Email Templates in Salesforce

The Salesforce Email Templates enable us to create predefined text with Salesforce fields, serving as placeholders for specific details.

In this Salesforce tutorial, we will learn about Email Templates in Salesforce. In that, we will discuss the following points:

Email Templates in Salesforce.
Types of Email Templates in Salesforce.
Create Lightning Email Template in Salesforce.
Create a Classic Email Template in Salesforce.

Table of Contents

Email Templates in Salesforce

In Salesforce, email templates are pre-designed text layouts for sending the same format email to multiple recipients in a single operation.

It allows us to create body text with the placeholder, containing specific details of the recipient’s name, case ID, or account information.

The email templates are specially designed to send emails to multiple customers without writing individual emails, thereby saving time.

Let’s take an example: After creating a Lead record, you want to send a thank-you email to every lead who registered.

Now, instead of writing an email to every lead, we can use an email template and use the Lead Name field as a placeholder so that when an email is sent to the lead, they will see their name in that email.

Types of Email Templates in Salesforce

There are two types of Email Templates in Salesforce.

Lightning Email Template.
Classic Email Template.

Lightning Email Templates in Salesforce

Salesforce Lightning Email Templates are only available to use and create in the Lightning experience.

The following are the features of lightning email templates in Salesforce:

In the lightning email template, users can add dynamic content, images, links, merge fields, and customize the email’s font, style, and color.
The lightning template uses Handlebars Merge Language, making it more dynamic.
It also has the feature to share folders. You can also create lightning templates using HTML or Lightning Template Builder.

Limitations of lightning email templates in Salesforce:

The Send Test and Verify Merge Fields option is unavailable in Salesforce Lightning email templates.
Lightning Experience does not support automatic BCC, which automatically enables users to get copies of emails sent on their behalf.
Cross-object merge fields are not supported in Lightning email templates.
Lightning Email Templates can’t be used in Workflow and Process Builders.

Before creating the lightning email template, we need to enable it; otherwise, it will not appear in Salesforce.

Enable Lightning Email Templates Salesforce

The following are the steps to enable the Lightning email template in Salesforce.

Go to Setup. In the Quick Find Box, search for the Lightning Email Template.
Then, turn on Folders and Enhanced Sharing to create, edit, and delete email template folders.

Create Lightning Email Template in Salesforce

For example, create a lightning email template that will notify the customer regarding the Case information they raised. The email template will consist of the Customer’s Name, Case Priority, and Case ID.

We can create lightning email templates in Salesforce Lightning in two different ways: either you can create using HTML Value or create using Email Builder.

Lightning Email Template using HTML

Below are the steps to create a lightning email template in Salesforce Lightning.

1. Click on App Launcher and search for Email Templates in the search box.

Click on the New Email Template button to create new Lightning email templates.

2. Then, enter the information displayed in the following image as per your requirements.

Before saving the email template, you will not see the HTML Value option, where we will enter the email body.

3. After saving the email template, you will see the HTML Value field.

4. You can write the email content in the HTML Value field. To write the email message in HTML, click on the Source icon.

You can also set the font and size of the content and apply features such as bold, align, italic, etc.
To insert the merge fields, click the Merge Picker, which is indicated by curly brackets on the right end. For example, I have added the following merge fields: Name, Case no, Case Priority, and Case OwnerId.

After that, click on the Save button.

This is how we can create the Lightning Email Template using the HTML Value field.

Lightning Email Template using Email Builder

Below are the steps to create a lightning email template using Email Builder.

5. Once you create an email template and save it, as we are using an Edit in Builder, there is no need to add text to the HTML Value field.

To create the content of the Lightning email template using the builder, click the Edit in Builder button.

6. To create an email template, there are four Standard Components: Button, HTML, Image, and Rich Text.

According to my requirement, I added the following content using the standard components.

Email Content	Standard Component	Description
Company Logo	Image Component	To add the image, click on the Image Container, then click on Select From Files. Then, upload the image from the system and click on the Insert Button.
Welcome Text	Rich Text Component	To add the text, click on the Rich Text Container, then add the text in the Content Box. To add fields, click on the Merge Fields button.
Submit Button	Button Component	To add the button, click on the Button Container, change the Button Text, and click on Style to change its style.

After that, click on the Save button.

7. Here is the final look of the lightning email template created using the edit in builder Salesforce Lightning.

In this way, you can create a lightning email template in Salesforce using the Edit in Builder button.

Classic Email Templates in Salesforce

The Classic Email Templates are available to use and create in both the Salesforce Lightning and Salesforce Classic experiences.

The following are the features of classic email templates in Salesforce:

The Send Test and Verify Merge Fields option is available in Salesforce Classic email templates.
Cross-object merge fields are supported in classic email templates.
The classic email templates offer various layouts, including Text, HTML (with classic letterhead), custom (without classic letterhead), and Visualforce.
Multiple classic Standard Email Templates have already been created in Salesforce. You can use any of the templates according to your requirements.

Limitations of classic email templates in Salesforce:

The Email Builder feature is unavailable in classic email templates, so you can’t use the dynamic content feature.
You can’t edit the classic email template in the Lightning builder; you must create a new email for that.
You cannot add dynamic content or customize the email’s font, style, and color.

Create a Classic Email Template in Salesforce

You can create classic email templates in Salesforce Lightning and Salesforce Classic. Below are the steps to create a classic email template.

1. In Quick Find, search for Classic Email Templates and click on it.

2. To create a new classic email template, click on the New Template. Next, select the Type of Email Layout you want to create and click Next.

For example, I chose Custom (without using classic letterhead).

3. Fill in the information:

Field	Description
Folder	Choose the folder in which you want to save the classic email template.
Available For Use	Check this checkbox if you want to use it.
Email Template Name	Specify the name for the classic email template.
Template Unique Name	This field will be automatically populated based on the email template name.
Encoding	It specifies the encoding, and it is mandatory to choose.
Description	It provides additional details about the classic email template.
Subject	Optionally, you can add the subject.

Click on the Next button.

4. Add the Subject related to the classic email template, and if you want, you can also add the HTML content as the email content. After that, click Next.

5. Enter the Text Email content. To enter the merge fields, fill in the information related to the Selected Filed type and Selected field, and Copy the merge field value, which allows us to quickly send emails that include field data from salesforce records.

Then, click on the Save button.

create classic email template salesforce

6. To check who it looks at the client end, click on Send Text and Verify Merge Fields. If you want to add the attachment, click on the Attach File button.

In this, you can create a classic email template in Salesforce.

Conclusion

I hope this article helps you to understand the classic and lightning email templates and the difference between them. I have also explained the steps to create a lightning email template and a classic email template using different methods in Salesforce.