Creating and Editing an Email Template

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Modified on: Tue, 6 Dec, 2022 at 4:00 PM

If all of your press releases and pitches to the media will have similar formatting, you may want to create a template. This document will describe how you can either build a template in the Cision Communications Cloud from scratch or build a template based on an existing word template you may already have.

To begin the process of creating a template, 

1. Click the Campaigns tab.
2. Select the My Activities page.
3. Click the Create New button on the Email Distribution panel of the My Activities page.
4. You will be guided through a step-by-step process to create each part of your email.

Importing an Existing Word Document as a Template:

Within the Cision Communications Cloud is the ability to import an entire Word document, including the text it contains, live links, and images.  If your template is already a Word document, we recommend trying this import option first. Once you have imported the document, you can further revise it within the Cision Communications Cloud. Further revision using the strategies described below is also beneficial if a document element is not imported properly.

1. To import a template from a Word document,  go to the Design page of Create New Email wizard.  Click here to learn more about the preceding steps of this wizard.
2. Click the Import Word Document link.
3. Click the Browse button to see documents on your computer or in directories to which you have access.
4. Locate and click on the Word document you want to upload as a template.
5. The entire Word document will be imported, including text, images, and links. NOTE: All elements of the imported document can be revised once imported.  As well additional images, text, and links can be added. To learn how to revise or add additional elements, reference the additional sections of this page.

Adding/Editing a Logo or Images:

Do you want an image at the top of your template? You can add an image using the Insert Local  Image button described below.  You can add multiple images to your template if you desire, each time using the process described below. In terms of best practice, we recommend at least one image to maintain the attention of your media recipients. For every image you add, you always can edit it further once inserted.

To add an image, 

1. Click the Image Library button.
2. Once the Image Library opens, you can use the Add Image Upload option if you want to upload and use an image that has not been used in previous email distributions or click on an existing image in the gallery view. Remember that only image files can be uploaded to the gallery when uploading images. Each image must be 4 MB or smaller.
3. The image you selected or uploaded will be inserted in the email body editor.
4. Right-click on the image to access the image properties menu, enabling you to change the image.
5. Within the image properties menu, you can resize the image and change its alignment to left or right. NOTE: The left and right alignment choices will result in a text-wrapping effect.
6. However, if you want to centre align the image, you will need to use the centre text alignment option on the body editing toolbar rather than the image properties menu.

Adding Media Contact Information:

There are a few strategies you will want to use when adding media contact information to your template. As discussed earlier on this page, you can initially add media contact information as part of your imported document. You can also paste the media contact information using common options such as Paste from the right-click menu, CTRL+V (PC) or CMD+V (Mac). If the Media contact information imports or pastes to your liking, you are set and ready to continue building your template! If the media contact information does not import or pasted in properly, follow the steps below to ensure proper formatting.

1. If the media contact information does not import or pasted in properly (for example, the info is double-spaced instead of single-spaced), you will want to first type the media contact information into WordPad, Notepad, or a program with little or no formatting support. Then, within WordPad or Notepad, remove any extra spaces.
2. Once the information appears properly in WordPad or Notepad, copy the information.
3. Paste the media contact information into the Cision Body editor. This process should remove additional space and unwanted formatting.
4. Once you have pasted the contact information into the Cision Body Editor, you can use the font type, size, and colour buttons on the toolbar to make the text match the rest of the body text.

Adding Headline and Subheadline Text:

If your template follows a release format and will need a place for a headline and subheadline, follow the steps below to create placeholders in your template for this information.

1. You can add a placeholder for this information by either typing or pasting in a previous headline you have used or the word “Headline.” Repeat the same process for the Subheadline.
2. If your headline and subheadline need to be centre aligned, highlight the text with your mouse.
3. With the headline and subheadline highlighted, click the centre alignment button.
4. Use text formatting buttons on the toolbar, such as bold, to achieve the desired formatting for your headline and subheadline.

Adding Body Text:

The body of the template and any boilerplate text below the body can be added by:

• Importing a Word document (addressed earlier in this document)
• Pasting in text previously typed in a word processing program. Pasting can be achieved using the paste option right-click menu, CTRL+V (PC), or CMD+V (Mac).
• Typing the text directly in the editing space.

Saving Your Template:

Once you have created the template to your liking, click the Save Template button in the upper right-hand corner. You will have the option to give the template a name of your choosing.

Accessing Your Template:

To access your template for subsequent use, you will find it stored on the Custom Templates page, which is part of the step-by-step guide presented when you Create a New Email. 

When using your template in the future,

1. Click on the Custom Templates page in the Select Template section.
2. Click on the template you want to use for your email.
3. A message will appear indicating that the template will replace/overwrite any current email body contents.
4. When you move to the next step, which is Designing your email body. You can add to and modify the template to meet the needs of the specific release or pitch.