The email editor
Emails are notoriously hard to get right: every inbox draws them differently and a layout that looks fine on a laptop can collapse on a phone. The email editor lets you build an email from sections that are known to survive real inboxes, personalise every piece of text with the recipient's details, and see exactly what a recipient will read — with their name filled in — before you send. Automated emails and campaigns use this same editor, so you only learn it once.
How it works
The editor has three panels. On the left, Sections — the building blocks you can add. In the middle, a live preview of the email drawn exactly as it will be mailed. On the right, Options: the settings of the section you selected, or — when nothing is selected — the Email design that applies to the whole email (background, content width, fonts, colours and the inbox preview text).
| Group | Sections |
|---|---|
| Content | Heading, Text (paragraphs, lists and links), Button, Image, Logo, Video (a thumbnail that opens the video) |
| Event | Event Details (name, date and a link, filled in per event), Social Links, Footer |
| Layout | Columns (two or three, each holding its own sections), Divider, Spacer, Custom HTML |
Variable A placeholder such as {{attendee_first_name}} or {{event_name}} that is replaced by each recipient's own value when the email is sent. In the Text section a variable appears as a chip; everywhere else it is written in double braces.
Variables The button beside every text field that lists what this email can fill, in two levels: first the thing — Attendee, Event, Meeting inviting party, Meeting accepting party, Meeting guests, Other party, Links — then its detail, such as Job title or Company. In every field a variable is shown as a chip with that path, Meeting inviting party › Company, and is deleted whole. Typing {{ or searching the menu finds any of them at once. Every person group offers the same details as Attendee.
Sample data A toolbar switch that shows every variable as a realistic sample value, so you read the email the way a recipient will.
Not available here A toolbar warning naming any variable this particular email cannot fill — for example a meeting time in a registration email. Such a variable would be sent empty.
- Variables work in every attendee-facing text: the subject line, headings, paragraphs, button labels and links, image descriptions and links, event details and the footer — and in a campaign, custom questions from your Question Pool.
- Colours are per section and per email. Unlike the website, an email section may carry its own background and button colours, because an email has no site-wide theme.
- Columns stack on a phone. Two or three columns side by side on a desktop become one column on a phone automatically; columns cannot be nested inside columns.
- Images come from the Media Library as PNG, JPG or GIF, or from an address you paste.
- What you see is what is sent. The HTML that reaches inboxes is produced by Moostoo from your design when you save; a design that cannot be sent is refused on save with the reason, and nothing is stored.
Custom HTML
The Custom HTML section is sent as you write it. Moostoo does not check it and cannot guarantee how each inbox draws it. Use it for a snippet you trust, not to build the email.
Step by step
Open an email: Edit on an automated email, or the Design step of a campaign.
Drag a section from Sections onto the preview, or click it to add it at the end. Use the controls on each section to move, duplicate or delete it.
Select a section and change its content and look under Options. Click an empty part of the preview to return to Email design.
Insert variables with Variables or by typing {{, then turn on Sample data to read the result.
Use the width switch to check the email at Desktop and Phone width. Undo and Redo are in the toolbar.
Clear any Not available here warning, click Send Test to see it in a real inbox, then Save.
What attendees see
In attendee emails
Recipients receive a clean, table-based email that most inboxes display consistently, with every variable replaced by their own details and columns stacked on a phone. A variable with no value for that person is left empty rather than printed as a placeholder.
Tips
Choose how wide each column is
Select a Columns section and pick its Column widths — equal, or a narrow and a wide column (33 / 67, 25 / 75, 40 / 60 and their mirrors) for two columns, or one wide column first, in the middle or last for three. Changing the number of columns offers the splits that fit it. For any other shape choose Custom and size each column yourself: a percentage of the email, a width in pixels, or Fill the rest — for example a 200 px first column with the second filling what is left. At least one column always fills; if the percentages leave no room for it, the editor says so and the columns are drawn equal until you fix it.
Align what is inside a column
Select a Columns section and use each column's alignment grid to place its content top, middle or bottom, and left, center or right — for example a logo in the middle of a column next to a longer text. The column's left/center/right applies to every section inside it, overriding their own Alignment setting.
Size, colour and highlight
A Text section's toolbar has a text size list (Small, Normal, Large, Larger, Huge), a text colour and a highlight menu (preset swatches, a Custom colour picker, and a button to go back to the default), and alignment buttons. Select the words first, then pick. The formatting is written into the email itself, so inboxes show it too.
- Fill in the inbox preview text in Email design — it is the line most inboxes show next to the subject, and it decides whether an email is opened.
- Always write the image description of an image; many inboxes block images until the reader allows them.
- Prefer a Button to a link inside text for your main call to action — it is easier to tap on a phone.
- On a narrow screen the editor switches to a compact layout with the catalog, outline and options behind a bottom bar; the email itself is unchanged.