Advanced Editor

Overview

The Advanced Editor screen allows you to define the content of your marketing messages. The screen serves as a flexible combination of an HTML code editor and a word processor, with a wide range of tools and features to help you build your marketing message. The Advanced Editor is used throughout the Messaging application in several different contexts -- creating Campaign messages, setting up Content Blocks and Dynamic Blocks, and so forth.

In most cases, the Advanced Editor can be used to define different versions of your message content in different formats, such as HTML, Plain Text, or XML. Each of these versions appears as a tab across the top of the main Advanced Editor, so you can quickly move between them, or create new tabs for new format versions.

Access

The Advanced Editor is not a standalone screen, and therefore isn't directly accessible from the System Tray. The Advanced Editor is always available as a "sub-screen" when you're building specific types of assets in Messaging, such as a Content Block or a Campaign, for example.

Additional Topics

For more information on Advanced Editor features, please see:

Adding Assets

Adding URLs

Features

It's important to note that not every feature listed below will be available in every instance of the Advanced Editor. Depending on the specific context of what you're doing (for example, creating a Push Notification message, or defining the default content for a Dynamic Block), only the relevant features and tools will be available.

Enter Content

Click here

To enter content into the Advanced Editor:

Type in HTML code or text, or copy-and-paste this material from some other tool.
In the Tool Ribbon, click Edit Content > Save Content to save your changes.
When finished, click Edit Content > Close Edit in the Tool Ribbon to return to the previous screen.

Note: While editing your message content, if another user has this same Campaign open at the same time, and he or she modifies and saves the Campaign, the system will alert you with a "Changes Detected" pop-up window. This window tells you that changes have been made, and by whom. If you want to discard your local changes and reload the screen to show the other user's version of the Campaign content, click reload email campaign. Or, if you want to overwrite the other person's changes, click ignore changes.

If you're including links within your message content, you can optionally provide a friendly name for the link, right from within the "Content" field. Friendly names makes it easier to read the Campaign reports that track link usage (friendly link names can also be defined on the Link Library).

Within HTML content, add a name attribute ("data-link-name") to the anchor tag. For example:

<a data-link-name="Cheetah Digital home" href="http://www.cheetahdigital.com">Cheetah Digital Home Page</a>

Within either HTML or Text content, use a new URL merge tag to specify the friendly name. For example:

{@Cheetah Digital home|http://www.cheetahdigital.com@}

The Advanced Editor provides several other options and editing tools for providing the desired content, as described below.

Word Wrap

If you want to turn on word-wrapping, place a check mark in the 'Wrap?" check box. Word-wrapping can make it easier to read the Advanced Editor so you don't have to scroll to the right.

Search

To search for a text string within the Advanced Editor, enter the text string in the "Find in context" field, then click the search button (magnifying glass icon). The system highlights the first instance of this text string. Click the search button again to jump to the next instance.

HTML Tools

If you're not proficient with HTML code, the platform offers several tools to assist with the content creation process.

WYSIWYG Editor

The WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor is intended for non-technical users. This editor is similar to a word processor, and provides a tool bar with common functions, such as fonts, tables, images, and typefaces. The platform will automatically convert this content into HTML.

To switch from the HTML code editor to the WYSIWYG editor, click the "Switch to WYSIWYG " link. To toggle back to the HTML editor, click the "Switch to HTML" link.

HTML-to-Text Converter

Email Campaigns should include both an HTML version and a Plain Text version in order to accommodate different consumer email applications. The platform provides a conversion tool that will strip out the HTML tags from your HTML version in order to make a Plain Text version.

Create your HTML version in the Advanced Editor.
If you don't already have a Plain Text version of this content, click the options tab (gear icon). The system displays a menu of all the supported format versions. Click the check mark icon next "Plain Text." The system adds a new "Plain Text" tab in the Advanced Editor.
In the Tool Ribbon, click Edit > Tools > HTML to Plain Text. The system converts your HTML content, and populates the Plain Text version.

CSS-to-Inline Converter

Some consumer email applications don't support the use of a Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) when displaying HTML content. Messaging provides a built-in tool that will convert CSS styles into "inline" HTML tags. To use this converter, click Edit > Tools > CSS to Inline Styles.

Preview Content

Click here

To see a preview of your content:

Click preview in the Tool Bar. The system displays a pop-up window containing a simulated version of your content.
If your content contains Personalization Fields, the pane on the right-hand side of the screen lists each of these fields. Optionally, type in a value; the system refreshes the preview screen with this value inserted into the message.
If your content contains multiple format versions, you can select which version you want to view. In the Tool Ribbon, click Preview Content > Show > Message Type. From the drop-down menu, select a format version. The screen is refreshed to show the selected version of the content.
To return to the Content Editor, click Preview Content > Show > Edit in the Tool ribbon. Or, to close the Advanced Editor and return to the previous screen, click Preview Content > Close > Close Preview.

Create a New Format Version

Click here

Most channels in Messaging allow you to define multiple format versions of the message content in order to accommodate the different devices and applications used by consumers to view your message. A common example is an Email Campaign that includes both an HTML version and a Plain Text version. If a consumer has an email application that's not configured to view HTML messages, he or she can still see the Plain Text version of your message. For more details, please see Format Versions.

Within the Advanced Editor, each version of your message is displayed as a separate tab. Simply select a tab to see the content for that version.

Note: Not every channel supports multiple versions. For example, the content for a Push Notification message can only be Plain Text; you can't create an HTML version of a Push Notification message.

Most of the format versions (such as "HTML") in Messaging are actually groups containing multiple sub-options (such as "Web" and "iPhone"). By default, all of these options are contained within the parent version, meaning that the same content will be used for all of those different contexts. Optionally, you can pull one or more of those options out of the parent version, and create a new, separate format version. This process is referred to as "promoting" a format option into a new group. See "Promote a Format Option" below for more details.

For Email Campaigns, the best practice is to create two additional format versions -- "Web" and "Viral."

The Web version is a web hosted version of the email message. This format is useful if users are having trouble viewing the email in their email client, as it provides an alternate way to view it properly in a web browser. Typically, you would want to remove the "View as Web" link from the Web version.

The Viral version (also known as the "Send to a Friend" or "Forward a Friend" message), is a version of the email that is forwarded from the original recipient to the friend. This Viral message might have different content and even have an extra link to allow the friend to subscribe himself or herself. You should also delete the opt-out link from the Viral version to prevent the friend from inadvertently unsubscribing the original recipient (the one who forwarded the message). Since Messaging requires the presence of an opt-out merge code, simply insert a blank opt-out block into the Viral version.

To create a new version:

Click the options tab (gear icon). The system displays a menu of all the supported format versions.
Click the check mark icon next to the version you want to add. The system adds a new tab in the Advanced Editor for that version.

Delete a Format Version

Click here

To delete a format version of your message content:

Click the options tab (gear icon). The system displays a menu of all the supported format versions.
Click the check mark icon next to the version you want to remove. The system removes the tab for that version from the Advanced Editor.

Promote / Demote a Format Option

Click here

Most of the format versions in Messaging are actually groups containing multiple sub-options. For example, the "HTML" version contains options for: Email Message, Web, Viral, Share to Social, Mobile Web, and iPhone. By default, all of these options are contained within the parent HTML version, meaning that the same HTML content will be used for all of those different contexts. For more details, please see Format Versions.

Optionally, you can pull one or more of those options out of the parent version, and create a new, separate format version. This process is referred to as "promoting" a format option into a new group.

For example, if you need the "Mobile Web" version of your HTML content to be different than the "Email Message" HTML content, you could promote "Mobile Web" to its own format version. Within the user interface, the system would create a new tab on the Advanced Editor with the label "HTML 2 - Mobile Web."

Note: The platform allows you to promote as many format versions, and create as many new groups, as you want. Continuing the above example, if you were to next promote the "iPhone" option, it would get moved into the same "HTML 2" tab as Mobile Web. You could then promote "iPhone" again, and the system would create a new tab named "HTML 3 - iPhone."

Conversely, format options can be "demoted," which moves them back into their previous format version group.

To promote a format option into its own version:

Click the options tab (gear icon). The system displays a menu of all the supported format versions. Beneath each format version group, the system displays all of the options for that version.
Hover your mouse cursor over the desired option to see a set of icons.
Click the promote button (right-arrow icon). The system moves this option from its format version group to the next group to the right. If no format version group yet exists to the right, the system creates a brand new format version group.
Optionally, repeat the above steps as needed to promote additional format options.

Note: You can't promote the top-most option in any format version group. The top-most option is assumed to be the "parent" for that format version group, and it can't be promoted any further. It can, however, be demoted, as described below.

To demote a format option:

Click the options tab (gear icon). The system displays a menu of all the supported format versions. Beneath each format version group, the system displays all of the options for that version.
Hover your mouse cursor over the desired option to see a set of icons.
Click the demote button (left-arrow icon). The system moves this option from its format version group to the next group to the left. If its previous group is now empty, the system deletes that format version group, and removes its tab from the Content Editor.

Note: If you demote the top-most option in a format version group, the system automatically bumps the remaining options in this group upward.

Disable / Enable a Format Option

Click here

Optionally, you can disable these options so that they're not used within your Campaign.

To disable a format option:

Click the options tab (gear icon). The system displays a menu of all the supported format versions. Beneath each format version group, the system displays all of the options for that version.
Hover your mouse cursor over the desired option to see a set of icons.
Click the disable button (circle-with-a-slash icon). The system disables this option. This option will now appear with a line struck through it.

To enable a previously disabled format option:

Click the options tab (gear icon). The system displays a menu of all the supported format versions. Beneath each format version group, the system displays all of the options for that version.
Hover your mouse cursor over the desired option to see a set of icons.
Click the enable button (check mark icon). The system re-enables this option.

Add a Personalization Field

Click here

Personalization fields are used to populate a portion of your message with content pulled from your marketing database. For example, instead of "Dear Customer" as a greeting, you could replace the word "Customer" with the customer's actual first name.

Note: If you're building content that uses the Engagement Data Platform (EDP) as the data source, only the Attributes and Dynamic Attributes tagged as "use in Messaging" are available for personalization. Please see the EDP and Loyalty Data Manager for more details on this process.

To add personalization to your marketing message:

Place your cursor in the Advanced Editor. The Personalization Pane appears on the right-hand side of the screen. Within this pane, the available fields are organized into different expandable / collapsible groups. For example, you'll see a section for your Campaign source table. You may see another section called "Joins" if your source table is joined to another table, or a section called "System Fields" that contains system-generated fields, or a section called "Metadata Fields" that contains any custom Metadata.
Within the Personalization Pane, expand the desired group to find the personalization field you want to use.
Double-click on the personalization field name (or, optionally, you can drag the desired personalization field from the Personalization Pane, and drop it into the text field). An "Insert Field Value" dialog box is displayed.
Optionally, enter a default value for this personalization field in the "Default" text box. The default value is used if a record doesn't have a valid value in the field being used to personalize the message.
Optionally select a formatting mask from the "Formatter" drop-down menu. The formatting mask is used to control the appearance of the text in the personalization field. For example, you can format date fields as "mm/dd/yyyy." The system includes formatting masks for dollar amounts, dates, numbers, and URLs. You can also use a formatting mask to truncate or encode the personalization field.
If you selected a "Number" format or a "Money" format in step 5, the system displays a "Locale" drop-down menu. This menu allows you to define the formatting and presentation of the number or money value, based on your location. The Locale from your User Profile will be selected by default, but you can optionally select a different Locale from the drop-down menu.
Click ok. The system creates a new Merge Symbol for this personalization field, and displays it within the Clipboard section of the Personalization Pane.

A Merge Symbol is a textual representation of the personalization field, consisting of the field name enclosed in double-brackets. For example: {(first_name)}. If you defined a default value, this value is also displayed within the Merge Symbol. For example: {(first_name|Customer)}. If you selected a formatting mask, the formatting mask is displayed within the Merge Symbol using a special code. For example, the "mm/dd/yy" date field format mask is represented by the code: "d:d." Therefore, the Merge Symbol for this field would be: "{(date_field||d:d)}."

Note: If adding EDP Dynamic Attributes, the platform automatically adds the prefix "ccda" to the Merge Symbol name. For example: {(cdda_calculate_age)}.This prefix is intended to prevent potential issues where a Dynamic Attribute and a regular Attribute have the same name.

Within the Advanced Editor, place your cursor where you want to insert the personalization field, then click the Merge Symbol for that field in the Clipboard. The system inserts the corresponding Merge Symbol into the message at the indicated position.
Repeat the above steps as needed to add more personalization fields.