Communication Templates

Purpose: This article explains how Communication Templates work in Administrate: the template types, the fields that control delivery, audiences, translations, and how to preview and test a template.

Communication templates define the email and SMS content Administrate sends to learners, booking contacts, instructors, and staff. Triggers send them automatically, and some workflows let you choose a template manually, for example when cancelling an Event or Event Sessions.

This article explains:

Email and SMS template types
The fields that make up a template
Audiences and who each one reaches
System and User templates
Translations and language selection
Previewing and testing

Overview

You can manage templates from the main navigation bar under Communications > Templates. Templates support merge fields (dynamic values pulled from your Administrate data), can carry attachments, and can be translated into every language enabled on your instance.

For how merge fields work, see Template Merge Fields.
For the full list of available fields, see the Merge Field Reference.
For language setup and translation delivery logic, see Languages and Translations.

Template types

Email templates

Email templates support rich content, including formatting, links, images, and layout. You can edit using the visual editor or switch to HTML view if you prefer to work directly with markup.

If you paste content from tools like Microsoft Word or Google Docs, review the result in the editor. Pasted formatting can introduce unwanted markup or inconsistent styling.

SMS templates

SMS templates are plain text and cannot include formatting or attachments. Keep messages concise and within your SMS character limit. You can still use merge fields.

Create a template

Go to Communications > Templates.
Select Create template.
Choose Email or SMS.
Choose the audience. The audience also determines which merge fields the editor offers.
Complete the remaining fields and the message content.
Select Save.

Template fields

Name: an internal reference. Recipients do not see it.
Audience: who receives the message and which merge fields are available; see Audiences.
Company: in a multi-company setup, which company can use the template, or All Companies to share it. Users generally see and manage templates for their own company plus the shared ones.
Subject: the email subject line (email templates only). Merge fields work in the subject too.
Body: the message content, including merge fields.
Attachments: optional files or generated documents; see Attachments.

Attachments

Templates can include attachments such as generated documents or files stored in the Document Management System (DMS).

You can also attach documents dynamically using Document Categories, allowing Administrate to include the correct file based on the documents associated with the Event.

Some attachment options generate their document at the moment of sending, such as invoices, certificates, iCal invitations, and the Sign In Sheet PDF offered for staff audiences, which always uses the built-in layout (see Sign-in Sheets and Print Outs for sending a customized sheet instead).

Attachment behavior at send time:

Attachments are limited to 12 MB in total per communication; exceeding the limit stops the send and records an error in the trigger logs. The pre-send size check covers files stored in the DMS; documents generated at send time are not included in it, so very large generated attachments can still fail at delivery.
If a specific attached document is missing from the DMS, the communication is not sent and the trigger log shows an “Attachment not found” error.
A Document Category with no matching document on the Event sends the communication without the attachment and without any warning.

Images

You can embed an image into an email template by linking to it with a URL by using the image icon in the editor toolbar. Do not drag and drop or paste an image file directly into the editor.

Upload the image somewhere publicly accessible, such as your website or a file-hosting service, and copy its URL. Recipients’ email clients must be able to load the URL without signing in.
Open the template and place your cursor where you want the image.
Select the image icon in the editor toolbar.
Paste the image URL and confirm.
Select Save.

If you work in HTML view, add an <img> tag with the image URL as its src instead.

Audiences

The Audience defines who receives the communication and determines which merge fields are available in the template editor. For what data each audience can draw on, see the audience table in Template Merge Fields.

Audience	Who receives it?
Students	Contacts registered on the Event. When a registration has a Communication Contact, that contact receives the message instead of the student, and CC addresses on the registration are included
Learner Booking Contacts	The contact used to book unnamed students
Event Staff	Administrators and Instructors assigned to the Event. Separate Administrators and Instructors audiences exist to target a single role
Contact	The Contact the communication concerns, used by system-driven messages
Booking Owner	The internal user who owns the Booking
Booking Contact	The primary contact designated on the Booking
Booking Recipient	The fixed email addresses typed into the trigger’s configuration, separated by commas. This audience is not a person on the Booking
Payment Billing Email	For invoices linked to a Booking, the booking contact’s email address; otherwise the Account’s stored billing email
Gift Voucher Recipient	The recipient email address entered on the Gift Voucher
Training Pass Recipient	The Contact who holds the Training Pass
Training Token Point of Contact	Every point of contact recorded on the Training Token issue
Learning Assignments	The learner assigned to the Learning Path
SurveyMonkey Respondents	Students on the Event invited to complete the survey
Scheduled	Recipients of scheduled reports

For how Communication Contacts redirect student messages, see Booking Contacts, Learner Booking Contacts, and Communication Recipients.

Note

The Scheduled audience does not support merge fields: a template containing one cannot be saved, and the scheduled report is delivered as an email attachment rather than merged into the message.

System and User templates

The template list contains two kinds of template:

User templates are created by your team for your own communications and are fully under your control.
System templates are built-in messages Administrate sends for account and sign-in workflows: password setup and reset, email verification, and sign-in verification codes for the TMS, the LMS, and portals. You can edit their content, but each one serves a fixed purpose.

Use the filters in the template list to switch between them.

Translations

Templates can have one or more translations using the languages enabled on your instance. Every template has its base content, and you can mark one translation as the template’s default.

Which translation a recipient receives is decided in two steps.

Step 1: Administrate picks a target language from what the communication is about.

Event communications use the Event’s language, or the Course Template’s language when the Event does not have one. Every recipient of an event communication receives the same translation; the learners’ own preferred languages are not consulted.
Learning Path communications use the Learning Path’s language.
Booking communications use the booking contact’s preferred language (when the audience is the booking contact and a preference is set), otherwise the booking’s company language.
When none of these produce a language, the template’s default translation is the target.

Step 2: the template’s translation for that language is chosen.

The translation whose language exactly matches the target. The match is exact, so a German (Austria) translation is not used for plain German or the other way around.
Otherwise, the template’s default translation.
Otherwise, the template’s base content.

Note

There is no built-in fallback to English. If you want English sent whenever no matching translation exists, make English the template’s default translation.

For setup and delivery logic, see Languages and Translations.

Add a translation

Open the template you want to translate.
Select Create translation and choose a language.
Complete the translated subject and content.
Select Save.

If Create translation is not available, confirm that additional languages are enabled in Languages and Translations.

Preview a template

You can preview an email template in the browser or send yourself a test email.

Open the template.
Select Preview.
Choose Browser or Email.

Merge fields may not populate in previews, depending on the preview method and available context.

Troubleshooting

I can’t save the template: confirm all required fields are completed, including at least one translation where applicable. An Invalid merge field error means a placeholder does not match a real field; see Template Merge Fields.
My template with an image won’t save: the image was probably dragged or pasted into the editor, which can push the template past its max size limit. Remove it and add it by URL instead; see Images.
I can’t find a template: use search in the template list, and check the System and User template filters.
I received the wrong language version: confirm the relevant language settings and that the template has the correct translation available; see Translations.