Overview of using Email Templates, Signatures and Merge Fields

To ensure that emails are always presented with the format and layout required by your practice, you set up Templates and Signature. These can incorporate Merge Fields to bring in content such as addressee and sender information.

Email Signatures and email Templates can only be set up and maintained by an FYI Admin, or a user in a User Group that has Permissions enabled for Templates. Refer to the section Templates and Signatures for Email.

Templates

Templates hold the standard text for the email. This would be the text included in the email, for example, the text that is included when emailing an engagement letter or emailing a notice of tax assessment.

When creating an email in FYI or in Outlook, you select the Template to use as relevant for the email you are sending.

For information on setting up Email Templates, refer to Creating Email Templates and Signatures.

Email Signature

Email Signature holds the signature information that is common to all emails. This would be anything at the bottom of an email such as your company logo and sign-off information such as the name, email and phone numbers of the author of the email. 

An Email Signature is automatically applied whenever you create an email in FYI. This holds the information that is added as default to emails created in FYI.

  • A Default Email Signature can be set up for your practice.  This is the email Signature that is used for all users that do not have an alternate Signature set in their user profile

  • There can also be additional User Email Signatures that are used instead of the practice's default. These are then assigned to specific user(s) as relevant by your FYI Admin. For example, users in a financial planning division within your organisation may require different information shown in their emails.

For information on setting up Email Signatures, refer to Creating Email Templates and Signatures.

Merge Fields

Merge Fields can be incorporated within both email Signature and Templates. Merge Fields are used to bring in content, such as Author Name, Author Phone, the Author Role of the Author, the FYI unique Reference Number as well as Client information such as the client's First Name and Last Name of the addressee. Refer to Including Merge Fields in Email Templates and Signatures.

Including Salutations and Sign Offs

When setting up Email Signatures and Templates, it is important to decide where to add any text and Merge Fields such as the salutation (such as "Dear" or "Hi" and a Merge Field for the client name) and the sign off (such as "Yours sincerely", or "Regards" and a Merge Field for the author). These are commonly added to the Email Signature. If these have also been included in both your Signature and Templates, it will include these twice when both the Signature and a Template are used to create an email. It is important that this is set up consistently for all your Signature and Templates.

Example of Email with the Signature Automatically applied

The following is an example of an email, previewed in the browser, where the email Signature has been automatically applied. In this example, Merge Fields have been used to include the author's Role and Qualifications held in FYI, and the direct phone number.

The internal FYI reference number has also been included at the end of the email.
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Example of Email with the Signature and a Template

In the following example is an email where a Template has been selected. This example shows the email, as previewed in the browser. This has the text from the selected Template, followed by the information from the Email Signature.

This Template has been set up to include the clients' first name as the salutation and to add the file that was attached to the email.

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Creating an Email from a Template

There are two ways to create an email that uses a Template.

  • Create the email (either from FYI or from Outlook) and select the template required from the Template drop-down in the drawer.
    or
  • Display the Knowledge - Templates tab, highlight the required Template in the list and click Create.

Refer to Creating Emails from Templates.

 

 

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