some implementations, especially when using Capture OnTheGo, large packet sizes are required to allow transferring binary files. This substantial packet size maximum setting ensures that the data received by PrintShop Mail Connect will be able to be stored within the database. character-set-server = utf8 , collation-server = utf8_unicode_ci , default-characterset=utf8 : These indicate database support for UTF-8/Unicode.
Server Configuration Tool), and default to those settings. l On Update from 1.4.2 or earlier, the DB Configuration Page will always default to MySQL connection settings, and if the installation was manually tweaked to connect to MS SQL Server, the user has to switch to "Microsoft SQL Server" type and enter connection details again. Installing / Updating Connect Using a Local MySQL l l l The Configuration page for the local MySQL is displayed.
Note If Connect was initially installed not containing the local MySQL product (i.e. on 1.5 installation an external MySQL was configured as database), then the Update to 1.6 will allow to select either external MySQL or external Microsoft SQL on the DB Configuration Page.
The PrintShop Mail Connect help system (this document) is currently only available in English. l Encoding: l Issues can sometimes be encountered in menus and templates when running PrintShop Mail Connect on a non-English operating system. These are due to encoding issues and will be addressed in a later release. Performance Considerations This page is a comprehensive guide to getting the most performance out of PrintShop Mail Connect as well as a rough guideline to indicate when it's best to upgrade.
generation of records and of contents items to slow down due to their nature. Here are some of them: l l l l Loading external and network resources: In Designer, using images, javascript or css resources located on a slow network or on a slow internet connection will obviously lead to a loss of speed.
l 4 or 8 physical cores. We're not talking Hyper-Threading here, but physical cores. Hyper-Threading is great with small applications, but the overhead of "switching" between the virtual cores, and the fact that, well, they're virtual, means the performance is much lesser on high-power applications such as OL Connect. In short, a dual-core processor with Hyper-Threading enabled is not equivalent to a quad-core processor.
l l PrintShop Mail requires Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 already be installed on the target system. As with any JAVA application, the more RAM available, the faster the product will execute. Note From PrintShop Mail Connect Version 1.2 onwards, the new version (1.1.8) of the Update Client is included by default with all setups.
l l l l l Must be able to write into the "Programs" folder. Must be allowed to check for existing certificates and must also be allowed to install new ones into the global certificate store on that machine. Must be able to write into HKLM and any subtree of it in the registry. Must be able to INSTALL, START and RUN services and also to MODIFY service settings.
Activation Tool To run the Software Activation Tool, administrator rights are required because this tool needs to write the license file in one of the protected folders of Windows. The tool will however allow to restart it with respective credentials if required. MySQL MySQL database service is installed by the install user (thus again the requirement of installing, starting, running and modifying services). Once running it will just work.
l l GoDaddy Class 2 Certification Authority Root Certificate - G2 - the file is gdrootg2.crt GoDaddy Secure Server Certificate (Intermediate Certificate) - G2 - the file is gdig2.crt 2. Install the certificates: Right mouse click -> Install Certificate, and follow the steps through the subsequent wizard. 3.
Installation Wizard Starting the PrintShop Mail Connect installer The PrintShop Mail Connect installer may be supplied as an ISO image or on a DVD: l l If an ISO image, either burn the ISO onto a DVD or unzip the contents to a folder (keeping the folder structure) If on a DVD, either insert the DVD and initiate the installation from there or copy the contents to a folder (keeping the folder structure) Navigate to the PrintShop Mail_Connect_Setup_x64.exe or and double-click on it.
l l Recalculate disk space: Click to re-check available disk space. This is useful if space has been made available for the installation while the installer was open. Source repository location: Displays the path where the installation files are located. This can be a local drive, installation media, or a network path. Selection Confirmation The next page confirms the installation selections made. Click Next to start the installation itself.
application, it will be updated to the latest version and will retain the settings previously specified. Select the desired options and then click OK to query the server and obtain a list of any updates that are available for your software. l l Note that the Product Update Manager can also be called from the “Objectif Lune Update Client” option in the Start menu. It can be uninstalled via Control Panel | Programs | Programs and Features.
l Comment Lines, starting with # (e.g. # The options to configure an external database) l Key=Value pairs (e.g. install.product.0 = Connect Designer) For supported keys, please refer to the next paragraph. Note install.properties file notation must follow Commons Configuration rules. Please refer to Properties files for more details. Required and Optional Properties Here is an example of an install.properties file. # Verbose logging logging.verbose = true # Product selection install.product.
Verbose Logging (Optional) By default, the Silent Installer will log in the same way as the GUI installer. That means logging of error and warnings, and certain information during database configuration. A more verbose logging can be switched on by using logging.verbose = true.
Database configuration If the MySQL Product is part of the installation, the following properties should be defined: l database.type = mysql (required) l database.password (required, needs to match the security rules) l database.port (optional, the default is 3306. The defined port needs to be available.) Additional properties are required when the configuration of an external MySQL database is required (this is the case if a Server product but not MySQL product is installed): l database.
l When the application opens, if it has never been activated or the activation has expired, the Software Activation dialog appears: l License Information subsection: l l l l l l l l l l Name: Displays the name of the application or module relevant to this activation. Serial Number: Displays the activation serial number if the product has been activated in the past.
Programs, then Objectif Lune, then PrintShop Mail Connect and is named Software Activation. Since it does not load the software, it is faster to access for the initial activation. Requesting a license After getting the Magic Number, a license request must be done for PrintShop Mail Connect: l l Customersmust submit their Magic Number and serial number to Objectif Lune via the Web Activations page: http://www.objectiflune.com/activations.
Warning After installation message will appear warning that the Server services will need to be restarted. Just click OK to proceed. Migrating to a new computer Currently there are no special migration tools to move data from one PrintShop Mail Connect installation to another. Instructions for migration will be available for later versions of the software when those tools become available. Uninstalling This topic provides some important information about uninstalling (removing) PrintShop Mail Connect1.5.
Impacts upon other Applications and Services l l The Uninstall will terminate the installed Server / MySQL service(s) The following applications / services should be stopped in a controlled fashion, before running the PrintShop Mail Connect Uninstall: 1. PrintShop Mail Connect 2. Any Connect Workflow using PrintShop Mail Connectplugins which connect to this server. 3. PrintShop Mail Connect Server Extensions on remote systems which connect to this machine as the Master Server. 4.
The Designer The Designer is a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor that lets you create templates for various output channels: Print, Email and Web. A template may contain designs for multiple output channels: a letter intended for print and an e-mail variant of the same message, for example. Content, like the body of the message or letter, can be shared across these contexts. Templates are personalized using scripts and variable data.More advanced users may use native HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
2. Fill the template Add text, images and other elements to the template and style them. See "Content elements" on page 99 and "Styling and formatting" on page 165. 3. Personalize the content Personalize the content using variable data. See "Personalizing content" on page 197. 4. Generate output Adjust the settings, test the template and generate output: letters and emails. See "Generating output" on page 488. Note Steps 2 and 3 are not necessarily to be followed in this order.
l Creating a Web template with a Wizard After creating a template you can add the other contexts (see "Contexts" on page 42), as well as extra sections (see "Sections" on page 43), to the template. It is, however, not possible to use a Template Wizard when adding a context or section to an existing template. Tip If an Email context is going to be part of the template, it is recommended to start with an Email Template Wizard; see "Creating an Email template with a Wizard" on page 84.
Auto Backup Connect Designer can automatically create a backup file when you manually save a template. To configure Auto Backup: 1. Select the menu option Window > Preferences > Save. 2. Under Auto backup, check the option Enable to activate the Auto Backup function. 3. Type the number of revisions to keep. 4. Select the directory in which the backups should be stored.
Package files The Package file dialog saves templates and print presets as a package file. Print presets make it possible to do such things as filtering and sorting records, grouping documents and splitting the print jobs into smaller print jobs, as well as the more standard selection of printing options, such as binding, OMR markings and the like. See "Job Creation Presets" on page 396 and "Output Creation Settings" on page 405 for more details. To save a template to a package file: 1.
Once imported, internal resources are accessed using a relative path, depending where they're called from. Resources can be located in the following folders: l images/ contains the files in the Images folder. l fonts/ contains the files in the Fonts folder. l css/ contains the files in the StyleSheets folder. l js/ contains the files in the JavaScripts folder. l snippets/ contains the files in the Snippets folder.
Some limitations l l Style sheets cannot refer to external resources. The Connect Server user needs access to whichever network path is used. If the network path is on a domain, the Connect Server must be identified with domain credentials that have access to the domain resources. For more information on network paths, please see this Wikipedia entry: file URI scheme. Web resources Web resources are simply accessed using a full URL.
Outputting and combining contexts All three contexts can be present in any template and they can all be used to output documents; see "Generating Email output" on page 504, "Generating Print output" on page 490 and Generating Web output. They can even be combined in output. If present in the same template, a Print context and a Web context can be attached to an Email context.
Adding a section To add a section to a context, right-click the context (Email or Print) on the Resources pane, and then click New section. It is not possible to use a Template Wizard when adding a section to an existing template. Tip If an Email context is going to be part of the template, it is recommended to start with an Email Template Wizard; see "Creating an Email template with a Wizard" on page 84. After creating a template, contexts can be added to it, but that can not be done with a wizard.
l On the Resources pane, expand the Contexts folder, expand the folder of the respective context, right-click the name of the section, and then click Delete. Warning No backup files are maintained in the template. The only way to recover a deleted section, is to click Undo on the Edit menu, until the deleted section is restored. After closing and reopening the template it is no longer possible to restore the deleted context this way.
1. Click and hold the mouse button on the style sheet on the Resources pane. 2. Move the mouse cursor within the Resources pane to the section to which the style sheet should be applied. 3. Release the mouse button. Using the Includes dialog 1. On the Resources pane, right-click the section, then click Includes. 2. Choose which CSS files should be applied to this section. You can also change the order in which the CSS files are read. This can have an effect on which CSS rule is applied in the end.
It is, however, possible to include or exclude sections when the output is generated, or to set another section as the 'default', depending on a value in the data. A Control Script can do this; see "Control Scripts" on page 235. See "Generating output" on page 488 to learn how to generate Print documents or Email. Features The Designer is Connect's module to create templates for personalized customer communications. These are some of the key features in the Designer: "Templates" on page 37.
"Generating output" on page 488. Learn the ins and outs of generating output from each of the contexts. Print With the Designer you can create one or more Print templates and merge the template with a data set to generate personal letters, invoices, policies etc. The Print context is the folder in the Designer that can contain one or more Print sections. Print templates, also called Print sections, are part of the Print context.
Headers, footers, tear-offs and repeated elements (Master page) In Print sections, there are often elements that need to be repeated across pages, like headers, footers and logos. In addition, some elements should appear on each first page, or only on pages in between the first and the last page, or only on the last page. Examples are a different header on the first page, and a tear-off slip that should show up on the last page. This is what Master Pages are used for.
To create a Print template with a Template Wizard: 1. l In the Welcome screen that appears after startup: l l l Choose Browse Template Wizards and scroll down until you see the Print Template wizards and select the Postcard or Formal Letter wizard. Or choose Create a New Template and select the PDF-based Print wizard. Alternatively, on the File menu, click New, expand the Template folder, and then: l l Select the PDF-based Print wizard.
Postcard The Postcard Wizard lets you choose a page size and two background images, one for the front and one for the back of the postcard. When you click Finish, the Wizard creates: l l l l l A Print context with one section in it, that has duplex printing (printing on both sides) enabled. See "Printing on both sides" on page 56. Two Master Pages that each contain a background image. The first Master Page is applied to the front of every page in the Print section.
l l The bleed is the printable space around a page. It can be used on some printers to ensure that no unprinted edges occur in the final trimmed document. Printers that can’t print a bleed, will misinterpret this setting. Set the bleed to zero to avoid this. The number of sections is the number of parts in the Print context. Although this Template wizard can add multiple Print sections to the Print context, it will only add content to the first section.
Tip Click the Edges button on the toolbar to make borders of elements visible on the Design tab. The borders will not be visible on the Preview tab. PDF-based Print template The PDF-based Print template wizard creates a document from an existing PDF file: a brochure, voucher, letter, etc. The PDF is used as the background image of the Print section (see "Using a PDF file as background image" on page 60).
Print templates, also called Print sections, are part of the Print context. They are meant to be printed to a printer or printer stream, or to a PDF file (see "Generating Print output" on page 490). The Print context can also be added to Email output as a PDF attachment; see "Generating Email output" on page 504. When generating output from the Print context, each of the Print sections is added to the output document, one after the other in sequence, for each record.
Examples are a different header on the first page, and a tear-off slip that should show up on the last page. This is what Master Pages are used for. Master Pages can only be used in the Print context. See "Master Pages" on page 71. Initially, the (empty) master page that has been created with the Print context will be applied to all pages in the Print section, but more Master Pages can be added and applied to different pages.
Printing on both sides To print a Print section on both sides of the paper, that Print section needs to have the Duplex printing option to be enabled; see "Enabling double-sided printing" on page 63. This setting can not be changed in a Job Creation Preset or an Output Creation Preset. Note Your printer must support duplex for this option to work. Setting the binding style for the Print context The Print context , as well as each of the Print sections, can have its own Finishing settings.
Setting the bleed The bleed is the printable space around a page. It can be used on some printers to ensure that no unprinted edges occur in the final trimmed document. The bleed is one of the settings for a section. See "Page settings: size, margins and bleed" on page 65. Print sections Print templates, also called Print sections, are part of the Print context. They are meant to be printed to a printer or printer stream, or to a PDF file (see "Generating Print output" on page 490).
Using stationery (Media) When the output of a Print context is meant to be printed on paper that already has graphical and text elements on it (called stationery, or preprinted sheets), you can add a copy of this media, in the form of a PDF file, to the Media folder. Media can be applied to pages in a Print section, to make them appear as a background to those pages. This ensures that elements added to the Print context will correspond to their correct location on the preprinted media.
"Applying a Master Page to a page in a Print section" on page 74 and "Applying Media to a page in a Print section" on page 78. Tip Editing PDF files in the Designer is not possible, but when they're used as a section's background, you can add text and other elements, such as a barcode, to them. To create a new Print template from a PDF file, use the PDF-based Print template (see "Creating a Print template with a Wizard" on page 49).
output in the order in which they appear on the Resources pane, so changing the order of the sections in the Print context changes the order in which they are outputted to the final document. To rearrange sections in a context: l l On the Resources pane, expand the Print context and drag and drop sections to change the order they are in. Alternatively, on the Resources pane, right-click a section in the Print context and click Arrange.
With this feature it is possible to create a Print template from an arbitrary PDF file. Of course, the PDF file itself can't be edited in a Designer template, but when it is used as a section's background, text and other elements, such as a barcode, can be added to it. To use a PDF file as background image: 1. On the Resources pane, expand the Print context, right-click the print section and click Background. 2. Click the downward pointing arrow after Image and select From PDF resource.
because the number of pages in a PDF file can not be determined via the http and http protocols. Therefor, with an external image, the option Save with template is always checked. 4. Select the PDF's position: l Fit to page stretches the PDF to fit the page size. l Centered centers the PDF on the page, vertically and horizontally. l Absolute places the PDF at a specific location on the page.
1. On the Resources pane, expand the Contexts folder, expand the Print context and rightclick the Print section. 2. Click Finishing. 3. Choose a Binding style and, if applicable, the number of holes. To set the binding style of the Print context, see "Setting the binding style for the Print context" on page 56. Overriding binding styles in a job creation preset A Job Creation Preset can override the binding styles set for the Print sections and for the Print context as a whole.
3. When duplex printing is enabled, further options become available. l l l Check Tumble to duplex pages as in a calendar. Check Facing pages to have the side margins switched alternately, so that after printing and binding the pages, they look like in a magazine or book. See "Pages" below to find out how to set a left and right margin on a page. If an odd page count is generated, the last page (which is a duplex backside) has only the master page.
l l Conditional content and dynamic tables, when used in a Print section, may or may not leave an empty space at the bottom of the last page. To fill that space, if there is any, an image or advert can be used as a whitespace element; see "Whitespace elements: using optional space at the end of the last page" on the facing page. Dynamic tables can be used in all contexts, but transport lines are only useful in a Print context; see Dynamic table.
example: 150mm). To change the default unit for measurement settings to centimeters or millimeters: on the Window menu, click Preferences, click Print, and then click Measurements. Whitespace elements: using optional space at the end of the last page Print sections with conditional content and dynamic tables (see "Personalizing content" on page 197) can have a variable amount of space at the bottom of the last page.
Page numbers Inserting page numbers Page numbers can be added to a Print section, but they are usually added to a Master Page, because headers and footers are designed on Master Pages; see also: "Master Pages" on page 71. To insert a page number, select Insert > Special character > Markers on the menu, and then click one of the options to decide with what kind of page number the marker will be replaced: l l l l l l Page number: The current page number in the document.
Creating a table of contents A table of contents can only be created in a template script. The script should make use of the pageRef() function. For an example, see "pageRef()" on page 457. If you don't know how to write a script, see "Writing your own scripts" on page 218. Configuring page numbers By default the page numbers are Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.) without leading zeros nor prefix, and page numbering starts with page 1 for each section. But this can be changed. To do that: 1.
By default, to prevent orphans and widows, lines are moved to the next page as soon as two lines get separated from the rest of the paragraph. This setting can be changed for the entire Print context, per paragraph and in tables. Note Widows and orphans are ignored if the page-break-inside property of the paragraph is set to avoid. In the entire Print context To prevent widows and orphans in the entire Print context: 1. On the menu, select Edit > Stylesheets. 2. Select the Print context. 3.
2. Select Format > Paragraph, on the menu. 3. After Widows and Orphans, type the number of lines to be considered a widow or orphan (this amounts to the minimum number of lines that may be separated from a paragraph, minus one). In tables The CSS properties widows and orphans can be used in tables.
l After: Sets whether a page break should occur after the element. Equivalent to the page-break-after property in CSS; see CSS page-break-after property for an explanation of the available options. Click the button Advanced to add CSS properties and values to the inline style tag directly. Note You cannot use these properties on an empty
or on absolutely positioned elements.
flow. Only one Master Page can be applied per page in printed output. Then a Print template is created, one master page is added to it automatically. You can add more Master Pages; see "Adding a Master Page" below. Initially, the original Master Page will be applied to all pages, but different Master Pages can be applied to different pages; see "Applying a Master Page to a page in a Print section" on page 74.
A Master Page can contain text, images and other elements (see "Content elements" on page 99), including variable data and dynamic images (see "Personalizing content" on page 197). All elements on a Master Page should have an absolute position or be inside an element that has an absolute position. It is good practice to position elements on a Master Page by placing them in a Positioned Box (see "Content elements" on page 99). Keep in mind that a Master Page always remains a single page.
3. Finally, apply the master page to a specific page in a print section. See "Applying a Master Page to a page in a Print section" below. Applying a Master Page to a page in a Print section Every page in a print section has a natural position: it can be the first page, the last page, one of the pages in between (a 'middle page'), or a single page. For each of those positions, you can set a different Master Page and Media (see "Media" on the next page).
Media When the output of a Print context is meant to be printed on paper that already has graphical and text elements on it (called stationery, or preprinted sheets), you can add a copy of this media, in the form of a PDF file, to the Media folder. Media can be applied to pages in a Print section, to make them appear as a background to those pages. This ensures that elements added to the Print context will correspond to their correct location on the preprinted media.
Setting Media properties Media have a number of properties that you can set, as described below. What you cannot set are a Media's page size and margins. The page size and margins are derived from the section to which the Media is applied. You can, however, specify a PDF file (or any other type of image file) for both the front and the back of the Media, and specify how the virtual stationery should be positioned on the page. This is done as follows: 1.
6. Click Finish. 7. For each of the PDF files, select a position: l Fit to page stretches the PDF to fit the page size. l Centered centers the PDF on the page, vertically and horizontally. l Absolute places the PDF at a specific location on the page. Use the Top field to specify the distance between the top side of the page and the top side of the PDF, and the Left field to specify the distance between the left side of the page and the left side of the PDF. 8. Finally, click OK.
l l On the Resources pane, expand the Contexts folder, expand the Media folder, rightclick the Media and click Rename. Type the new name and click OK. Alternatively, on the Resources pane, expand the Contexts folder, expand the Media folder, right-click the Media and click Properties. Type the new name in the Name field and click OK.
you only have to change the name of the Media and the section in the script, and write the condition on which the Media has to be replaced. 1. On the Resources pane, expand the Contexts folder, expand the Print context, rightclick the print section and click Sheet configuration. 2. Decide which pages should have dynamically switching media: every first page in the Print section, every last page, one of the pages in between (a 'middle page'), or a single page.
Email With the Designer you can create one or more Email templates and merge the template with a data set to generate personalized emails. The Email context is the folder in the Designer that can contain one or more Email templates, also called Email sections. The HTML generated by this context is meant to be compatible with as many clients and as many devices as possible.
See "Email attachments" on page 506 and "Generating Email output" on page 504. Designing an Email template With the Designer you can design Email templates. It is strongly recommended to start creating an Email template with an Email Template Wizard, because it is challenging to design HTML email that looks good on all email clients, devices and screen sizes that customers use when they are reading their email.
Email templates: Slate and others The most obvious solution offered in the Designer is to use one of the templates provided with the Designer; see "Creating an Email template with a Wizard" on page 84. The layout of these templates has been tested and proven to look good in any email client, on any device and screen size. The Tables in these templates are nested (put inside another table) and they have no visible borders, so readers won't notice them.
To learn more about Emmet, please see their website: Emmet.io and the Emmet.io documentation: http://docs.emmet.io/. Preferences To change the way Emmet works in the Designer, select Window > Preferences, and in the Preferences dialog, select Emmet; see "Emmet Preferences" on page 283. Using CSS files with HTML email Email clients do not read CSS files and some even remove a
