The Messages List is where you manage all the messages that have been created by anyone in your organization. You'll use this page to create, edit, delete, and undelete messages, as well as perform other administrative actions to manage your messages. Using folders, you can also organize your messages by theme or type.
To access the Messages lists:
- Access the Admin interface.
- Navigate to Messages > List.
TIPS: On list pages, click a column header to sort on that column; click again to reverse the sort order. Click the columns count below the list to add and remove columns in the current view.
NOTE: Message Names are hyperlinks. If you click a message Name, you will navigate away from this page, so consider the following options when managing your messages.
- Click a message Name to open the message's associated editor in the current browser window.
- Right-click a message Name and choose the "new tab" option to open the message's associated editor in a new browser tab (keeping this list open in the current window).
- Click anywhere on the row other than the Name to select and manage the message as described in this article.
Available views
This page includes five lists that make it easy to manage messages based on their status:
- In-Progress (default list, described in this article)
- Review (see Manage Your In-Review Messages)
- Sent (see Manage Your Sent Messages)
- Triggered (see Create and Manage Triggered Messages)
- Scheduled (see Manage Your Scheduled Messages)
To access these lists, click the down arrow to the right of the page title and select a message status.
List pages features
On all of the list pages, you can manage the contents and appearance of the list.
- The All folders dropdown, to the right of the page title, is a quick way to access your list of folders and to then filter the list to one folder's contents.
- You can click-and-drag a column divider in the list header to resize the width of the column; the new widths will remain in effect until you change/re-size them.
Create a message
To begin the creation process, click the plus sign icon to the right of the page title.
NOTE: If your account has legacy message types available, pick the type you want to create. In this section, we'll provide guidance for the latest message-creation editor (Message Designer [MD2]) and each legacy type.
Message Designer (MD2) - See Create Messages (MD2) to learn how to create messages with Message Designer.
From HTML - See Create Mailings From HTML to learn how to create messages from HTML.
Mailing Designer (MD1) - See Create a Mailing to learn how to create messages with Mailing Designer.
QuickMail - See QuickMail to learn how to create messages via QuickMail.
NOTE: QuickMail is a mailing system that was designed as an alternative to newsletters. It is meant to contain one story or announcement, and is designed to be sent easily. There is currently no development work to support QuickMail emails.
Snag Mail - See Snag Mail to learn how to create messages with Snag Mail.
Message folders
You can organize your messages by grouping similar or related messages into folders. Because the Messages List pages display all messages of the same status, organizing them into folders enables you to isolate groups of messages to more easily work with and manage them.
TIP: Create folders and organize your messages from the beginning; otherwise, it will be a more time-consuming and difficult task doing so after dozens of messages have been created. When creating a message, you'll be able to select which folder to store it in.
NOTE: Learn more about using folders to manage your messages.
Edit a message
Messages are grouped by status so be sure you're on the In-Progress list.
- Locate the message that you want to edit and then:
-
- Click the Name to open the Designer in the current browser window, or...
- Right-click the Name and choose the "new tab" option to open the Designer in a new browser tab (keeping this list open in the current window), or...
- Click anywhere on the row other than the Name and then click Edit.
Delete a message
Messages are grouped by status so be sure you're on the In-Progress list.
- Click to select the message you want to delete.
- Select Delete from the More menu.
- Click Delete in the confirmation dialog.
Undelete a message
You can undelete (individually or in-bulk) any messages that have been deleted.
TIP: In addition to In-Progress messages, you can undelete Sent messages that have been deleted.
The easiest way to locate one or more In-Progress messages that have been deleted is to:
- Click the filter icon in the upper right to open the Filter dialog.
- Check the Show Deleted box and click Apply.
The list displays deleted in-progress messages only, which is easily verified because:
- the names of the messages are in red text and
- there's a green-circled checkmark for each message in the Is Deleted column.
TIPS: Click the columns count below the list to add the Is Deleted column if it currently doesn't display.
- Click a message to select it, click More, and click Undelete.
- Click Undelete at the confirmation prompt.
The message no longer displays in the filtered list.
Repeat these steps to undelete other messages.
- To restore the original list, click the filter icon, uncheck the Show Deleted box and click Apply.
TIP: You can also simultaneously undelete multiple deleted messages by using the multi-select feature. To learn how, refer to Multi-select message actions, below.
Assign a Message Category
You can use Message Categories to:
- group messages that have something in common and
- more easily manage Contacts' preferences (i.e., opting Contacts in and out of a Message Category's messages).
See Message Categories Overview to learn more about Message Categories.
To assign a message to a Message Category:
- Click to select the message you want to assign.
- Select Assign Category from the More menu.
- Select the Message Category in the dialog.
- Click Assign to complete the action and close the dialog.
TIP: The Category column indicates the Message Category each of your messages belong to. If you don't see this column, enable it via the column selector at the bottom of the list.
Search messages
At the top right, you can use the search feature to quickly find messages.
- Click the magnifying glass icon to expand a search field, allowing you to find specific messages. The list will automatically update with each typed character and display all records (visible and hidden) that contain a match against all list fields. Click the X to clear the search field to restore the original list.
Queried fields
On these Messages List pages, the search feature queries the following columns.
- Name
- Template
- Subject
- Modified by
- Type
- Folder
- Created by (Review, Sent, and Scheduled messages only)
- Send at (Scheduled messages only)
- Review Initiator (Review messages only)
The Preview Panel
The Preview Panel slides in from the right when a Message is selected. The Preview Panel has different information, options, and functionality on the different Messages lists.
The In-Progress list does not have a Preview Panel for each message. It does have a flyout panel for multi-select actions, Move and Delete.
Copy and move messages
Select a message to enable the More menu at the top right. Click this menu and:
- Select Copy to display a dialog where you can enter a name and click Copy to make an identical copy of the selected message. This is a great way to re-use messages that contain content and/or configuration settings you want as the foundation for similar messaging (e.g., quickly creating your 2019 conference message using the 2018 message's content).
- Select Move to display a dialog where you can move the message to any of your existing folders. To do so, just select a folder and click Move. Refer to the Manage Folders section above to learn more about folders.
Copy to Child (MD2)
NOTE: This functionality is unique to Message Designer (i.e., MD2) type messages. See Child Accounts (Informz) to learn more about Child Accounts.
You can copy messages from a parent account to any of its child accounts.
- When a message is copied, its associated template will also be copied.
- The message and the template will be copied to the Main folder in the child account.
To copy a message to a child account:
- On the Messages > List page select a Message Designer type message.
- Click More and select Copy to Child.
In the dialog, the name of the message is preceded by Copy of.
- Accept this name or specify a different name for the message. (Required)
- Check a box to select a child account; you can select more than one. (Required)
- Click Copy.
A notification confirms whether the copy was successful.
Notes
Below are a few things to keep in mind when copying messages to a child account.
The Copy to Child option:
- is available under the More menu for Message Designer messages in all of the Messages > List pages.
- will not display for accounts that do not have child accounts.
You cannot:
- copy messages from a child account to its parent account.
- simultaneously copy multiple messages (i.e., no multi-select option).
If you select multiple messages, the Copy to Child option will not display in the More menu.
The copy will retain all the formatting and configuration selections of the original message.
The copy will not retain:
- story-level targeting; this will have to be reconfigured in the copy.
- the following links; these will have to be re-linked in the copy:
- Unsubscribe Landing Pages
- Form Landing Pages
- Content-Only Landing Pages
Images in the template and the message retain their reference to the images in the parent account's asset manager.
If you copy two messages that use the same template, each copy creates a new instance of the template in the child account.
Filter a list
At the top right of all Messages lists you can use the filter option to refine the list to more easily find messages.
You can apply one or several filters to the list in order to limit which messages display.
To filter the list:
- Click the filter icon to open the Filter dialog.
- Optionally, check the Show Deleted box to include deleted messages when the filter is applied.
- Click the dropdown to select a field by which to filter.
NOTE: The available filters depend on which Messages list you're viewing.
- Type a value in the adjacent text field.
NOTE: You cannot filter on multiple values (e.g., typing "David" and "Jeff" won't work).
- Optionally, click Add to apply additional filters. In-use filter are not available.
TIP: Filters that have already been applied are not available.
- When you have specified the filters you want, click Apply to apply the selected filtering and return to the list.
The list will now display only those messages that match the filters you applied.
Other options
While working on the Filter dialog, you can click:
- A minus sign to the right of a filter to remove that filter.
- Cancel to discard any selections, close the dialog, and return to the original list.
- Clear Filter (and then Apply) to remove all filtering that has been applied, close the dialog, and return to the original list.
NOTE: This is designed to clear the filtering from a filtered list.
Multi-select message actions
While most of the actions discussed above can only be taken on individual messages, you can perform some actions in-bulk by selecting multiple messages ("multi-select") as described in this section. The multi-select actions are:
- move,
- delete,
- undelete, and
- assign a Message Category.
Multi-select notes
The multi-select actions are now available in the flyout panel.
NOTE: If the list is filtered to deleted messages (described above in Undelete a message), the Delete button is replaced with Undelete.
After you've selected at least two messages:
- The Select All/Deselect All checkbox appears next to Name in the header row. Check the box to select and act on all messages in the current list view.
- With messages selected, you can navigate to additional list pages. If you do, note that:
- Messages you've already selected will remain selected.
- Message checkboxes on the subsequent list pages will be unselected but available.
Multi-select actions
When you've selected multiple messages, the following actions are available in the flyout panel.
Action | Steps |
---|---|
Delete | Click Delete to delete the messages. At the confirmation prompt, click Delete. |
Undelete | Click Undelete to undelete the selected deleted messages. At the confirmation prompt, click Undelete. |
Move | Click More > Move to move the messages to a different folder. In the dialog, select a folder and click Move. |
Assign Category | Click More > Assign Category to assign the messages to a different Category. In the dialog, select a Category and click Assign. |
Clear Selections | Click Clear Selections to close the flyout panel and return to the list with no messages selected. |
View Selected | Click View Selected to remove all other messages from the list. Click View All to restore the list. |
How to multi-select messages
To select multiple, non-consecutive messages:
- Select a message.
- Press and hold the Ctrl (Windows) or command (Mac) key.
- Select each of the additional messages that you want to manage.
To select multiple, consecutive messages:
- Select a message.
- Press and hold the Shift key (Windows and Mac).
- Select click the last message in the consecutive run that you want to manage.
TIP: You can combine these methods to select/deselect groups of and individual messages.
The message calendar
When working with a marketing team that sends numerous messages, staying organized is key, especially regarding keeping your sender reputation in good standing - you don't want to schedule and send too many messages at or around the same time.
The message calendar will help you and your team stay on top of all outbound messaging. To access it, click the calendar icon above any of the lists.
See the Mailing Calendar section of the Mailings View article to learn more.
Export a list of messages
You can export messages from each list to a CSV file.
The exported file will contain all of the list columns, irrespective of which currently display on the page.
To export the list:
- Click the down arrow to the right of the page title and access a Messages list.
- Click the export icon at the top right.
- Navigate to where you want to store the file, give it a memorable name, and click Save.
TIP: Navigate to the saved file and review it.