Bulletin templates help your team send communications from govDelivery with a consistent look and feel. In the bulletin templates, you can add a header image that reflects your organization's visual identity, set a consistent footer message, etc. This helps your subscribers recognize content from your organization, which can help you build their trust. Templates also improve efficiency, allowing communicators to craft and send bulletins faster.

Note: Advanced bulletin templates cannot be assigned as default bulletin templates. They can, however, be restricted to only certain topics. For more information, see Creating or Editing an Advanced Bulletin Template.

Types of Template Defaults

Using the standard bulletin editor, you can set up the following templates for topic bulletins and general bulletins:

  • General Bulletin template
    This is used for bulletins created from the account-level bulletins pages, using the standard bulletin editor. General bulletins can be created and sent for multiple topics at a time. You must have appropriate permissions to set up this template; Account Administrators can create it.
  • Default Topic Bulletin template
    This is used when a bulletin is created from within a specific topic, but the topic does not have a bulletin template specified. You must have appropriate permissions to set up this template; Account Administrators can create it.
  • Topic Bulletin templates
    You can create a template for each topic in your account. A topic bulletin template is used when a bulletin is created from the bulletins pages within that topic, using the standard bulletin editor. Topic Administrators can create topic bulletin templates for topics that they manage.

General Bulletin Template

To view or modify the General Bulletin Template:

  1. In the left navigation menu, click Templates.
  2. In the Templates menu on the right, click General Bulletin.
  3. Edit/update the template fields as appropriate. Learn more about bulletin template fields.
  4. Click Save to save your changes or Cancel to cancel your changes.

Default Topic Bulletin Template

To view or modify the Default Topic Bulletin Template:

  1. In the left navigation menu, click Templates.
  2. In the Templates menu on the right, click Default Topic Bulletin.
  3. Edit/update the template fields as appropriate. Learn more about bulletin template fields.
  4. Click Save to save your changes or Cancel to cancel your changes.

Topic Bulletin Templates

To view or modify the Topic Bulletin Template for an individual topic:

  1. In the left navigation menu, click Topics.
  2. Click a topic in the list.
  3. In the Topic menu on the right, click Topic Bulletin Template.
  4. Edit/update the template fields as appropriate. Learn more about bulletin template fields.
  5. Click Save to save your changes or Cancel to cancel your changes.

Bulletin Template Fields

When creating a bulletin template, following fields allow you to customize the look, feel, and information contained within your bulletin:

Email Message

From AddressIf you have set up more than one From Address, select the address that you want bulletins to originate from.
SubjectEnter a short, descriptive subject that will easily identify that the bulletin is from your organization. If the bulletin is public, and the subscriber views the shared bulletin page, the page title displays as the title of the browser window.
HeaderOptionally, you can set up a default header that includes text and/or graphics that support your organization's branding.
BodyInclude text and graphics that you want in the body of every bulletin in the Body section. See tips and tricks for creating bulletin template content.
Page Watch Story FormatThis applies only if Page Watch is set up for a topic in your account. Specify how you want new RSS stories displayed in the Page Watch Change List Macro. Each of the following options for this field is a list of the information that you can include in Page Watch RSS stories:
  • Title
  • Title, Pub Date, Description
  • Title, Description
  • Pub Date, Description
  • Description
  • Title, Pub Date
  • Condensed Title, Pub Date, Description
  • Condensed Title, Description
  • Title, Pub Date, Image, Description - Note: Be sure to test this format before sending, as images may appear larger than desired.
Enforce 700px Wide BodySet this field to Yes to wrap and center all main body content for the bulletin at 700 pixels if no other formatting is indicated.
Choose Different FooterIf you want to select a footer other than the default footer set up for your account, choose one from the drop-down menu.
CustomizeSelect this check box if you want to make adjustments to the footer selected in the Choose Different Footer field. Editing tools will appear below.

Bulletin Channels

Message VisibilityChoose whether bulletins created with this topic will be public or private by default. If a bulletin is Private, social media and RSS options are disabled. These bulletins also do not have a public shared bulletin page created for them.
Text MessageThis applies only if one of your topics is set up for wireless alerts. Enter the default text message that you want to send to mobile subscribers (140 to 160 characters or less).
Publish to FacebookSelect if you want to publish bulletins automatically to Facebook.
Facebook CommentIf you choose to publish bulletins to Facebook, enter a default comment that will proceed the link to the bulletin. Administrators will be able to change this text when sending a bulletin using this template (if the topic is set up for Facebook posts and the administrator has the appropriate permissions).
Publish to TwitterIf you want to publish bulletins to Twitter, set to Yes.
TweetEnter text for a default tweet. Administrators will be able to change this text when sending a bulletin using this template (if the topic is set up for Twitter posts and the administrator has the appropriate permissions).
Publish in RSS FeedIf you want to publish bulletins to the RSS feed, set to Yes.

Send Options

UrgentIf a bulletin is marked as urgent, it will be sent to all subscribers immediately, ignoring digest preferences. Digest subscribers will receive the bulletin immediately rather than with their incremental digest bulletin.

Other

Overwrite TemplatesThis check box appears for the Default Topic Bulletin template. Select it to overwrite all existing Topic Bulletin templates with this template. This action cannot be undone.

Tips and Tricks for Bulletin Template Content

Copying and Pasting Content

For best results, do not paste text directly from Microsoft Word into the govDelivery bulletin editor. If you want to compose your bulletin in Word, copy it to a text editor (like Notepad, the default Windows text editor), and then copy and paste it from there into govDelivery. The other solution is to simply compose your bulletins from start to finish in govDelivery.

Editing in HTML

If you would rather create and edit your bulletin in HTML, you can do so directly from inside govDelivery. In the Header, Body, or Footer section, click the HTML button to open the HTML source editor. Within the HTML Source Editor, you can compose your bulletin in HTML format. Click Update to save your changes.

Including Personalized or Dynamic Content

You can personalize your bulletins and pull in dynamic content by using macros in your template. For more information, see Using Macros in a Bulletin.

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