*********NOTE* - Due to changes in labeling, all references to Bills have been changed to Invoices, and all references to Billings have been changed to Time Entries in the Guide below. At some point, the Video above may also be updated. *************

Before we begin, I’d like to explain what an Email Template is and explain the two different types of Email Templates you can build. BE SURE TO READ THIS PORTION, as you may be in the wrong Guide for what you’re trying to do.

An Email Template in Dynamics allows you to have an Email Shell auto-populate with Client or Record-Specific Info. So instead of saying ‘Dear Client’ or having to go in and change the name of the Client every time, you can click a couple of buttons and have the Email pop up saying ‘Dear Bob’ (provided your Client’s name is, in fact, Bob).

This Guide will explain how to build an Email Template that will automatically fill in information stored in the Contact/Client record.

Also, we’ll show how to send an Email at the end of this Guide using the Template that we create here, but for a full Guide on Emailing from within Curo365, click here.

Let’s begin!

To begin, click the Advanced Find at the top right of your screen.

Next, click the Look for dropdown and choose Email Templates, followed by Results.

Finally, click New Email Template at the top left to get into the interface.

Here, we have a choice to make for how we’re going to be choosing Fields for this Email Template. As stated above, this Guide will focus on choosing Fields exclusively for Contacts – Fields for information stored in the Contact Entity/Record, but for a Guide on inputting data from anywhere else in the system, click here. For now, however, click the Template Type dropdown and choose Contact.

Start by putting in the name of your Template in the Title, filling in a Description if you need one, and then adding a Subject to the Subject Line. The Title will be used for selecting the right Template when you need to use it, so make sure that it’s descriptive enough to not be lost in the mix!

Next, type out the body of your Email, and be sure to take note of which words need to be replaced with Dynamic Fields (Fields that will fill in Contact-Specific information). I’ve done mine below in a way that’s easy for you to see, but I suggest you perhaps making yours bold or highlighting them using the formatting tools in the Email options.

Once everything is filled out the way you want it, highlight one of the Dynamic Fields (or simply put your cursor in front of it (to the left)) and then choose Insert/Update at the top of the screen.

Here, click Add first.

And choose which Record Type from which you’d like to get info. Our two best options here are for User or Contact, so if you wanted the Contact’s First Name, you’d choose Contact, and then find First Name in the next step. If, however, you wanted to put some of your information (the User currently using the Template), you might pick User and pick that First Name. This will make better sense in the next dropdown.

This list is Alphabetical, so it should be easy to find the Field that you need. Scroll down, in this case, to First Name.

Once selected, click OK.

And here, you can click OK again.

And here we are! We now see the Substitution Code in the body of our Email!

Note that it didn’t delete what we initially had highlighted, ‘client first name’, so you’d want to go through and delete it for yourself. If you don’t delete it, then the Code will bring in the First Name, but then it will also still say ‘client first name’. Go ahead and highlight it,

And Delete it now, so that it looks like what we have below.

Now, for our example, we’ll do the same for City,

and for State.

Once finished, the Email looks something like this!

After all of your Fields are set, click Save & Close, and let’s go see the Template in action.

Let’s go and create a new Email. Since we made this Template on the Client Info, we’ll need to create the Email from the Client Contact and *NOT* on the Matter. This is *NOT* a Global Template, but we’ll be talking about those in the other Guide on Emails, found here.

Before we create the Email, note the information here. These are the Fields from which our Codes from above will be pulling – First Name, City, and State. We’ll expect to see this information pulled into our Email in a little while, but it’s always good to make sure that you’ve actually filled in the Data for yourself. If the Email Codes ever go to pull data where none exists – as in, if it tried to put in a City Name, but you hadn’t actually filled in a City Name in the Contact, then it won’t put anything in the space.

To execute our Email Template, start by first clicking Related at the top right, and then choosing Activities.

When here, click the Dropdown for +New Activity, and choose Email.

Here, you could type an Email, but since we just made a fancy, new Template, let’s use it now! Click Insert Template at the top of the screen.

Choose your Template on the left side.

And before even confirming the selection, you can see the Email Body, with the substitutions, on the right side. Just in case you have multiple Templates from which to choose or can’t quite remember the name of the right one, this handy preview will help!

Finally, click Apply Template.

And behold, an Email with all the info that we set in our Template, all ready for you to Send!

One last thing. If you're creating this Template to be used as an Email Template for sending out your Invoices and/or Statements, we'll need to get the Business Center to access the right Template.

To do this, first head to your Business Center Entities on the left.

Then choose your Business Center (of which, there will likely only be one).

And finally, find the following Field. Type in the name of the Template that you created or Edited for your Invoices.

And then click Save & Close.

Taking the time to set up your Templates early in your Implementation can make a huge difference as you move forward with Curo365, so work on these, and reach out for help when you’re stuck. Thanks again!