---
url: /panel/mail-templates.md
---
# Mail templates 

The confirmation a visitor gets after sending a form, and the notification your team gets, can be built from email blocks. A template replaces the standard mail of the forms it is assigned to. Forms without a template keep the standard mails exactly as before.

Mail templates are part of the core since 2.22. They need no module: the [email module](/modules/email-campaigns) adds newsletter campaigns and the Brevo contact sync on top, built from the same blocks.

::: glance

* **Panel** `/evolve/mailtemplate` (until 2.21 `/evolve/email/template` in the email module, the old address redirects)
* **Role access** developer, admin, content manager, like the forms
* **Sent through** the site's normal mailer (the same as every other CMS mail), never through Brevo
* **Since** 2.19 in the email module, 2.22 in the core
  :::

## Building a template

1. Open **Mail templates** in the sidebar (below Forms) and click **Create**. Give the template a name only you see in the panel, for example "Contact form confirmation", and save. The editor opens.
2. Fill the **subject** and, if you like, the **preheader** (the preview line in the inbox) for each language of the site. Without a subject the mail takes the subject set on the form.
3. Add blocks with **Create block**, see [the email blocks](#the-email-blocks) below. One block exists only in templates: **Anfrage (alle Felder)** lists every field the visitor filled in as a table. It is meant for the notification to your team.
4. Write placeholders into any text or link of a block, see below. Hidden blocks (switched off in the list) stay out of the mail but show in the preview, handy for drafts.
5. Check the result in the **preview** and send a **test mail**, then assign the template to a form.

![A mail template in the editor with its preview](/screenshots/modules-mail-templates-editor.png)

## The email blocks

Templates and campaigns share one set of blocks. They exist only in the mail editors and never appear in the page block picker.

| Block | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Logo-Header | logo at the top |
| Hero-Bild | full-width image |
| Überschrift | headline |
| Textabschnitt | one or more paragraphs |
| Bild | image with optional link |
| Button (primär), Button (sekundär) | call to action |
| Highlight-Band | coloured band with a short message |
| Abstand | vertical spacing |
| Footer (zwei Spalten) | two-column footer with address and links |
| Abmelde-Zeile | the unsubscribe line with the merge tag of the campaign tool |
| Anfrage (alle Felder) | every field of the submission as a table, templates only |
| Kopfzeile  | a short line at the very top, with a "view in browser" link in campaigns |
| Abschnittstitel  | a small heading between sections |
| Objektdaten  | label and value pairs, for example the key facts of an object |
| Ansprechperson  | greeting, name, phone and mail of the person to contact |

### Look of the mails

Colours, width and font come from `evolve.mail` in `config/evolve.php`; the two most common values have environment variables:

| Variable | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| `EMAIL_BRAND_COLOR` | `#1D4ED8` | Accent colour of buttons and highlights. |
| `EMAIL_CONTAINER_WIDTH` | `600` | Width of the mail body in pixels. |
| `EMAIL_ASSET_BASE` | falls back to `APP_URL` | Absolute origin for images in the mail. Set it when the site is served from a different host than the one the mail should load images from. |

`evolve.mail.theme` also holds background, text, divider and footer colours, the font stack, the logo width, `alignment` (`left` or `center`, 2.22) and `button-style` (`square` or `pill`, 2.22). A project that published the email module's `config/email.php` before 2.22 keeps its `theme`, `dialect` and `asset-base` values, they win over the core defaults.

The layout and the block views can be copied into the project with the publish tag `evolve.mail-views` (`theme/views/vendor/evolve/email`). Copies change the look of templates and campaigns alike.

## Placeholders

A placeholder is a name in double curly braces. When the mail goes out it is replaced with the value of the submission:

| Placeholder | Value |
|---|---|
| {{ lead.firstname }}, {{ lead.lastname }}, {{ lead.fullname }} | the visitor's name |
| {{ lead.email }}, {{ lead.phone }}, {{ lead.company }} | contact details |
| {{ lead.salutation }}, {{ lead.street }}, {{ lead.street_no }}, {{ lead.zip }}, {{ lead.city }}, {{ lead.country }} | address fields |
| {{ lead.remarks }} | the message field |
| {{ lead.payload.\<field> }} | any other field of the form, by its field name, for example {{ lead.payload.budget }} |
| {{ lead.date }} | date and time of the submission |
| {{ lead.admin_url }} | link to the lead in the panel (for the notification to your team) |
| {{ form.label }}, {{ form.name }} | the form's label and technical name |
| {{ site.name }}, {{ site.url }} | the site's name and address |

Forms with a type (built by a developer) can offer more, for example the readable label of a chosen option. The editor lists every placeholder of the form selected for the preview; a click copies it.

Good to know:

* **Values are shown as text.** If a visitor types HTML into a field, the mail shows the characters and never renders them. Line breaks in the message stay.
* **Links.** In a button or image link, a placeholder inside a longer address is encoded, so https://example.com/?mail={{ lead.email }} stays a working link. A link that consists of one placeholder only, such as {{ lead.admin_url }}, is used as it is, but only when its value is a web, mail or phone link (or a path on the site). Anything else leaves the link empty.
* **Typos stay empty.** A placeholder the submission does not know, say {{ lead.fristname }}, is left empty in the mail, so a visitor never sees curly braces. The preview shows such names in a yellow bar at the top; check the spelling or pick another sample form.

## Languages

Templates are translated like pages: switch the language tab in the block editor and fill the blocks, and fill the subject per language. A mail goes out in the language the visitor used on the site. Blocks and subjects without a translation in that language fall back to the site's default language, so a template written only in German still works on a multilingual site.

## Preview and test send

The right column of the editor shows:

* **Used by**: the forms that send this template, with a link to each.
* **Preview**: the template filled with a sample submission. Pick the form whose fields the sample should contain and, on multilingual sites, the language.
* **Test send**: sends the same sample to the address you enter (your own by default). The subject starts with `[Test]`. The test goes through the site's mailer, so on a staging site it lands at the redirect address from [Mail](/getting-started/mail).
* **Placeholders**: all names available for the selected form.

## Assigning a template to a form

Open **Forms**, edit the form and scroll to **Notifications**. Below the subject and body of the standard mail there are two selects:

* **Confirmation to the visitor**: replaces the standard confirmation. Sender, reply-to address, the copies to carbon copy fields and the files attached to the form stay as configured on the form.
* **Notification to the team**: replaces the standard notification to the administrator address. Replying to it answers the visitor.

"Standard mail (no template)" keeps the standard mail. The two choices are independent, so a form can use a template for the visitor and the standard notification for the team. Deleting a template switches its forms back to the standard mails.

![The two template selects in the form settings](/screenshots/modules-mail-templates-form.png)

## Verifying

Assign both templates to a test form, submit it on the site and check both mails: names and fields filled in, links working, the language matching the page. Then set both selects back to the standard mail and submit again; the standard mails arrive as before.