Newsletters
Introduction
The Newsletters feature was integrated into our Message Builder to make it easier for you to create beautiful emails quickly and easily. This feature does not replace the Stationery feature but works as its own separate feature.
This guide will provide you with the instructions on how to enable the feature for user and walk you through how the feature works.
Note: This is a feature that needs to be enabled for your district by SchoolMessenger Support.
Enable newsletters
To use Newsletters, you will need to enable the feature for any user that will be creating, publishing or sending broadcasts using Newsletters.
As a system administrator, click the Admin tab and then the Profiles tab.
Find a profile you wish to assign permissions for and click the Edit button.
To allow users with your chosen profile to create newsletters, scroll down to the Messaging Options section and click the box Can Create Newsletter.
To allow users with your chosen profile to publish newsletters, scroll down to the Publish/Subscribe Options section and under the Publish section, click the box for Messages/Newsletters.
To allow users with your chosen profile to use the newsletters as a template for their messages, scroll down to the Publish/Subscribe Options section and under the Subscribe section, click the box for Messages/Newsletters.
Click the Save button to save your changes and return to the Access Profiles page. Any users that are using the selected profile type will now be able to perform the action you gave them permission for.
Note: If a user has Restrict to Stationery enabled, they will not be able to see any created newsletters when they send a broadcast.
If they select the Email channel when creating a broadcast and no Stationery is available, they will receive a warning informing them that there is no stationery available and to contact their Organization’s System administrator. They will not be able to continue and create an email.
Create a newsletter
To create a newsletter, click the Broadcasts tab and then the Messages sub-tab. Click Add New Newsletter and you’ll be taken to the Newsletter Editor page.
Note: If you do not see the Add New Newsletter option, your account does not have permission to create newsletters.
Select a Newsletter Name and a Description that reflects the content of the newsletter and will also help you easily distinguish this newsletter from a list.
Select a Layout from the drop-down menu. You will see a preview appear in the layout preview section.
Click the Next button to continue to the Editing page.
Once you land on the Newsletter editing page, you can customize the template by moving, adding and editing the content components.
To edit the existing content blocks in the template: Click within the content area. Depending on the content type, different options appear under the Content tab to the right of the editing pane.
To add a row section to the newsletter: Click the Rows tab and select which row type you’d like to add. Drag and drop the row selection to wherever you like in the newsletter.
To add a new content block to the newsletter: Click the Content tab and select which type of content block you’d like to add. Drag and drop that content block to wherever you like in your newsletter.
To delete or duplicate a row or content block in the newsletter: Click within the content area and click the trash icon to delete or the paper icon to duplicate.
To edit the general settings of your newsletter: Click the Settings tab to adjust the width of the content area, the background color, content area background color, the default font face, and link colors.
The Content tab
The Content tab is where you will go to add various content blocks throughout your newsletter. Here, you will also see the different customization options for every content block you activate.
Text content
When a text content block is activated, options for font size and color, text spacing and line height appear under the Content tab to the right of the editing pane. Many font editing options also will appear in a mini-editing bar above the selected text so you can further customize your content.
The following options are available under the Content tab to the right of the screen:
Text Color: Select a color from a palette by clicking the color square or enter the specific hex color code in the field next to the color square.
Link Color: For any links with the content block, select a color from a palette by clicking the color square or enter the specific hex color code in the field next to the color square.
Line Height: Select how far apart the text is aligned.
Padding: Adjust the space between the text and the borders of the content block.
Hide On: Select if you would like this particular content block to be hidden when viewed on either a desktop or mobile device.
Image content
When an image content block is clicked without an image inserted, no options appear under the Content tab editing pane.
To add an image to an image content block, click the Browse button located within the image content block. You’ll be taken to the File Manager page. Once an image is inserted into an image content block, options to edit the image will appear under the Content tab.
File manager
The following options are available for adding an image:
Upload: Upload a saved image straight from your desktop.
Import: Insert a link from an image hosted online.
Select the image you would like for that content block by clicking Insert.
To keep help with organization, you can create folders to store your images by clicking the new folder icon.
Note: In order to store specific images in the folder, you’ll need to create the folder first and upload the images directly into the folder. You don’t have the option to drag already uploaded images into a newly created folder.
Once an image is inserted, the following options are available under the Content tab to the right of the screen:
Auto Width: If enabled, automatically sets the width of the image. If disabled, you can quickly adjust the width of the image by sliding the dial on the scale.
Align: If the image width is smaller than the content block width, you can align the image to the right, middle or left of the content block.
Dynamic Image: When this is enabled, URL becomes the location of a sample image shown in the editor. Dynamic URL will be used in the HTML code. The size of the dynamic image will be set based on the sample one, so use a sample image of the same size.
Change Image: Click to switch the image to another image.
Apply Effects & More: Click to edit the image by applying a filter, resizing or cropping, and many other options.
Alternate Text: Enter an alternate text description for the image.
Action: Insert a link that will either open a web page, send an email, make a call, or send a SMS when clicked. You will need to insert the link file in the field provided.
Padding: Adjust the space between the text and the borders of the content block.
Hide On: Select if you would like this particular content block to be hidden when viewed on either a desktop or mobile device.
Button content
Buttons can be used to insert an action into your newsletters.
Once activated, the following options are available under the Content tab to the right of the screen:
Action: Insert a link that will either open a web page, send an email, make a call, or send a SMS when clicked. You will need to insert the link file in the field provided.
Auto Width: If enabled, automatically sets the width of the button. If disabled, you can quickly adjust the width of the button by sliding the dial on the scale.
Background Color: Select a color from a palette by clicking the color square or enter the specific hex color code in the field next to the color square.
Text Color: Select a color from a palette by clicking the color square or enter the specific hex color code in the field next to the color square.
Align: Align the button to the right, middle or left of the content block.
Line Height: Select how far apart the text is aligned.
Border Radius: Select how rounded you would like the edges of the button to be.
Content Padding: Adjust the space between the text and the borders of the button.
Border Padding: Adjust the width size of the borders of the button.
Hide On: Select if you would like this particular content block to be hidden when viewed on either a desktop or mobile device.
Divider content
Insert a divider wherever you need a line in your newsletter to divide content.
Once activated, the following options are available under the Content tab to the right of the screen:
Transparent: If disabled, your line is visible. If enabled, the divider becomes invisible and you can adjust the height of your divider.
Line: Select if you would like your divider solid, dotted or dashed. You can also select the height of your divider and the color by either clicking the color square or entering the specific hex code in the field provided.
Width: Adjust how wide you’d like your divider here.
Align: If the width of the content block is wider than the divider, align the divider to the right, middle or left of the content block.
Padding: Adjust the space between the text and the borders of the content block.
Hide On: Select if you would like this particular content block to be hidden when viewed on either a desktop or mobile device.
Social content
You can easily add links to your social media wherever you like on your newsletter.
Once activated, the following options are available under the Content tab to the right of the screen:
More Options: Clicking this switch enables you to add text when you hover over the social media icon (the Title field) and add Alternate Text.
Select Icon Collection: Select from a list of icon sets.
Configure Icon Collection: Enter each link to your social media in the fields provided. If you don’t have a link to certain social media, click the delete link to remove it.
Add New Icon: If you would like to link to a social media platform not included in the premade set, click this button to add the icon.
Align: If the width of the content block is wider than the icon set, align the social media icons to the right, middle or left of the content block.
Icon Spacing: Adjust how far apart you’d like your social media icons from one another.
Padding: Adjust the space between the text and the borders of the content block.
Hide On: Select if you would like this particular content block to be hidden when viewed on either a desktop or mobile device.
HTML content
You can insert HTML content into your newsletter.
Once activated, the following options are available under the Content tab to the right of the screen:
A field where you can input HTML code.
Hide on: Select if you would like this particular content block to be hidden when viewed on either a desktop or mobile device.
Note: This content block type is recommended for experts only as inputting code may affect how the message is rendered. If entering your own code, make sure to use correct and responsive HTML.
Video content
Use this content type to insert Youtube or Vimeo videos into your newsletter.
Once activated, the following options are available under the Content tab to the right of the screen:
Video URL: Enter the URL of the video here.
Play Icon Type, Color, Size: Configure the play icon’s appearance here.
Hide On: Select if you would like this particular content block to be hidden when viewed on either a desktop or mobile device.
Icons content
Icons are simple images that you can use to add decorative flair to your newsletters. Like images, you have the option to make icons clickable and act as links to other webpages. To insert an icon, drag and drop the icon content block to your newsletter. Once an icon content block is inserted, options to add and edit the icon will appear under the Content tab when the content block is activated.
The default icon is a star. This can be changed once you drag and drop the icon into the content block and activate it by clicking on it.
Configure icon collection
The following options are available for adding/configuring an icon:
Change Image: Upload a saved image straight from your desktop or use an already uploaded icon to replace the current icon.
Apply Effects & More: Click to edit the image by applying a filter, resizing or cropping, and many other options.
Delete: Remove the icon completely.
Add New Icon: If you need multiple icons on your newsletter, add more using this button.
More Options: Clicking this switch enables the ability to insert a link with your icon and add alternate text. Enter text for your icon in the Icon text field. What you write here will be displayed next to your icon. You can select the position of the text using the Text position option. The Link type option lets you select what the link will do: open webpage, send email, make call, and send SMS. The URL field will be the actual link embedded into your icon. If the link opens a file, you can upload a file by clicking the Link file button below the URL field.
The Title field is the text that appears when you hover a cursor over the link.
File manager
Click the Change Image button to change the selected icon to a different one. You’ll be taken to the File Manager page, which also is where your uploaded photos are stored.
Select from all previously uploaded icons, click the Upload button to upload a new icon from your desktop, or click the Import button to insert a link to the icon if its hosted on another website.
Once you select your icon, click the Insert button to insert the icon into the content block.
Further icon options…
Align: if the image width is smaller than the content block width, you can align the image to the right, middle or left of the content block.
Icon Size: Determines the how big the icon is.
Icon Spacing: Determines how far apart your icons are if there are more than 1.
Padding: Adjust the space between the text and the borders of the content block.
Hide On: Select if you would like this particular content block to be hidden when viewed on either a desktop or mobile device.
Publish your newsletter
If you publish a newsletter, then users will be able to subscribe to the newsletter to use as a template for future broadcasts. To publish your newsletter template, go to the Broadcasts tab and click Messages.
Find a newsletter you wish to share and click Publish.
Notes:
If you do not see the Publish option, your account does not have permission to publish newsletters.
If you have a lot of messages, you can click Newsletter under the Views header to see only the newsletters you have created.
Choose which of your users you want to give access to use the newsletter template. You can choose Anyone, Top Level Users, or One or more school.
Click Next.
Click Confirm and click Next again.
Click Finish. Your newsletter will now be available to anyone that has the permission to subscribe to newsletters.
Subscribe to a newsletter
To subscribe to a newsletter so you can use it as a template when sending a broadcast, go to the Broadcasts tab and click Messages.
Click Subscribe to Msg/Stationery/Newsletter.
Find a newsletter you wish to use and click Subscribe.
Note: You already have access to any newsletters that you created without needing to subscribe to them. You will only see other newsletters that have been created that you have permission to access listed.
Send a newsletter
To send your newsletter, click the New Broadcast button on your SchoolMessenger dashboard. Click the Email Channel Type.
If you have created or subscribed to any newsletters, you’ll see a Newsletter button next to the Stationery button.
Click the Newsletter… button. A window for Email Newsletter Preview appears.
Scroll until you see your newsletter. Click to select and then click Use Selected Newsletter to return to the Email editor screen.
From here, you’ll be able to edit and adjust the newsletter however way you like.
Click Save once you have prepared your message.
Click Continue when you are ready to the Review and Send step of sending your broadcast.