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Jeffrey_Hanraha
Jeffrey_Hanraha
Level 3
December 17, 2018
Solved

Update to email templates

  • December 17, 2018
  • 6 replies
  • 9048 views

I'm going to start the process of updating the copyright year for our email templates have a couple of questions.

If I update the year will it reflect in the emails that I have previously sent out?

If not will those emails go into draft status because of the update to the date?

Thanks,

Jeff

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    Best answer by SanfordWhiteman

    I use a {{my.Year}} token in my designs.

    A Velocity token I hope. Then you really never need to touch it.

    $date.format( 
      "yyyy", 
      $date, 
      $date.getLocale(), 
      $date.getTimeZone().getTimeZone("Australia/Canberra") 
    )

    The timezone is only important during one day of the year; if you don't care about that (I am always a stickler for that) you just need:

    $date.getYear()

    6 replies

    M
    matjazz
    Level 6
    December 18, 2018

    Hi,

    once the email is in the recipient's inbox there's no way to change it, regardless of what you do to it in Marketo.

    If you are asking about the email as an asset in Marketo, then, when you change the template, all emails built on it will go into the draft mode (however, your update won't be deployed even you approve them again, so basically they remain the same).

    However, maybe it's better to use a token for the copyright year, so you just change the value of it and you don't need to deal with templates at all.

    Best;m

      E
      ErikHe1
      Level 5
      December 18, 2018

      Regarding the copyright year, token is one solution (as Matjaž mentioned recently), but I would recommend using one snippet for this value.

      Better yet, using a snippet for the whole footer of emails (if possible) would allow you to update those parts without needing to reapprove drafts created from template updates. You can however approve multiple emails via Design Studio > Emails once this is done if you need to.

      If you specify a snippet section in your template you can use an ID for the snippet with mktoDefaultSnippetId that should be default snippet to use, i.e. footer/copyright value:
      <div class="mktoSnippet" id="unsubscribeFooter" mktoName="Unsubscribe Footer" mktoDefaultSnippetId="12"></div>

      Your email that were already sent out have already rendered the html and will remain the same, unless of course someone clicks a view in webpage link, then it would show the most recently approved version (wouldn't matter so much once it's out though).

      Hope this helps!

      /Erik

        A
        Anonymous
        December 21, 2018

        Totally agreed - especially if you might have need for regional footers (separate international addreses, etc.) then snippets make the process so much easier, and foolproof

        Anna_Leary3
        Anna_Leary3
        Level 2
        December 19, 2018

        I highly recommend setting up a copyright year token that lives at the highest level within your Marketing Activities. Tokens can be updated a lot easier than templates and even snippets as updating them does not put your emails into draft mode. You could even consider putting that copyright year token within your snippet.

          Dan_Stevens_
          Dan_Stevens_
          Level 10
          December 19, 2018

          You nailed it Anna.  That's definitely the best practice: a combination of a parent token (my.year) baked within a snippet.  And we take it one step further - we have a single snippet that serves up localized/translated footer based on country:

            Carrie_Thomas
            Carrie_Thomas
            Level 2
            December 20, 2018

            I use snippets for the footer information now.  This way I just update the one place and the date will cascade to the emails using it.

              N
              Nicole_Mossinge
              Level 7
              December 20, 2018

              If your copyright year is inside of an editable area, updating it in the email template will not result in any changes in your existing emails. You will get drafts under all emails that use the same template, but Marketo won't make any changes inside of the editable areas.

              If you ever want to update the content of an editable area, there is a trick. However, you need to be aware that this trick updates the content in ALL emails that use this template...

              If you change the ID of your editable area, and then approve the template, all emails will discard the old editable area and show the new one with the new default text in its place.

              Test and use this with caution!

              PS: I agree that a token is the easiest way to manage the copyright year. I use a {{my.Year}} token in my designs.

                Carrie_Thomas
                Carrie_Thomas
                Level 2
                December 20, 2018

                If you use a "my" token, wont you need to update in each program.  I have 100+ programs that contain auto response emails.  Updating each would be a nightmare.  A snippet used across all emails allows you to update one place.

                SanfordWhiteman
                SanfordWhiteman
                Level 10
                December 21, 2018

                If you use a "my" token, wont you need to update in each program.

                No, because you put it in the uppermost folder in Marketing Activities and it's inherited by all.

                  Sarah_White1
                  Sarah_White1
                  Level 2
                  January 4, 2019

                  Hi all -

                  To clarify, should the {{my.Year}} token be placed within the original template so that when a new local email asset is created from it, the token is already present? Or is the{{my.Year}} token added at the email asset creation stage?

                  Grégoire_Miche2
                  Grégoire_Miche2
                  Level 10
                  January 8, 2019

                  You can do both.

                  Adding the token directly in the template has a risk though, as if someone use the template to create an email in the design studio, the token will be empty. So make sure to set the default value for the token.

                  You can also consider adding the token in the template within an editable section.

                  -Greg

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