Creating & designing an email signature
Before you start creating and designing email signatures, we recommend thoroughly reviewing the article 'Before you start creating email signature'. Once you have done that, you can refer to this article for instructions on creating and designing email signatures.
Adding an email signature
With eformity, you can add one or more email signatures. Email signatures are managed from the web interface. In this article, we will explain the steps to create an email signature within eformity.
Step 1: Log in to the eformity web interface
As mentioned, email signatures are managed from the web interface. The first step is to log in to the eformity web interface. The web interface can be accessed via: companyname.eformity.net. Log in with your personal credentials.
Step 2: Navigate to 'Configuration' in the menu
Once logged in, you need to navigate to the 'Configuration' section. Do this by clicking on the hamburger icon. The hamburger icon is circled in the image below.
A menu will now open on the left side of the page. This menu has up to 5 options. Email signatures are created in the 'Configuration' section; click on the tile with this text.
Step 3: Add a new signature
When you are in the 'Configuration' section, click on 'Email'. Various options will appear. Click on the 'Signatures' option.
Warning!
Before adding a new signature, it is advisable to add a theme first. The theme includes the font, text color, and size.
You will now see an overview of all the different email signatures. To add a new email signature, click on the 'Add' button.
A new element will now open on the right side of the page. In this new element, you can fill in the details for the new email signature, such as name (required), reply signature, theme, apply theme, and visible.
| Field Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Name (Required) | Enter the name of the email signature. |
| Reply Signature | Choose an email signature to use when replying to an email. |
| Theme | Choose a theme you want to use for the email signature. |
| Apply Theme | Determine if you want to apply the theme. |
| Visible | Determine if you want to make the email signature visible to users. |
Designing the signature
Once you have added a signature, you can start designing it.
Editing an Email Signature
To edit a signature, first click on the signature you want to adjust, then click on 'Design'. The HTML editor will open.
The HTML editor has several functionalities. In the image below, these are numbered by section. Below the image, you will find an explanation for each function.
N_1: Close
Clicking this cross will return you to the overview of the different email signatures.
N_2: Save
This icon allows you to save the email signature.
N_3: Preview
Clicking the eye icon will display a preview of the current email signature.
N_4: Settings
The gear icon shows the settings for the respective email signature.
N_5: Cursor
Indicates the starting/insertion position where content will be added when the signature is used with text blocks.
N_6: If menu
The If menu offers two options: 'Reply signature' and 'Variant'. With these options, you can add an If condition used for reply emails or for a variant.
N_7: Comments
These two buttons allow you to add or remove a comment. This comment will not be displayed in the email signature itself but can be used as a reference during editing.
N_8: Format code
Clicking this button will format the HTML in the email signature to make it more readable.
N_9: HTML editor
This is the HTML editor where you add the HTML for the email signature.
N_10: Add variables, data & images
In this window, you can add variables, translations, data sources, or images to the email signature.
Special elements in the email signature
The email signature contains various special elements. Some of these elements were partially discussed in the previous section, such as a data source. Below, you will find a brief overview of each element.
Datasources
This inserts the value of a field from the database into the position. In this case, the value of the 'FullName' field from the employee database 'DXEmployee' is inserted.
<[DXEmployee["FullName"]]>Translations
You can also use translations in an email signature. A translation begins with an @ symbol. Translations are stored in a folder structure. For example, the translation 'Informal' is read from the main folder 'Template' and the subfolder 'Closinglines'.
<[@\Template\Closinglines\Informal]>IF & ELSE
With 'if', you can check the value of a variable or data source. In the example below, it checks whether the employee profile contains a value for 'LinkedIn'. If true, everything following the 'if' is executed.
<[IF DXEmployee["LinkedIn"]]>...<[ELSE]>...<[ENDIF]>If the value is empty, everything following the 'else' is executed. The 'else' is optional and can be omitted if no alternative situation is needed. An 'if' is also used for a reply email signature.
<[IF not IsReplySignature]>...<[ENDIF]>
Tip!
If you want to learn more about 'if' & 'else', you can refer to the article 'How do you use an IF and ELSE'.
Images
Inserting an image is standard HTML, but referencing 'cid' ensures that the image 'linkedin' from the image library is inserted. It is also possible to link to external images (e.g., from a website) by specifying the URL.
<img src="cid:linkedin" width="25" height="20" alt="LinkedIn" nosend="1" />An image can also be read from the database. For this, the normal method of inserting data is used as the value for the attribute (e.g., 'src'). Additionally, add 'nosend="1"' to prevent the image from being sent as an attachment.
<img src="<[DXEmployee["OrganizationId.LogoEmail"]]>" nosend="1" />Warning!
By explicitly specifying a height and width (if known), images will appear as desired. Dimensions should be specified in pixels but without the px suffix.
When using images in Microsoft Office, starting from Office 2013, they are no longer attached by default. They are linked, but this link points to the local source (usually on disk) and is not accessible to the recipient.
To resolve this issue, a registry setting can be added to tell Microsoft Outlook to send the images.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\VERSION\Outlook\Options\Mail\Send Pictures With Document = 1 (DWORD type)
Links (URLs)
When including links in the email signature, it is important to make them as complete as possible. Ensure that links are prefixed with 'http://' or 'https://'. This prevents display issues in some online email programs.
Inline Styles
In HTML, it is common to handle formatting (CSS) centrally so that it is defined in one place and applied in multiple places. This does not work in an email signature. Make sure all formatting is defined 'inline' at the necessary locations using the 'style' attribute.
<span style="font-size: 8pt; color: #FF0000;">This is red text in 8pt, applied using a 'span'. </span>
