Text Layout only email

[rookers]

Hi
I am going round in circles trying to do what I thought would be simple. I just want to create a new email template that is text only - eg does not have the outer wrapper of html that formats it.

My order received emails etc etc are all HTML and work fine, but I want to create a special one for a particular reason that is just plain text.

I am finding the whole outer / inner / selector system very confusing. I found some notes saying edit the selector for the email required, but none of my custom emails have a selector.

So, how do I simply create a brand new email that is text only ?

Hope someone out there knows the answer!

Cheers

[brucet]

Hi, the steps are described in the article 'How do I change the format in which emails are sent?' in the main help (select 'Help Topics' from the 'Help' menu and search for the article by name).

The key thing is to make sure you change the values for both the Email Inner Layout and Email Outer Layout selectors for the email you're trying to change.

[rookers]

Thanks for that - as I said there are no "selectors" to modify for email templates I have created myself. I have a long list of templates that I have created and none of them has a matching selector file. That article is the first thing I read, but I think that article is way too brief and does not make sense or work for me at all.

[brucet]

If a layout is not associated with a selector, it won't be offered as an option in the Mail tab of the Orders. It will just sit dormant in the Library and can't be used.

There is a 'User Defined' email layout type that you could use. If you make the 'Text Only Email Layout' valid instead of the 'HTML Email Layout' for the OtherEmailLayout selector, then you can create a new layout and make it valid for the corresponding 'OtherEmailInnerLayout' selector. It will be offered in the list n the Mail tab of the Orders, and will be sent as the correct type.

If you have other HTML emails, you can make them valid for any of the following, and they will also appear as options in the Mail tab:
OrderReceivedInnerLayout
OrderShippedInnerLayout
PaymentReceivedInnerLayout

The key things are that each inner layout must be associated with an inner layout selector; and th inner layout selector must be of the same type as its corresponding outer layout selecter - either Text or HTML.

I hope this helps

[rookers]

Hi thanks for the info, but this is still very unclear.

All of the custom emails that I have created over the years work, and appear in the orders email tab.

None of them - AS FAR AS I CAN SEE - have a similarly named "selector". This is the crucial bit I do not understand - I can't these "selector" things in the list, and yet the email do work.

I do not understand what clicks I have to do to apply what you say in your message "create a new layout and make it valid" - what do you mean "make it valid".

The email templates I have are created by going into an order, and clicking "manage emails", copying one and then renaming it.

This sure is complicated for such a simple thing.

[brucet]

Hi Jez

TBH I think you need to familiarise yourself a bit more with how layouts and selectors work. The various help chapters about design are relevant, particularly the section 'Customising Layout Selectors'.

To see what I meant, double-click a selector in the Library and then click the 'Values' tab. On the left you will see a list of layouts in the same layout type. On your right is a list of the ones valid for the selector. These are the ones which that selector offers, eg in the 'Site Options' menu, or which can be inserted as fixed layouts using that selector. You can use the arrow buttons to move layouts between the two lists.

If an email layout is not valid for any of the email selectors, it won't be offered.

So how come you can use your new layouts? If you created them by copying one of the standard ones, the new layouts will automatically be valid for the same selector as the original. I'm guessing that's what's happened here. In this case, they MUST all be of the same type as the original - text or HTML.

Basically each email is made up from two layouts. The Email Outer Layout provides the overall design, the Email Inner Layout provides the content. Either both must be text, or both must be HTML. If you mix the two, the email will be messed up.

Here's what I suggest you do to resolve your issue:

1) In the Email Outer Layout type, open the OtherEmailLayout selector and click the Values tab
2) Make the Layouts Offered by This Selector = Text Only Email Layout
3) Click the Basic Definition tab, then OK
4) In the Email Inner Layout type, open the OtherEmailInnerLayout selector and click the Values tab
5) Make sure only text layouts are Layouts Offered by This Selector. If any of them are HTML, move them to the LH list. Then open another selector - one whose outer layout is HTML - and make them Layouts Offered by This Selector.

In future, if any new layout is to be text, copy a text layout and edit it. If it's to be HTML, copy an HTML layout and edit that.

You can edit emails before sending them (text emails are easier to edit than HTML), so you don't need a separate layout for small differences.

I hope this helps

[rookers]

Hi I am back on with this and have a new query about it - what exactly links the Outer Layout Selectors and the Inner ? I have gone through all the "outer" and "inner" selectors and can see nowhere where one states that it is linked to the other.
For example I want to create a brand new outer html layout that looks different to the standard one and will be used for particular purposes.
So I copied, pasted and renamed a new Outer Layout.
Fine - but where on the inner layout do I specify I want to use this new outer ?
Selectors for inner just say yes I'm an inner - they do not "point" to a outer.
They also no not have exactly matching names - I thought it would be a case the inner and outer have the same name - nope, you can't have two selectors with the same name,

So my overall question is "how do I create a new, alternate, HTML outer layout" that have a nice new Html inner layout associated with it." ?
Thanks

[rookers]

No response from Sellerdeck on this. Disappointing.

[Goz]

Goto Design then Themes then Advanced Themes Configuration then Advanced Page Configuration

[rookers]

GOZ Many thanks. You have given me the key where Sellerdeck could not be bothered to do so. Man that is buried away isn't it? I have looked for this many times with no success and I see no reference to it in the help.

Anyway I think this will help me so many thanks.

[brucet]

Sorry Jez, not that I couldn't be bothered but this slipped down my Inbox somehow :-(

Thanks Andrew for responding