The No-Sweat Way to Create Email Templates

Okay – So now that you’ve read my prior posting on how easy it is to use SmartAdvocate’s email templates to generate custom emails you are probably wondering whether actually creating those templates is just as easy. Well – like everything else in SmartAdvocate – yes, it is very easy. Let me show you how.

Begin by opening the Admin (short for administrator) settings drop down box. The Admin settings and associated screens are where users of SmartAdvocate can readily make changes to personalize their systems to make it “more of their own”. In other words, SmartAdvocate does not force its users to alter the way they practice to suit a programmer’s vision of how things should be done. Instead, SmartAdvocate offers its users the ability to make changes to their system to suit their firm’s needs, capabilities and preferences – and the Admin area is ground zero for those changes.

Clicking on the “Admin” tab and choosing Email Templates on the drop down box opens – what else – the “Email Templates” screen. I said this was easy, didn’t I? This is where all of the email templates can be found and also where new or additional templates can be added.

A quick click on the “Add Email Templates” tab opens our destination screen where we will add our new email Template.

First we are going to give our template a descriptive name. Why descriptive? Because you are going to have to locate it after you are done. And six months from now a descriptive name that echoes the content or purpose of a template will help you find what you need with a minimum of wasted time.

Next, fill in the “Subject” line. And yes this will populate the subject line in your email.

If you like you can customize the subject line by using merge codes to add pertinent or unique information for a particular case. If you don’t know (or can’t remember that SmartAdvocate can easily create document templates using merge codes) merge codes are fields or data placeholders that you insert into a document which will be dynamically replaced by specific data from an associated file or database.

All you have to do is add the merge codes and automatically, every time you generate that email template, the correct information will be inserted. No further typing necessary. For example, you may want to add your firm name, case name and case number to augment your Subject description as depicted here.

Can you use merge codes outside of the Subject line? Sure. How about in the Message area? Just position your cursor where you would like to insert the merge code, click on the “Insert Merge Code” tab and then choose the merge code you want SmartAdvocate to use.

Text can then be entered in the Message portion of the email template either by typing it in or utilizing window’s cut and paste feature. Formatting text can also be done here using the Formatting bar. You can even add graphics using Windows cut and paste feature.

And if you know how to program using HTML you can easily take your email template to the next level, creating eye catching forms to make your email really stand out. And if you don’t know what HTML is or how to code HTML you needn’t worry as you can easily hire someone to render what you have visualized in your thoughts.

Editing and deleting existing templates is also done here on the Email Templates screen.

Finally, don’t forget to save the email template so that it will be available for use by anyone in your firm using SmartAdvocate.

Now – how easy was that?

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