Mail Master User Guide

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Introduction
Working with main window
Composing new message
   Using variables
   Entering text version
   Adding attachments
   Compose from template
Using HTML editor
   Formatting text
   Creating headings
   Changing font style
   Changing font size
   Changing font color
   Aligning paragraphs
   Adding ordered list
   Adding bulleted list
   Using indents
   Inserting horizontal rule
   Adding local images
   Adding remote images
   Adding hyperlinks
   Entering HTML Source
Sending messages
Templates
Customizing view
Customizing Sender

Introduction

Mail Master is a practical email messaging tool that allows you to create and send permission-based e-mail communications to customers, subscribers, team members, and prospects.

With Mail Master you can:

  • Design and send newsletters
  • Promote new products
  • Make special offers
  • Notify and remind of meetings
  • Release updates
  • Announce corporate events
  • Issue event invitations
  • Send Holiday Greetings! 


Mail Master is tightly integrated with Contact Manager and utilized its powerful functions, e.g.: contact lists based on different criteria, Sign-Up Form with double opt-in subscription, automated unsubscribe etc. Mail Master can be efficiently used to create and manager email marketing campaigns, help you to establish your branding and strong customer relationships.

 



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Working with main window

Mail Master main screen displays a hierarchy of folders and a list of messages in selected folder. Each folder may contain as many messages as you want.

Main screen with Folders panel open

 

Main screen with Folders panel closed



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Composing new message

Click Message… button in the toolbar panel and select Compose... menu item.

NOTE: To create new message you must have Write (W) or Folder (F) access rights in the current folder.

Enter Subject of your message.

The main working area where you design content of your message is located on HTML tab in the central part of  Compose Message form and is called HTML Editor.

Typing text
This is most obvious and easy way to enter your message content. Just click mouse and put cursor in any place in HTML editor working area and type in new text using keyboard.

Copying and pasting text from other documents
You may already have a content previously prepared using other tools, e.g. simple Notepad text files or MS Word or PDF files. In this case you may just copy text from other documents and paste it in Compose Message form. However, many word processors, e.g. MS Word, may add a lot of redundant formatting tags that clutter up your document content. We recommend to copy & paste from other files just a plain text which does not contain any markup tags and provide formatting of this text using tools and features of the Mail Master HTML editor.

Entering HTML source code
In some special cases you may wish to add and edit HTML source code into your message. HTML Editor has a special tool which allows you to toggle working area in HTML Source mode where you can modify HTML source code directly. Remember that this is advanced option and you must have at least basic HTML skills to edit document source.

 



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Using variables

You can insert into your messages variables which will be dynamically replaced by the actual values in those fields at the time you send messages. Variables allow you to personalize messages addressed to your recipients. You can insert customer first name, last name, company name, address and any other field which is stored in contact database.

To insert variable into your message, place cursor in the text where you want to insert variable and click its label in the list below HTML Editor’s window or type it in the message including leading and ending brace symbols, e.g. {NAME}.

There are following categories of variables:

Recipient Contact Variables
These variables retrieve actual values from the Contact Manager database. When you send message from Mail Master, you specify recipients by pointing Contac Manager folders, user groups and lists. Respective fields from recipient contact entries will be used to replace variable id, e.g. {NAME} will be replaced by contact primary name, {C_FIRSTNAME} will be replaced by contact first name etc.

My Contact Variables
These variables retrieve values from the current user personal entry in the Contact Manager database. Every user has an account with all associated fields, e.g. Primary Name, First Name, Last Name etc. If you insert {MY_FIRSTNAME} {MY_LASTNAME} variables in a message, these variables will be replaced by first and last names of the user who will send this message.

Company Variables
These variables retrieve values from the Company Information form. Click Administrator/Company Information in the main menu to see or edit actual values for these variables.

You can insert link to subscription management form in your message. Using this link, recipients of your message will be able to update their profile (e.g. First and Last Name), and unsubscribe from some or all lists. To insert link to subscription management form use {MANAGE_YOUR_SUBSCRIPTION_URL} variable.

Sample:

 



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Entering text version

Email messages usually consist of HTML and TEXT parts. Though HTML email format became a de-fact standard nowadays, not every recipient is able to receive HTML. Plain text version of your message cannot include images, text formatting or hyperlinks, but is compatible with virtually any email client program ensuring correct appearance of your message on a recipient screen.

Mail Master automatically creates TEXT part of your message when you send it. If you want TEXT part to be created “on-fly”, you don’t need to enter any text on the TEXT tab in Compose Message from. If you want to have full control on the content of the plain text version of you message, you can manually compose it on the TEXT tab in Compose Message from.

NOTE: Click Create text version from HTML button if you already have HTML part of your message entered. Then simply make changes in the text that appears on the TEXT tab.

 



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Adding attachments

Mail Master allows you to add optional file attachments to your message. To attach file(s):

  1. Click Attachments tab in Compose Message form.
  2. Click Browse… button to locate file on your computer you want to attach.
  3. Click Attach button.

To delete previously attached files, select them and click Delete button.

NOTE: Adding attachments is not recommended if you send newsletters or promotions. Spam filters and anti-virus software may reject incoming emails with attachments so your customers and subscribers may never receive your message.

 



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Compose from template

You can compose new message from previously created template or from one of pre-loaded templates included in the WebAsyst Mail Master installation package.

To create message from template:

  1. Click Message… button in the toolbar and select Compose from Template… menu item.
  2. Select template from the pull down list.
  3. Click OK button.

Compose Message form opens with selected template preloaded. You can make any changes in this message and Save it as Draft or Send immediately.

See also:

Templates



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Using HTML editor

HTML editor allows you to design HTML content in a WYSIWYG mode (WYSIWYG stands for What You See Is What You Get).

HTML editor has all major tools which allow you to create a nice looking page content and layout, align and format text, mark up Headings, create ordered and bulleted lists, tables etc:

Following is a brief description of HTML editor tools: 

Maximize HTML Editor to occupy entire client area of your browser or Minimize previously maximized editor Formatting of selected text. Allows to mark selected text as “Heading 1”, “Heading 2”, “Normal” etc.
Font selector, e.g. Arial, Courier New, Times New Roman etc. Font size selector
Formatting of selected text as Bold, Italic, Underlined, Strikethrough Font and Background colors
Subscript and Superscript Insert Table, Modify Table properties
Justify text: Right, Center, Left, Full Ordered List. Allows to apply Decimal, Roman and Latin letters numbering
Bulleted List Decrease and Increase Indent
Insert Horizontal Rule Insert link to another page of this book
Insert Web link Insert/Modify Image
Toggle HTML source code Clean up MS Office tags
Modify table row properties Insert table row before/after or delete row
Insert table column before/after or delete column Modify table cell properties
Insert table cell before/after or delete cell Merge table cells



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Formatting text

HTML Editor provides a palette of tools that allow you to format text, set font size and style, font and background colors, add ordered and bulleted lists, indents etc. Sample below is just an illustration on what kind of formatting you can use in your documents:

This is Page Heading

This text is normal. This text is Italic. This text is bold. This text is underlined.

Following text has different sizes, e.g:

Size 1(8pt), Size 2(10pt), Size 3(12pt), Size 4(14pt), Size 5(18pt)...

This is bold yellow text on blue background...

Ordered list:

  1. Item number 1
    1. Item number 1.a
    2. Item number 2.b
  2. Item number 2
  3. Item number 3

Not ordered list:

  • Item 1
  • Item 2
    • Item 2.1
    • Item 2.2
  • Item 3

This text is LEFT justified...

This text is CENTER justified...

...This text is RIGHT justified

This text has no indent.

This text is indented (one indent).

This text is indented (two indents).



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Creating headings

You can mark selected area of text as Heading. Usually headings are used to mark page and paragraph titles and subtitles. HTML “knows” several heading options:

Heading 1 (largest text)

Heading 2

Heading 3

...

Heading 6 (smallest text)

To create heading, select text area that you want to mark as Heading, click --format-- tool in the HTML editor toolbar and choose format option you want to apply to selected text from the pull down menu:



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Changing font style

Select the text you want to change. On the HTML Editor toolbar, click a font name in the font selector box

Available fonts:

This text is Arial
This text is Courier New
This text is Georgia
This text is Tahoma
This text is Times New Roman
This text is Verdana
This text is impact

You can apply different font styles to selected text area using one of the following tools

This text is Bold
This text is Italic
This text is Underline
This text is Strikeout



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Changing font size

Select the text you want to change. On the HTML Editor toolbar, click a font size in the box

Available font size option:

This text is of size 1 (8 pt)
This text is of size 2 (10 pt)
This text is of size 3 (12 pt)
This text is of size 4 (14 pt)
This text is of size 5 (18 pt)
This text is of size 6 (24 pt)
This text is of size 7 (36 pt)

 



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Changing font color

Select the text you want to change. On the HTML Editor toolbar, click "A" tool (left) to change font color or "paint can" tool (right) to change font background:

In Select Color window click a cell with color you need.

Samples:

This text is red on default page background

This text is yellow on blue background

This line is painted in multiple colors. You can even paint separately every character.



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Aligning paragraphs

Horizontal alignment determines the appearance and orientation of the edges of the paragraph. There are four types of alignment: left-aligned, right-aligned, centered or justified. To align paragraph, place cursor anywhere inside of the paragraph and click one of the following tools on the HTML Editor toolbar:

In a left-aligned paragraph (the most common alignment), the left edge of the paragraph is flush with the left margin. This is a sample of left-aligned paragraph.

In a right-aligned paragraph, the right edge of the paragraph is flush with the right margin. This is a sample of right-aligned paragraph.

This is a sample of centered paragraph.

Justifying allows you to adjust horizontal spacing so that text is aligned evenly along both the left and right margins. Justifying text creates a smooth edge on both sides. This is a sample of justified paragraph.

 



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Adding ordered list

HTML Editor can automatically create ordered (or numbered) lists as you type, or you can quickly add numbers to existing lines of text.

  1. Place cursor in the body of your page content where you want to add ordered list. To number an existing line of text, click in this line.
  2. On the HTML Editor toolbar click:
  3. Type a first line of your numbered list.
  4. Press ENTER to add the next list item. HTML Editor automatically inserts the next number.
  5. To finish the list, press BACKSPACE to delete the last number in the list.

You can select different numbering formats by clicking  on the toolbar.

Sample of ordered list with Lower roman numbers:

  1. First line of the list with lower roman numbers
  2. Second line of the list with lower roman numbers
  3. Third line of the list with lower roman numbers

You can turn an existing list into an outline numbered list by changing the hierarchical level of items in the list. Click a number in the list other than the first number, and then press Increase Indent (right) or Decrease Indent (left) on the toolbar:

  1. First line with Decimal numbers
    1. First indented sub-line with Lower latin letters
    2. Second indented sub-line with Lower latin letters
  2. Second line with Decimal numbers
  3. Third line with Decimal numbers

 



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Adding bulleted list

HTML Editor can automatically create bulleted lists as you type, or you can quickly add bullets to existing lines of text.

  1. Place cursor in the body of your page content where you want to add bulleted list. To turn an existing line of text into bulleted list entry, click in this line.
  2. On the HTML Editor toolbar click:
  3. Type a first line of your list.
  4. Press ENTER to add the next list item.
  5. To finish the list, press BACKSPACE to delete the last item in the list.

You can change the hierarchical level of items in the list. Click a line in the list other than the first line, and then press Increase Indent (right) or Decrease Indent (left) on the toolbar:

  • First line on Level 1
    • First indented sub-line on Level 2
    • Second indented sub-line on Level 2
      • First indented sub-line on Level 3
  • Second line on Level 1
  • Third line on Level 1

 



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Using indents

With HTML Editor you can easily increase or decrease the left indent of an entire paragraph.

  1. Place cursor in the body of the paragraph you want to indent.
  2. On the HTML Editor toolbar click Increase Indent  or Decrease Indent .
  3. The indent increases by one "blockquote" tag.

Sample:

This paragraph is not indented...This paragraph is not indented...This paragraph is not indented...This paragraph is not indented...This paragraph is not indented...This paragraph is not indented...This paragraph is not indented...

This paragraph is indented by one blockquote...This paragraph is indented by one blockquote...This paragraph is indented by one blockquote...This paragraph is indented by one blockquote...This paragraph is indented by one blockquote...

This paragraph is indented by two blockquotes...This paragraph is indented by two blockquotes...This paragraph is indented by two blockquotes...This paragraph is indented by two blockquotes...This paragraph is indented by two blockquotes...

Using Indent tools you can change the hierarchical level of items in the list. Click a line in the ordered or bulleted list other than the first line, and then press Increase Indent or Decrease Indent button on the toolbar. Learn more about applying indents to ordered lists or applying indents to bulleted lists.



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Inserting horizontal rule

Horizontal rule is a horizonal line splitting page content into sections. Horizontal rules may be used to indicate a change in topic.

  1. Place cursor in the body of your page content where you want to insert horizontal rule.
  2. On the HTML Editor toolbar click:

If you insert horizontal rule at the end of the line, it appears immediately beneath current paragraph like in the sample below:


 

 



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Adding local images

Local images are stored physically in the same database as your Mail Master message. To insert local image you must first add image file to the list of images available for the message. All image files available for the message appear on the right from the HTML Editor window.

To add image file to the list of images available for the message:

  1. Click Add Image button in the Compose/Edit Message form. Add Image form opens.
  2. Use Browse… button to locate the file you want to add. You can add any files of GIF, JPED and PNG type.
  3. Once you have selected one or more image files, click Add button.

To insert image into your message:

  1. Locate a position in the message where you want to place image and set cursor in this position.
  2. Select image you want to insert in the list of images on the right of HTML Editor and click it.
  3. Image should appear in the content of your message.
  4. Click Insert/Modify Image toolbar button:
  5. Enter Alternate text that will appear as an ALT tag for the image (optional).
  6. Specify image properties, e.g. Alignment, Border thickness, Spacing.
  7. Click OK button.

 



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Adding remote images

Remote images could be physically located at any resource in the Internet available via HTTP. For instance, WebAsyst logo is available at the following address: http://www.webasyst.net/img/logo.gif.

To add remote image:

  1. Locate a position in the page content where you want to place image and settle cursor in this position.
  2. Click Insert/Modify Image toolbar button:
  3. Insert Image form opens:



  4. Enter exact URL of the image you want to add into Image URL box.
  5. Enter Alternate text that will appear as an ALT tag for the image (optional).
  6. Specify image properties, e.g. Alignment, Border thickness, Spacing etc.
  7. Click OK button to save changes.

 



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Adding hyperlinks

You can insert a link to any external resource in the Internet.

To insert web link:

  1. Select text you want to make a link.
  2. Click Insert Web link toolbar button:
  3. In the Insert/Modify link enter address (URL) of the resource you want to refer.
  4. Enter optional Title.
  5. Choose in the Target menu whether you want to open new link in the same window, new window or frame.
  6. Click OK button.

Sample: This is the link to WebAsyst Installation Guide (opens in new window).

 



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Entering HTML Source

In some cases you may wish to add and edit HTML source code into your message. HTML Editor has a special tool which allows you to toggle working area in HTML Source mode where you can modify HTML source code directly.

To toggle to HTML source code editing, click  in the toolbar. The working area of your HTML Editor will look like in the sample below:

NOTE: Direct HTML source editing is an advanced option and you must have at least basic HTML skills to edit document source.

 



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Sending messages

Mail Master allows you to send messages to contact lists, user groups, or expressly selected contacts from your Contact Manager database. Refer to Contact Manager User Guide for details.

To send message from Compose/Edit Message form:

  1. Click Message… button and select Send… command
  2. In Send Message form specify Priority, e.g. Normal, High, Low
  3. Use From: menu to select sender. Default sender is you with your personal name and email which will appear in the properties of your messages after delivering to recipient’s mail program. To learn how to create multiple sender accounts refer to Customizing Sender.
  4. To select recipients, use pull down menu in the right window of To: dual list. If you want to send your message to previously created list of contacts, select this list from the pull down menu and double-click it with your mouse or click arrow button located between windows. Selected list should appear in Included window on the left. If you have permission to manage user accounts, you can include entire user groups to your recipient list. To include individual contact, choose folder in the pull down menu where this contact resides. Then select contacts you need.
  5. Select Send Now radio button if you want the message to be sent immediately.
  6. Select Send Later radio button if you want to schedule sending for future and specify preferred date and time. NOTE: You must specify future date/time.
  7. Click Send button. At this point Mail Master starts to prepare the list of email addresses of recipients you requested. Note, that only those contacts that have a value in E-Mail field in the Contact Manager database will be actually included.
  8. Once the list of email addresses is gathered, Mail Master shows the number of recipients that will receive this message. Click Send button again to confirm sending.

Messages successfully sent receive “Sent” status and appear in brown in the list of messages. Sent messages can not be modified, though they can be deleted or moved to another folder.

Messages scheduled for later sending receive “Pending” status and appear in green italic in the list of messages. Pending messages can not be modified, though you can cancel sending and return message into Draft status.

To see the list of actual recipients of sent message, open it and click Sending Report tab in the View Message form.

To send multiple messages:

1. In the list of messages select messages you want to send.
2. Click Message… button in the toolbar and select Send… menu item.
3. In Send Message form follow the same procedure as described above.

NOTE: You can send only messages that have Draft status.

 



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Templates

Templates significantly simplify the process of creating new messages. Template is actually a message with the special status “Template” that does not allow you to send it directly. Instead you must create new messages based on template and then send it.

Mail Master contains a number of preloaded templates in the installation package. You can use any of preloaded templates to compose your message or you can modify these templates to make it suitable for your needs. You can also create new templates.

Templates appear in Blue in the list of messages.

To create new template:

  1. Click Message… button in the toolbar and select Create Template menu item.
  2. In Create Template form compose a content of your template using the same methods as described in Composing new message section.
  3. Click Save button.

To create template from existing message:

  1. Locate the message you want to use as a prototype for your new template and open it.
  2. Click Message… button and select Save as Template… command in the menu.
  3. Select Folder where you want to save this template.
  4. In Edit Template form make changes you need and click Save button.

 



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Customizing View

You can customize appearance or your message list:

  1. Click View… button and select Columns… command in the menu.
  2. Select columns you want to make visible and adjust their positing using arrow buttons.
  3. Specify Number of messages you want to be visible on one page.
  4. Click Save button.

 



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Customizing Sender

Every message issued by Mail Master has mandatory From, Reply-To and Return-Path parameters. You can create multiple Sender accounts and expressly specify sender every time you send message. It allows you to personalize sender for every advertising campaign.

To create new sender account:

  1. Click Mail button in the main menu bar.
  2. Select Service item in the pull down menu.

    NOTE: You can see Mail / Service item in your main menu only if you have permission to access this screen. To setup permission to any screen in the system click Contact / Contact Manager in the main menu. Refer to your Contact Manager User Guide for details.

  3. Click Add Sender button.
  4. Specify From Name parameter. It will appear in the heading of your message in your recipient’s mail program. If you want to send newsletters or promotions on behalf of your company, point your company name here, e.g. XYZ Company LLC.
  5. Specify From Email parameter. It should be valid email address associated with the From Name.
  6. Reply-To is the email address that will be used if your recipient will click Reply button in his mail program.
  7. Return-Path is also email address that used by mail servers to return any undelivered messages.
  8. Encoding is iso-8859-1 by default. You may want to change encoding parameters if you use national characters in your message.
  9. Click Save button.

 



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