Content best practices for Outlook

This article explains best practices when using Templafy Library for Outlook. 

Email elements library

The Email elements library is used to insert pieces of content within an Outlook email or meeting invite. Email elements meant for Outlook must be built in Word. Examples are:

• Sales: follow up email, inbound email.
• HR: interview invitation, rejection/acceptance email, company culture presentation.
• Marketing: newsletters, internal communications.
• Finance: invoicing email, receipt of invoice notification.

PDFs library

The PDFs library is used to attach PDFs to an Outlook email or meeting. Examples are:

• Sales: pricing, security information, product one-pagers, case stories, guides.
• HR: employee's benefits, internal policies, training, building security information.
• Marketing: brand guidelines, competitor analysis, marketing analysis.
• Legal: certification letters, agreements, terms and conditions.

Links library

The Links library is used to insert URLs within an Outlook email or meeting. Inserting links will use 'Use Destination Theme' from Outlook and will be formatted based on the default Outlook format/styles. Examples of links are:

• Sales: website pages, product videos, FAQ links, product demonstrations.
• HR: links to 'about us' and videos about 'working with us'.
• Marketing & Communications: links to newsletters sign-up or collateral downloads, partner websites.
• Legal: link to T&C website page.
• IT: links to troubleshooting and set up articles, checklists.

Best practices

No SVG images

Due to limitation of some email clients, do not use SVG images in email elements. The SVG image will not be shown in Outlook when the email element is inserted via the Web Add-in.
Use images in png format instead.

Images in line with text

Background images are not supported in many Outlook versions. Use in email elements images 'in line with text' instead.
If you want to combine text (like headers) and images, you can use a simple table and place the image in one cell and the text in the cell above or below the image. Use a color shading for the text cell(s) that match with the color of the image.

No embedded files

Do not embed files in Email elements.

Use direct formatting instead of Theme Fonts and Colors

Outlook default templates are complicated to distribute and are most often not following the latest company standards. By using direct formatting, you can ensure that the Email elements are inserted using the desired font type, size, and color. Using Styles formatting would most of the time result in getting the default Microsoft Office format/styles instead of the desired company format.  

Also, for tables make sure to always use a custom color instead of a Theme Color:

Simple table design

To ensure consistent rendering, a table-based layout is recommended. However, please be aware that on high-DPI displays or when zooming, Outlook may display borders that are not intended to be visible.

When incorporating colors into table cells, it is advisable to maintain a simple structure, ideally using just one column. Additionally, we suggest combining images and text within one row (cell), as illustrated in the table on the right, where the image and [Title] are in the same cell:

Name and description

When uploading to Templafy, is it recommended to give a friendly name to the email elements, PDFs, and Links so it is easy to understand by the end-user. You can add more details about the asset in the Description field: