Getting Started

The Drag and Drop editor is divided into two main areas: the main message editing section on the left, and the properties panel on the right. In general, you will be dragging and dropping content elements onto the stage and then editing their properties.

You have the following options available when you create content using the drag-and-drop editor:

• Dark mode preview
  This option allows you to preview your content in the dark mode. The generated preview is an approximation and can vary with devices and the ISP.
• Switch to HTML editor
  This option allows you to switch to the HTML editor and create content using it. Once switched, you cannot revert to the drag-and-drop editor. For more information, refer to Edit/Paste HTML template.
  
  
  
• Preview
  This option allows you to preview the created content. You can preview the Subject line, Preview text, Sender Name, From email address, and Reply-to email address.
  

 

Properties Panel

The properties panel is divided into the following sections:

• CONTENT
• ROWS
• SETTINGS

CONTENT

The CONTENT tab allows you to choose a new content element and add it to your message. Drag and drop a content element (a button, an image, a text block, a transparent or solid divider, social media sharing) in the message area on the left.

TEXT

 

If you click inside a text content block, the text editor toolbar appears directly on the editing stage. It gives you access to a number of text editing tools: font family, font size, basic formatting, text alignment, numbered and non-numbered bullets, font color, links.

Add Links

Links can be added by selecting the text and clicking on the Insert/edit option: 

The 'Insert link' pop-up window is displayed which allows the user to give the link details:

Add Personalized Links

Personalized links can be added using the More >> Links. This will open a pop-up window where the user can access and select from a list of personalized attributes (User profile attributes and Event attributes).

 

IMAGE

How to Insert an Image?

Images can be inserted using the File manager. The editor includes a built-in file manager. The file manager is the component that you will use to browse, search, and select the images and documents that you wish to use in your email message. With the handy file manager you can:

• Browse, search, and sort existing files
• Switch between list and grid view
• Import new files
• Create new folders
• Preview and insert images into your message

How Does It Look?

The file manager opens over the editor, covering the entire working area. This allows you to browse your files without worrying about your screen size or resolution. 

The top section has actions and navigation helpers, with most of the space used to list your files and the information you need to work with them. By default, folders and images are shown in the Grid view. If you switch to List view, it will be used next time you open the File Manager. Here is an example of images within a folder, in the Grid view:

And here is the same folder, in the List view.

How to Access It?

The file manager will load in several scenarios.

• When you click Browse in an image placeholder, which is displayed when you drag and drop an image content block into a message.
  
• When you click Change image in the image properties panel:
  
  
• When you click Link file when working with images and buttons:
  
  

How to Upload Files?

The quickest way to upload a file into the file manager is to drag it from your computer to the file manager window, dropping it anywhere on the page.

You can also

• Browse and upload from your computer using the Upload.
• Import from an external application using the Import button (see more below), if this feature has been enabled.
• Search and import free stock photos using the Search free photos button, if this feature has been enabled.

Note that the maximum allowed file size that can be uploaded is 5 MB.

How to Import Files from Other Applications

The Import feature allows you to connect external applications such as DropBox, Google Drive, Instagram, and more, and import your files. 

How to Browse or Search Files

To locate your desired image or document, browse your folders and order their content by name, date, size or type by clicking the sort labels on top of the list.

An arrow icon next to this labels means that this is the current filter, and its orientation shows the order, ascending or descending.

Too many files in the selected folder? Click the lens icon to run a search. Results are filtered on the fly. Mind that this search is performed only in the current folder, and not in your entire repository.

How to Use Files?

When you move your cursor over a file or folder, that row will be highlighted and the available action icons will be shown on the right side:

• Preview for files
• Delete for both files and folders

If an action is momentary not available, you are notified by the tooltip text of the icon, such as when you try to delete a folder that contains files, because only empty folders can be deleted.

If you want to delete multiple files or folders, use the check boxes to select them, the delete action is shown on top of the list. Only elements that can be deleted will have a selectable check box.

How to Organise Folders?

You can create the folder structure you prefer to organise your files. To add new folders, use the Add folder icon.

For your folder names you can use letters (upper and lower case), numbers, spaces, periods (.), hyphens (-), or underscores (_).

To navigate to the parent folder, use the top breadcrumb. Clicking the home icon takes you to your root folder.

How Does the Image Editor Work?

Edit Images

The email editor includes an image editor that allows you to crop, rotate, resize, apply filters/frames, add stickers to any image, without leaving the editor.

 

Accessing the Image Editor

When you select an image in the editor, the Apply effects & more button is displayed. Click it to have access to a tool that allows you to edit the image in a variety of ways.

The editor has a lot of cool features, from filters to resizing and cropping tools.

 

You can quickly and easily change the image size.

 

There are also a number of predefined filters that can help you very quickly change the look of the image.

 

 DYNAMIC CONTENT

You can use the dynamic content block to add a personalized image:

1. Select the dynamic block and click Add Option.
   
2. Enter the details of the personalized image in the Personalized Content pop-up window.
   
   
   1. Enter the personalized attribute in the Image Source URL field.
   2. Enter the target link in the Target URL field.

HTML

The HTML block allows you to add your HTML code to an email message that you are designing with the editor. 

How to Add an HTML Code?

To add your code, drag an HTML content element into your message. It can be positioned alone, with other HTML content items, or mixed with other types of content.

The newly-inserted content block displays some default placeholder text. Click it and the right-side property panel displays the HTML code editing pane. You will find some placeholder code inside the editing area:

Paste your HTML code or write it directly in the editing area. The system highlights your syntax and indent your code to make it more readable.

Note: Using your code may affect how the message is rendered in email clients, preventing it from adjusting to the screen size (that is, the "responsiveness" of the message). Make sure to use HTML that is email compliant and responsive.

Which HTML Tags Are Allowed?

The HTML content will automatically correct some issues like HTML tags that are left open, and strip out code that cannot be used, such as script tags or iframe tags (this code tags are not allowed by the major part of email clients, can cause deliverability problems or security risks).

List of Allowed Tags

<a>, <abbr>, <acronym>, <address>, <area>, <b>, <bdo>, <big>, <blockquote>, <button>, <caption>, <center>, <cite>, <code>, <colgroup>, <dd>, <del>, <dfn>, <dir>, <div>, <dl>, <dt>, <em>, <fieldset>, <font>, <form>, <h1>, <h2>, <h3>, <h4>, <h5>, <h6>, <i>, <ins>, <kbd>, <label>, <legend>, <li>, <map>, <menu>, <ol>, <optgroup>, <option>, <p>, <pre>, <q>, <s>, <samp>, <select>, <small>, <span>, <strike>, <strong>, <sub>, <sup>, <table>, <tbody>, <td>, <textarea>, <tfoot>, <th>, <thead>, <u>, <tr>, <tt>, <u>, <ul>, <var>

List of Allowed Attributes

Tag	Allowed Attributes
<a>	href, name, target
<img>	align, alt, border height, hspace, src, vspace, width
<table>	align, bgcolor, border, cellpadding, cellspacing, width
<tbody>	align, valign
<td>	align, bgcolor, colspan, height, rowspan, valign, width
<tr>	align, bgcolor, valign
<tfoot>	align, valign
<th>	align, bicolor, colspan, height, rowspan, valign, width
<thead>	align,valign
<li>	type
<map>	name
<area>	alt, coords, href, shape, target
General Attributes	style, id, class, data-*, title

VIDEO

The video content block allows you to share your video content in your emails. You need to copy and paste the URL of your video from YouTube or Vimeo, and the editor will do the rest: it will automatically grab the cover image for the video, overlay a Play icon on top of it, and link it to the video content.

The Content properties section prompts you to provide a video URL from YouTube or Vimeo, the popular video hosting services that we currently support. After you insert a valid URL, the content block in the editing panel displays the cover image for the video with a Play icon overlaid on top of it. You can edit the type, color, and size of the Play icon to change the way it looks. Note that the editor cannot access password-protected videos to get the cover image.

ICONS

The Icons block allows you to use small images and text together in a single content block to provide more flexibility in your designs.

How to Add an Icon Collection?

Click Add new Icon in the Content properties section of the editor sidebar to add the first icon for your collection. Then, click Change image to select an image from the file manager.

Click More options to create an accompanying section of text that you can position on the top, bottom, left, or right of the icon.

From this panel, you may also add a link for the icon and the image's alternate text. If you need to reorder the collection, drag the icon box in the content properties area.

For more design inspiration in using icons, visit the BEE editor blog post on using icons in emails.

MENU

The Menu block allows you to add a text-based Navigation element.

Perform the following steps to add menu items:

1. Click Add new item in the Content properties section of the editor sidebar.
2. Define the properties for each element for the menu item.
   
   
3. You can also reorder menu items by dragging the icon found to the left of the menu item title.
4. You can also configure the menu item as a mobile menu. This option is only applicable for mobile devices and When turned on, a “hamburger” menu will be applied on mobile. It can be expanded with a tap to reveal menu items in a vertical layout.
   
   

For more information on how to use the Menu block, visit the BEE editor article on Adding Menu.

ROWS

The ROWS panel includes different types of structural elements for your message. They allow you to create different sections of the message.

Selecting a row will switch the properties panel to the row and column settings. The editor provides flexibility and customization at both the row and column levels.

Save a Row

This option allows you to save a row and reuse it in other templates. This option can be very handy while handling repetitive content such as template headers or footers

Perform the following steps  to save a row:

1. Select the row that you want to save and click Save.
2. Enter a unique row name and select from one of the pre-defined categories. The saved rows can be found under ROWS in the respective category.

 

Create Rows with Product Set-Based Personalization

This option allows you to create rows with product blocks. A product block is a group of product attributes such as product image, product price, and so on.

Here are the steps:

1. Click Product Sets under ROWS to start the product set row wizard:
   
2. Select the product set that you want to use and enter the number of product blocks that you want to add in the template.
   
3. The next step is to define the row layout, that is, the number of product blocks each row should have.
   
4. Next select the product block layout from the three types of pre-defined layout options.
   Note: Currently this wizard supports only the following components in a product block - 1 image, 2 text boxes, and 1 button.
   
5. The last step is to map the product block components to the product attributes. These product attributes are fetched from the product set.
   

   For example:

   • Product image which is an image block can be the 'image link' attribute of the product.
     Property 1 which is a text block can be the 'title' attribute of the product.
   • Property 2 which is a text block can be the 'description' attribute of the product.
   • CTA button which is a button that can have the 'link' attribute along with the button label - 'Buy Now'.
   Note: You can also set a fallback option to 'Do not send email' if one of the product attributes is not found.
   
6. The product set rows are then created and saved under the ROWS section in the corresponding product set category. You can now drag-drop these product block rows into your message.
   

Note: The prerequisite for this feature is creating a Product set. Refer to this link for more information.

Undo Widget

When enabled, the UNDO feature allows you to rewind and fast-forward to any point in your recent edit history. When changes are detected, a compact Undo widget displays in the bottom left corner of the stage (see annotation below):

 

Timeline Widget

The timeline allows you to browse through the most recent changes. The widget displays:

• An icon to identify the content element type (an image, text, and so on)
• A description of what changed, giving the new property value (if any)
• The exact time it happened

These details help determine what modification was applied and allow the user to reset to an earlier version of the message.

The Undo widget currently displays the last 15 edits in the timeline, but you can always rewind to the Message Opened state to undo all changes since the message was initially opened in the editor.

Hide Content on Desktop or Mobile

Hide on feature is available for both the content level and the row level. You can now hide individual content blocks or entire rows from a specific type of device.

For example:

Content displayed on desktop	Content displayed on mobile

Do the following:

1. Navigate to Property Panel.
2. Scroll down to Block options settings
   
3. In Hide on, select Desktop or Mobile.
   

You can check the result by navigating to the Preview and selecting the Mobile view.

Hide Rows

To hide a larger portion of your design, hide an entire row instead. 

1. Select the row you want to hide.
2. Navigate to Row Properties.
3. In Hide on, select Desktop or Mobile.

SETTINGS

From the SETTINGS tab, you can modify general settings that apply to the entire message:

• Content area width: This is the width of the area where content blocks are dropped. According to email marketing best practices, it should typically be set to 600px or less. Note that this is the maximum width that will be used on larger devices. When the device’s screen is smaller, the message will adjust automatically to it.
• Background color: It is the background color for the message. This setting is effective only for rows (and columns) where color has not been specified. Otherwise, the background color specified for that content structure will be used.
• Content area background color: It is the background color for the content area. This setting is effective only for rows and columns where color has not been specified.
• Default font: It is the default font that will be used when another font family has not been specified. This setting affects all text set to use the global font.
• Link color: It is the link color. As above, this setting affects all text links set to use the default color.