Editor

One of the major features of CodeTwo Exchange Rules PRO is that it inserts personalized signatures, legal notes, disclaimers, promo banners, etc. to sent / received mail. For the program to add these actions, you need to create a rule that will include the Insert disclaimer and / or Insert signature action. Therefore, these actions need to use a template that must be composed in the Editor (Fig. 1.).

Fig. 1. The Editor.

The Editor is a standalone application that resembles Microsoft Word and can be used in a similar way. The window of the Editor comprises of several sections with the edit field in the center that is used to compose the content of the template.

By clicking the links below you will be navigated to the description of the most significant options available within the Editor:

• Choosing the format of a signature / disclaimer template
• Converting the format of a signature / disclaimer template into another format
• Saving signature/disclaimer for future use
• Creating signature in source view
• Preview the final message along with the signature
• Inserting hyperlinks
• Inserting pictures
• Inserting social links
• Inserting tables
• Inserting placeholders
• Choosing email layout type (signature, disclaimer or side banners layouts)
• Defining what to do if a signature is already found within a message in the conversation
• Defining a place where a signature / disclaimer will be added within the conversation

Prior to adding a disclaimer / signature action to rule, open up the Editor window via the Edit button located in the properties pane of the added action (Fig. 2.).

Fig. 2. Opening the Editor.

Choosing the format of a signature / disclaimer template

The Editor tabs are located above the main toolbar (Fig. 3.). Switching the tabs allows you to edit and create the template in different message formats:

• HTML
• RTF
• Plain Text

Fig. 3. The Editor tabs with HTML, RTF and Plain Text formats.

Please note that the number of options and layouts is different for different formats:

Fig. 4. HTML toolbar.

Fig. 5. RTF toolbar.

Fig. 6. Plain text toolbar.

The table below shows which options included in the Editor are available for the particular formats of the signature / disclaimer templates:

Editor's sections	Template formats
	HTML	RTF	PLAIN TEXT
Actions	Cut Copy Paste Undo Redo Convert to RTF / /Plain Text	Cut Copy Paste Undo Redo Convert to Plain Text	Cut Copy Paste Undo Redo
Template library	Template library	Template library	Template library
View	Source Preview Guidelines	Guidelines Preview	Guidelines Preview
Font	Font type Font size Bold Italic Underline Strikethrough Clear formatting Font color Text highlight color	Font type Font size Bold Italic Underline Strikethrough Clear formatting Font color Text highlight color	X Unavailable
Paragraph	Align left Align center Align right Justify Bulleted list Numbered list Decrease indent Increase indent	Align left Align center Align right Justify Bulleted list Numbered list Decrease indent Increase indent	X Unavailable
Insert	Picture (local / online) Table Social link Placeholder Hyperlink Horizontal line {rt} Remove Text tag Special character	{rt} Remove Text tag Placeholder Social link	{rt} Remove Text tag Placeholder Social link
Email layout	Header Signature / Disclaimer Left banner Right banner	Header Signature / Disclaimer	Header Signature / Disclaimer

Configuring the content of the signature / disclaimer templates

The toolbar consists of seven sections (Fig. 7.):

• Actions
• Template library
• View
• Font
• Paragraph
• Insert
• Email layout

Fig. 7. The Editor's toolbar.

Actions

The most important buttons within this section (Fig. 8.) are:

• Save - upon editing a signature or disclaimer you need to use the Save button to update templates. Be aware that templates are saved only locally at this point. Any rules changes will be pushed to software services on your servers only after clicking Submit Changes button on the top menu ribbon of the Administration Panel. 
• Convert - this feature enables conversion of templates from one format to another. Thanks to this feature you won't have to create templates for other formats from scratch but convert the existing ones with one click. Due to limitations of RTF and Plain Text formats, the conversion process may result in omitting several HTML elements like tables, images or text formatting.

Fig. 8. The Actions section in the toolbar.

The rest of options available here are quite similar to the standard MS Word type: you may undo and redo introduced changes, cut, copy and paste content. However, the signature content cannot be copied directly from the Microsoft Word application, due to set of additional and office-related HTML elements that are not official part of any HTML specification. Thus the final design may look distorted in various mail clients. 

Template library

This section consists of one button that enables you to use the following options:

• Save as template... - you can save your work as a template for future use. You will be prompted to choose a folder and a name for your new template.
• Load template... - load existing template from Template Library into the Editor. All content already existing in the Editor will be replaced.
• Browse templates... - opens Template Library window that allows you to browse all existing templates

Fig. 9. The Template Library button.

View

The View section (Fig. 10.) consists of two buttons: Source and Show guidelines.

Fig. 10. The View section in the toolbar.

• Source - enables modifying the source of the signature's content and configuring it via available options (Fig. 11.):

Fig. 11. Source view of the message composition.

• Preview - allows you to preview the signature / disclaimer in HTML, RTF and Plain Text formats of messages, along with personal information of any Active Directory user (Fig. 12.):

Fig. 12. Preview of the final message with signature.

• Guidelines - this option is marked by default and shows the borders and additional options of the message composition (Fig. 13.):

Fig. 13. Show guidelines button marked.

Once unmarked, all the borders and additional options will disappear from the composition (Fig. 14.).

Fig. 14. Show guidelines button unmarked.

Font

This section (Fig. 15.) allows you to format the text by changing font type, size, foreground and background color etc.

Fig. 15. The Font section in the toolbar.

Paragraph

Within this section (Fig. 16.) you can decide about the layout of the entered content e.g. add bullet points, justify text, decide about spacing etc.

Fig. 16. The Paragraph section in the toolbar.

To change more advanced aspects, right click the paragraph and from the context menu select Paragraph properties. The following window enables you to set the alignment, the indentation and the spacing (Fig. 17.).

Fig. 17. The Paragraph properties window.

Insert

This section (Fig. 18.) is used to insert objects into the content of a signature / disclaimer.

Fig. 18. The Insert section in the toolbar.

The options in this section let you insert the following items:

• Hyperlink - via this button you can insert hyperlinks to the content of a signature / disclaimer. Additionally, this feature enables adding the display text and tooltip to selected URL addresses via its configuration window (Fig. 19.).

Fig. 19. The hyperlink editor.

• Picture - once you click this button, the Insert picture editor will open allowing to choose a picture either from the local library or the online resource. Additionally, you will be able to define the size of pictures (either with pixels or percent; also you might provide just one dimension, so the second one will be calculated respectively to keep the aspect ratio) (Fig. 20.):

Fig. 20. Insert picture options.

Please study the table below to learn differences between online and local (embedded) images:

Online images Downloaded directly from server	Embedded images Included in every message
Advantages
You can track who received your messages by analyzing web traffic Images can be changed in existing signatures, without touching the Administration Panel Size of final message is always acceptable	Recipients never get prompted for downloading images Images are immediately visible in a message You can be sure that the message will look properly, even during a server failure
Disadvantages
Recipients are often asked to download remote resources Some filters may recognize your messages as SPAM In the case of server failure or weak Internet connection your images will not be displayed	Size of a final message might be too large You cannot update images in messages that were sent

• Social link - this function allows you to create a special kind of a hyperlink, which includes a label as well as a related image, and targets to one of social media networks (Fig. 21.). The URL of target is fully configurable and moreover may contain users' personal information (placeholders), thus the final link might refer to a particular employee's social profile. If you are about to add a link to social network like Facebook or Google+, please keep in mind, that you should put the username in the URL (it must not be the e-mail address). Mostly, this identifier can be obtained by opening the main profile page of the user. 

Fig. 21. Insert social link options.

• Table - this feature enables complex definition of tables. You will be able to add a table directly to the composition and define its size, layout and borders and furthermore, obtain a consistent appearance of the signature in various mail clients (Fig. 22.):

Fig. 22. Adding a table.

Once the table is added you can modify its properties via the context menu. Just right-click on the chosen cell (Fig. 23.):

Fig. 23. Tables' properties context menu.

For example, you can change the properties of:

• Cell

Fig. 24. Cell's properties.

• Cell borders

Fig. 25. Cell's borders.

• Column

Fig. 26. Column's properties.

• Row

Fig. 27. Row's properties.

• Table itself

Fig. 28. Table's properties.

• Table borders

Fig. 29. Table's borders

Size of particular rows and columns may be easily modified by simply dragging the borders using the mouse. In the context menu you may find also additional options to merge and split up the table cells as well.  

• Placeholder - this feature (Fig. 30.) enables adding Active Directory variables directly into the signature / disclaimer. Once you choose the particular placeholder, it will reserve a place within a signature / disclaimer template and fill it with a value specified in the attributes of the particular user's account in the Active Directory database after processing by the program.

Fig. 30. Choosing placeholders to be inserted into the signature / disclaimer template.

To add a placeholder, you can either use the Placeholder button and choose one from the context menu or type it manually (in both available View types). Note that if you choose to type a placeholder manually, you must embrace it with {} brackets. Furthermore, once you insert the placeholder into the template, you will be able to adjust its properties by right-clicking the particular placeholder (Fig. 31.).

Fig. 31. Opening the placeholder's properties.

Below is the table containing the list of all placeholders available in the program. Therefore, the table shows placeholders in terms of their type and availability in the particular message template formats.

Placeholder type	Placeholder name	Template format
Message sender	{City}	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
	{Company}	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
	{Country}	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
	{Department}	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
	{Description}	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
	{Display name}	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
	{Email}	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
	{Email as link}	HTML
	{Fax}	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
	{First name}	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
	{Home phone}	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
	{Initials}	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
	{IP phone}	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
	{Last name}	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
	{Mobile}	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
	{Notes}	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
	{Office}	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
	{P.O. Box}	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
	{Pager}	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
	{Phone}	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
	{Photo}*	HTML
	{Postal code}	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
	{State}	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
	{Street}	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
	{Title}	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
	{Web page}	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
	{Web page as link}**	HTML
	{ExchAttr1} - {ExchAttr15}	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
	Custom placeholders	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
Dynamic content	{Rotating image}***	HTML / RTF
	{Rotating text}***	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
Message properties	{Recipient Address}	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
	{Message Subject}	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
	{Sending Server}	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
	{Message ID}	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
	{Message Date}****	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
Counters	{Counter}	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
	{Unique counter}	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
Other	{Current Date/Time}****	HTML / RTF / Plain Text
	{QR Code image}*****	HTML
	{Unsubscribe link}******	HTML / RTF / Plain Text

*The {Photo} placeholder is used by the program to pull your users photos from Active Directory and insert them into emails. This placeholder also lets you customize the dimensions of AD photos. Once you add it in the editor, you can decide to insert photos in (Fig. 31.):

• Original dimensions
• Adjust the dimensions to a desirable size in pixels.

While adjusting the photo, either use one dimension (in such a way the program will scale the photo keeping the aspect ratio) or enter both dimensions (the program will scale the photo to selected values).

Fig. 32. Photo placeholder's configuration window.

** The {Web page as link} placeholder allows you to pull webpage address from your Active Directory and insert it as a valid hyperlink. The Web Address should be preceded by a proper protocol definition (like HTTP or HTTPS). In the case this is missing, the program will automatically append the HTTP protocol at the very beginning of the link.

***The {Rotating text} and {Rotating image} placeholders are used to include text or graphic from a desired folder. The content is changed in a random or sequential mode (depending on how you configured it), every time when a message is going through Exchange Server. To configure the placeholder, simply right click it and select Properties. There you can define the FolderPath from where the text / images should be pulled and the WorkingMode. To limit what extensions of files should be included in the process, use the FileMask. Moreover, in the case of {Rotating text}, you can also set the Formatting field to make the text e.g. uppercase or lowercase.

Fig. 33. The {Rotating image} configuration window.

**** You can customize the format of date and time in many different ways. For more information, please consult this article.

*****Once you choose to insert {QR Code image} placeholder, its configuration window will display (Fig. 34.). Thanks to this option, you will be able to generate QR code image directly within the program containing bare text value or inserting Active Directory variables.

Fig. 34. QR Code placeholder's configuration window.

QR code image configuration window is divided into four sections:

• Size of image - here you define the actual size of an image in pixels; this section additionally shows how many chars the image may contain.
• Insert placeholder - instead of typing the placeholder manually, you can use this button to automatically insert desirable placeholder by choosing it from the provided list.
• Text area - here your QR code image will look like.

******The {Unsubscribe link} placeholder is used to create a personalized link that will be included in the outgoing mail to trigger the unsubscribe mechanism. Once such link is clicked, it will unsubscribe the recipient from any forthcoming messages of the particular sender/group/whole company (depends on the defined conditions) yet block them against reaching your recipients' mailboxes.

Learn how to configure the program to enable mechanism unsubscribing from a mailing list

you can type the text value that will be used to generate the image. Note if you automatically insert placeholders using the Insert placeholder button, they will also appear within this area. Furthermore, each placeholder's properties may be changed here by right-clicking it and choosing Placeholder properties. Additionally, once you save changes and open up the created image, the properties of a placeholder will be available only via Properties button.

• Preview - shows how

  To personalize the {Unsubscribe link} placeholder you need to enter its editor. In the editor, expand the Placeholder's context menu, choose Other and click {Unsubscribe link}.

  In the window that opens (Fig. 35.) define the following settings:

  • Add recipients' email addresses to the following blacklist - this is the container to which the email address of the recipient who unsubscribes from the mailing list is added. Note that you can manage the blacklists and the recipients included in the lists (add new or edit/remove the existing) via the Recipients blacklists tab in the program's settings.
  • Unsubscribe link display text - this is the text representing the link that appears in the received email used for unsubscribing the recipient from the mailing list.
  • Information displayed on the default web page - this is the information that will be displayed on the default landing page provided by CodeTwo once the recipient clicks the unsubscribe link in the received email. Note that this information can be customized with adjusting the text and inserting the recipient's email address placeholder (filled with the recipient's actual email address after processing by the program).
  • Display a third party email service web page -  this feature is the alternative to the above-mentioned default landing page provided by CodeTwo. If you don't want to use the default web page provided, you can enter the URL of your own web page that will be displayed once the recipient of your message clicks the unsubscribe link in the received email. Note that after choosing this page, you will not be able to adjust its text. Furthermore, the only option to customize it via the program is adding the recipient's email address placeholder that will be filled with the recipient's email address and visible in the URL only.

  Fig. 35. The Unsubscribe link placeholder's configuration window.

  Note that you can adjust the placeholder's configuration at any point after it was saved. Open your signature/disclaimer template in the Editor, right-click {Unsubscribe link} and from the context menu choose Placeholder properties (Fig. 36.).

  Fig. 36. Opening the placeholder's properties window.

  As some users may not have the attributes of the particular dynamic fields filled in Active Directory, it's worth to use the {rt} Remove Text tag to avoid adding the empty dynamic field to signatures / disclaimers (Fig. 37.).

  Fig. 37. Choosing Remove Text Tag.

  Thanks to this solution, if such user's mail is processed by the program, the empty dynamic field will be removed along the empty line from the signature / disclaimer keeping the professional look of the sent mail. If you want to remove the specific empty dynamic fields from the signatures/disclaimers, embrace the chosen dynamic field with Remove Text Tags. Note that if you insert RT Tags at the beginning and at the end of the same row, the empty dynamic field will be removed but the empty space will remain. The example below shows how to insert the RT Tag to have the empty line removed along the dynamic content:

  Regards, {First name} {Last name} {Company} {Department} Phone: {Phone} {RT} Mobile: {Mobile} {/RT} Email: {Email}

  Regards, {First name} {Last name} {Company} {Department} Phone: {Phone} {RT} Mobile: [Mobile]{/RT} Email: {Email}

  Email layout

  The email layout pane is used to define the actual place where the header, disclaimer / signature or side banners will be added within the defined insert disclaimer / signature action (Fig. 38.).

  Fig. 38. Email layout options in HTML format.

  Info

  Please note that the layout options are limited to the chosen format of the content. Therefore, side banners are available in HTML format only.

  To add a layout, click its section within the toolbar. On the other hand, to remove a chosen layout unclick it in the toolbar or hit the X button in its right upper corner.

  Editing/creating the content of signatures/disclaimers

  Within each layout type you can compose the actual appearance and content of the signature / disclaimer and define options available in the toolbar for the chosen layout types.

  Depending on the layout section chosen in the Email layout within the toolbar, you can also make use of the additional options. These options are available once hitting the  button located in the right upper corner of each layout type (Fig. 39.).

  Fig. 39. Additional options for particular layout sections.

  The additional options enable to define what action should be taken once the header / disclaimer / banner is already found in the message within the conversation (Fig. 40.). For Header, Disclaimer and Side Banners you may decide to:

  • Add new one - once previously added header / disclaimer / banner is found within a message in conversation, it will be added once again.
  • Remove old one - once previously added header / disclaimer / banner is found within a message in the conversation, the program will remove it and stamp the message with a new one (this option is unavailable with RTF format).

  Fig. 40. Add/remove old banner from a message in the conversation.

  As far as the Disclaimers and Headers are concerned, besides the above-mentioned options you may also define a place where they will be inserted within the conversation (Fig. 41.):

  • Right under the original reply message - the header or disclaimer will be added below the latest response in the conversation.
  • At the very bottom of the conversation - the header or disclaimer will be added  below all previous messages at the very end of the conversation.

  Fig. 41. Defining a place where a signature/disclaimer will be added within a conversation.

  Another feature available for headers and signatures is the possibility to widen (Fig. 42.) or narrow (Fig. 43.) them if necessary. To do that, click the arrow  buttons located on both sides of headers and signatures:

  Fig. 42. Header and signature widen.

  Fig. 43. Header and signature narrowed.

  Additionally, while configuring signature you may change it into disclaimer (Fig. 44.) and the other way round (Fig. 45.) at any point using  button:

  Fig. 44. Changing signature into disclaimer.

  Fig. 45. Changing disclaimer into signature.

  See next

  Template library - this article describes the library that includes the ready-made signature / disclaimer templates that may be used straightaway instead of creating new templates from scratch.