Email Designer Reaches Use Case Parity with the Classic Email Editor | Community
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KeithGluck
Adobe Employee
KeithGluckAdobe Employee
Adobe Employee
November 19, 2025
Update

Email Designer Reaches Use Case Parity with the Classic Email Editor

  • November 19, 2025
  • 6 replies
  • 305 views

As of the October 2026 release, the Adobe Marketo Engage Email Designer possesses nearly all of the core capabilities of the old editor, while boasting powerful new features like AI assistance, Image to HTML, Brand themes, and more. This is a big milestone, as now all users can confidently utilize a Designer that expands email creation functionality, integrates with modern tools, and enhances collaboration.


Shared capabilities

Let’s take a look at what features can be found in both the new Designer and the classic editor.

 

Feature Description Classic editor Email Designer
Starter templates Out-of-the-box templates to jumpstart campaigns. ✔️ ✔️
Saved templates Reusable designs for efficiency. ✔️ ✔️
Use/create emails in programs Create email assets for specific programs outside of the Design Studio. ✔️ ✔️
Preview/send sample See how emails render before sending. ✔️ ✔️
WYSIWYG view Visual editing without coding. ✔️ ✔️
HTML/Text switching Toggle between formats. ✔️ ✔️
Device view switcher Preview across desktop, tablet, and mobile. ✔️ ✔️
Image/file uploads Add your own assets or grab them from the web. ✔️ ✔️
Rich text editing Style text with formatting options. ✔️ ✔️
Analytics reporting Track performance in Marketo Engage. ✔️ ✔️
Conditional content Dynamic content that changes based on the audience you specify. ✔️ ✔️

 

Beyond classic

Why stop at parity? The Email Designer offers many new capabilities that help you get the most out of your campaigns. With Brand themes, define themes using specific styling configurations that can be reused and applied across email templates and other email assets to maintain consistency for your brand. With the Image-to-HTML converter, upload a compliant PNG/JPEG image file of an email (created in virtually any design program) and it will automatically be converted to HTML for use in the Email Designer.

 

Integrations

Take advantage of the Adobe Express integration to easily edit and create images directly in the Designer, with or without an Enterprise license. With the Litmus integration, instantly see how your email renders in popular email clients. The Spam Assassin integration helps you test your email content and see the likelihood of ISPs/Mailbox providers marking it as spam, increasing the chances of getting more opens/clicks. And leverage the GenStudio integration to import email variations you created outside of Marketo Engage in your GenStudio account.


But wait there's more

AI Assistant: Create contemporary, performant, and intuitive emails with Adobe’s generative AI technology/prompt library and Firefly for image generation.
Content locking: Prevent unintentional edits or deletions, giving you greater control over template customization.
Fragments: Build reusable components that can be referenced in one or more emails and email templates for a more streamlined design process.

 

For a more comprehensive list, please visit the Email Designer/Email Editor Feature Comparison page.

 

The Marketo Engage Email Designer is more than just an enhanced editor. It is a reimagining of how teams build, test, and scale email campaigns. With AI-powered content creation, brand governance tools, and deep integrations, it provides marketers with a dynamic, brand-safe, and future-ready environment.

 

    6 replies

    Y
    yesichappell
    Level 2
    January 20, 2026

    Is conditional content available again with any person/account fields, besides segments (limited number)?

    jaimeehenriquez
    jaimeehenriquez
    Level 2
    January 20, 2026

    Looks like it is now available per the comparison page. 

    Y
    yesichappell
    Level 2
    January 22, 2026

    The conditional content is only allowing “segments”. During the first release of this new editor, the conditional content was enabled to use any person/company field, which was a great enhancement to emails.

     

     

    Do we know if this is still in the works?

    Also, do we know when custom tokens (my tokens) will be available in this new editor? Only the standard ones are showing under “Personalization”

     

     

    Thank you,

    Yesi

    derelict_wombat
    derelict_wombat
    Level 5
    January 20, 2026

    Is there an update on A/B testing and Velocity script support? 

      jaimeehenriquez
      jaimeehenriquez
      Level 2
      January 20, 2026

      The comparison page says that this feature is still “Coming Soon”

       
      derelict_wombat
      derelict_wombat
      Level 5
      January 20, 2026

      @derelict_wombat Right - its just odd to have a post about the designer reaching parity when its not fully implemented yet. I wasn’t sure if there was an update coming with that was missed with the new community rollout. 

      And just to clarify, I mean this not at all in a negative way.  I like what I’ve been seeing with the new builder. Much nicer overall. But still eagerly waiting on some features to roll out that we need to be able to use it.  

        6
        604jimmy
        Level 2
        January 21, 2026

        What is missing is the ability to create custom Modules

        Feature Description Classic editor Email Designer

        Templated Editable Modules

        		 HTML template-defined sections with editable regions. ✔️

        ❌

        In the classic editor, custom modules (mktoModule / mktoEditable) allow us to define templated sections using the Marketo Email 2.0 Template Syntax. These modules support:

        • complex layouts with predictable, minimal HTML output,
        • parameterized customization (text, links, images, toggles) per email,
        • safe reuse without duplicating large CSS blocks or structural markup.

        This capability works extremely well and is something I rely on heavily.

        For me Case Parity includes supporting custom modules (mktoModule / mktoEditable) in the new Email Designer. Because I find fragments buggy (excess padding and code bloat when updating, even when following best practices). 

        Because of all the bloated code, Gmail cuts the email short (which was never a problem with the classic editor). Therefore, unless the new editor can handle code bloat better, I will have to look for a new platform when Adobe sunsets the classic editor.

         

         

          Dave_Roberts
          Dave_Roberts
          Level 10
          January 30, 2026

          100%,  5/5⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and Strongly Agree!
          The new email editor is a long way from parity with the previous version. In my estimation it represents a step backwards, sacrificing technical strength for ease of use. Buyer beware!

          The idea that you don’t need a developer to develop code is like thinking you don’t need a builder to build a house … good luck with that.
           

           

          Disha_Goyal6
          Community Advisor
          Disha_Goyal6Community Advisor
          Community Advisor
          January 21, 2026

          Is there any update on dark mode? Right now the dark mode that new editor is showing is not same as that rendering in the email clients. Also, there is no option to add any conditional CSS and meta tags.

            Sergio_Azevedo1
            Sergio_Azevedo1
            Level 2
            January 22, 2026

            I’m liking the new email designer, but I just came across two pretty big issues:

            1 - No option to publish an email to Marketo Sales Insight.

            2 - When exporting the email html, it doesn’t convert the contents of fragments into html.

              Y
              yesichappell
              Level 2
              January 27, 2026

              The conditional content only allows “segments” (limited number per subscription and cannot be changed after using). During the first release of this new editor, the conditional content was enabled to use any person/company field, which was a great enhancement to emails. Do we know if this is still in the works?

               

              Thank you,

              Yesi

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