Editing Templates
I. Overview
The LeadMiner template is an HTML based document that controls how each lead's information is translated into a finalized, personalized letter, postcard or email. An appropriate template is at the heart of your campaign. Your templates are used to create the letters or other media that will be sent to your prospects. Lead Miner's special properties and algorithms apply your leads to the final letters or postcards using your exact specifications, but the template you use is very important to the overall results your campaign will achieve. Lead Miner provides Sample Templates that can be easily modified for a quick campaign, but also offers you the option to use your own ideas and create new templates completely from scratch, or copy text from some other media source that you have previously used successfully. This chapter describes how to use Lead Miner's editor in the most efficient manner for whatever your needs may be.
The Template Editor offers you many features including the modification or creation of new templates of letters, postcards, emails, envelopes, return addresses, signatures plates, headers and footers for use in your campaigns. Editing or designing templates to your campaign's precise specifications and audience is key to using Lead Miner successfully. Once a template that is tailor-made to your current campaign is designed, it will be very easy to alter it to befit campaigns with similar provisions. If you would like a more unique or customized template and/or campaign, and do not have time to create it yourself, our professionals are happy to create it for you, for an additional fee. To have us create your campaign, please click on this link for more information.
Call us at 877-994-8100 (Toll Free), or email:
support@GoCampaigns.com
II. Editor Access
The editor is opened from the CRM, by pressing the Edit Templates button near the bottom of the window, as highlighted in the screen below.
The Template Type Selection dialog box appears.
Once you select a template type for editing from the following window,
and, as explained in the CRM chapter, you will be presented with a window to select the template you would like to Edit, Copy, or Delete.
To delete a template, select the template you would like to delete, select the Delete template button, and click OK.
A confirmation box will appear, as follows:
Press OK to delete the selected template or Cancel to recant the operation.
To copy a template, select the template you would like to make a copy of, select the Copy template button, and click OK.
A dialog box will appear asking you for the title of the new template copy you have just created. Enter a unique template name in this box:
Press OK to finish creating the copy of the selected template.
To edit a template, select the template you would like to edit, select the Copy template button, (the default), and click OK.
The template editor window will open with the selected template. If this is the first time you are using the Edit template button, or if it has not been disabled, the Helper Window will appear initially to offer you basic editing tips.
Helper Windows
The Helper Window offers a quick look at basic editor functions and an opportunity to open the User's Guide. Future displays of this window can be disabled by selecting the Do not show this again option.
The Helper window may be closed or left open for guidance while you are using the editor.
III. Layout and Usage
The overall look of the editor will vary depending on the type of
template you're editing. For example, letters, postcards, emails, headers and footers will each have different functions enabled and disabled.
The image below is that of a letter.
The View Menu
Using the View menu you can set the Toolbox and measurement bars off or on.
You can also and gain access to an HTML editor for use by those with a thorough knowledge of HTML and LeadMiner extensions and usages (see next chapter for more details).
Paragraphs
The basic unit of text formating in the editor is the paragraph.
Paragraphs in your document are indicated by the ¶ symbol.
It is an indicator of the beginning of a paragraph.
This symbol will disappear automatically when you preview your document or generate your final documents for printing.
You cannot delete this symbol by itself using the Delete or Backspace keys because it is a control symbol.
However, you can delete it by using the alter paragraph feature.
Just right-click on the ¶ symbol and a popup
box will appear, allowing you to alter the paragraph attributes or delete the paragraph itself.
Be aware, however, that deleting a defined paragraph may result in unintended consequences as this is the editor's basic unit of text control.
You can insert a new paragraph wherever you like by clicking on the button in the center section of the toolbox.
This will insert a default paragraph in the location of the blinking
cursor,
which you can alter later by doing a right-click on the ¶ symbol created.
To alter the documemt's default paragraph, click on the button in the Other Functions section of the Toolbox.
At that point you may also set the default paragraph for this document to be the default paragraph for all your documents by selecting the universal option.
The Toolbox
At the top of all editor windows is the Toolbox, which, as stated previously, will vary depending on the type of document you're editing.
There are 3 sections in the editor toolbox:
- the Campaign Based Token section, which you can use to insert any of the lead specific campaign data
- the Common Elements & Tokens section, where you can insert various, non-campaign-specific elements like tables, images and current date
- the Other Functions, which provides for miscellaneous formatting and alignment
Campaign Based Tokens
Campaign based tokens are used to dynamically insert each lead's campaign data into the document. There are two, color coded, categories of token.
- Tokens in this color get substituted by variable data - i.e. data that visible in the CRM.
- Tokens in this color get substituted by data that is computed on the fly. This data is defined in the template itself and is not visible in the CRM.
To insert any of these tokens, place the cursor where you want the field to appear then
scroll down the list of tokens and select a field to insert.
Then click the
button. The token will appear as small image (icon) in the document.
To delete any of these tokens, you can either use the
Delete or Backspace keys.
However, any token containing the word "image" will insert an appropriate placeholder image, instead of the small image (icon).
For more informarion on these image tokens, see Inserting Images.
Common Elements & Tokens
This section is divided into 4 rows.
- The first row allows you to insert complex elements, like tables and paragraphs. For tables and images, this is a 2-step process (defined later).
- Items in the second row are simple symbols not available on the keyboard. Just click to insert.
- The items in the third row are only presented when editing letters, postcards, envelopes or emails. They are complex structures that are inserted as a block of text & images and can also be edited themselves, by selecting the Edit option before clicking on them.
- The items in the forth row are only presented when editing emails. They contain hyper link inserts and background color.
Editing Text
To insert text, just click your mouse anywhere in a text area and a blinking red text cursor will appear at that spot. You can alter the location by using the Up, Down, Left or Right arrow keys on your keyboard.
To delete text you can position your cursor to any text location and use the Delete or Backspace keys.
Alternately, you can select (highlight) a section of text with your mouse by a simple click and drag,
then use the Delete or Backspace keys.
Deletion of text can also be accomplished by selecting a section of text, then using the button.
The , & iconic buttons work as they do in most other applications.
It is possible to copy text to the clipboard from another application and paste it into a new or existing template to reproduce it. This allows you to take advantage of getting text quickly from previous marketing efforts that you may wish to use for your current campaign.
Additionally, you can also select (highlight) any portion of the text and then right-click
on the selected text. This will pop-up a text attrirbute modification widget.
Adding Pages
You can add additional pages only to a letter.
To do that just click on the 
button and a new page and initial default paragraph will be added to the end of the letter.
You will also be positioned there for immediate key entry.
To remove a page select all the text on the page along with the horizontal page bar, then press the Delete or Backspace keys.
IV. Tables
Inserting Tables
To insert a new table, place your text cursor where you would like to place the table
and click on the 
button.
The Table Definition box will pop up.
Borders
• Classic borders are displayed with a beveled border around each cell in the table.
• Styled borders display as an outside border only, but you can also specify the border's width and color.
Note: It's usually best to create multi-row / multi-column tables with the Classic Borders selected,
since it will allow you to see all the inner borders.
Later you can change this property once the cells are populated with text and/or images.
Width
• Dynamic Width will create a tiny table which will enlarge to accomodate whatever you enter into the cells.
• Full Width will create a table that will always occupy 100% of the document's width.
• Specific Size will create a table that will always occupy either a percentage of the
document's width, or a pixel size. If you only enter a number in the box, that number is assumed to be a percentage.
To set the width to a pixel size, follow the number by "px".
Layout
Specify the number or rows (1 - 10) and the number of columns (1 - 10) as well as the table's alignment on the page.
Background Colors
You can specify the background color for the entire table, or on a cell-by-cell basis. Just click on the appropriate box and select a color.
Click the OK button when the definition is complete.
Modifying Tables
To alter any table component, right-click on the right side of a table cell and a pop-up menu will appear with a blue arrow pointing to the location (table cell) you chose.
Note: this is a sticky menu which will not go away until you either select a choice (or Cancel) or perform another action which also employs a sticky menu.
Global Changes
The Alter border... and Alter table's width & alignment... options will display a window where you can change any of those options for the table as a whole.
Scope Specified Color and Deletion
Both the Alter background color and Delete Component options are very powerful in that they will display a sub-menu where you can select the scope of the action.
Select either cell, row, column or table and the subsequent action (e.g. alter background color) will apply to your selection.
Layout
The table's layout can be modified by any of the following options:
- Insert a row
- Insert a column
- Merge this cell
- Restore merged cell
The first 2 options will always be available, while the other options will depend on the current layout of the table.
More specifically, if there is only one cell in the row, the Merge this cell options will not appear. And if the selected cell has not already been merged, the Restore merged cell will not appear.
Additional choices in the Merge this cell sub-menu will also be dependent on the cell selected and the number of other cells in the row.
Note: when you merge 2 or more cells all the data (images & text) in those cells are maintained, but may need to be manipulated as the internal layout will change.
Using Tables
Tables can be a very powerful component in your templates. It is important to take the time to learn how they can be used. The following describes some special uses.
Widths
If the table is defined with Dynamic width, then only the width that is needed will be used for each cell defined, but the columns will always line up with the widest cell in that column. If the table is defined to use Full width, then it will cover the width of the page, whether or not the contents of all cells in a row are going to occupy that full space. For templates that will include placeholder images, we recommend starting with Dynamic width, since the placeholder images fit extremely well in a dynamic table that has 3 columns. If you peruse the sample templates provided, you will notice that the 3 column dynamic tables are used consistently in many of our letter templates. Ultimately, you will use the style that works best for you. Use the button to see how the data will actually lay out.
Special Layouts
Some templates have special purpose, embedded tables. These tables have been given special identifiers by us, which enables LeadMiner to restrict changes and preserve important layout elements. For example, some templates include a voucher (non-negociable check), which is described internally as a table, but when you right-click on it you will only be able to change the border and background color.
Layout Tips
By inserting a one row, one column table with a styled border you can make an effective text box like the disclaimer shown here.
Another interesting usage is embedded tables.
Embedding tables can allow you to lay out a very different look from what you might expect.
For example, you lay out a series of items on one side of a page and a single item beside it.
The example below was created by:
- Creating a dynamic width, outer table with 1 row and 2 columns
- Placing an image with text in the left cell of the outer table
- Removing the paragraph (via a right-click on the ¶ symbol) in the right cell of the outer table
- Creating a full width, inner table containing 4 rows and 1 column, inside the right cell of the outer table
- Placing an image in each of the cells of the inner table
- Setting borders off in the inner table
- Setting a styled border in the outer table
V. Images
Inserting Images
There are 2 types of images supported by this editor:
- Static images, which you select from your local file directories.
- Dynamic images (aka image tokens), which will be replaced by campaign/library data when the document is generated. This type inserts an appropriate place-holder image.
To insert a new, static image, place your text cursor where you would like to place the image and click on the
button.
The file image selection box will pop up where you can select an image file then click the button.
At this point, one of two things will happen.
If the image has already been inserted into a document (any LeadMinser document), the edited image will just be inserted at the blinking cursor.
However, if the image has not yet been inserted into a document, the image will first appear in the image editor window.
There, you can make any changes you wish and when the image is saved, the edited version will be saved in a special image directory and that version will be inserted into your document. The original, source image will remain unchanged.
To insert a new, dynamic image token, just insert a cmapaign based image token as explained above. You will never be presented with the image editor when inserting these types of images.
Image Editing
You can use the image editor to do any of the following:
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Most of these functions are self evident. One exception is the crop function. To use that function, just click and drag your mouse inside the image, forming a box. When you release the mouse your image will be cropped to the size of the box you drew. Your mouse must be inside of the image from beginning to end, boxing out a segment of the image.
Sepiatone is another modification that you may not recognize. This option is a form of antiquing your image.
Modifying Images
Static Images
To modify a static image, right-click on the image and you will be provided with the following popup options.
The Resize image frame... option will, in turn, provide you with a method to resize the visible frame without actually resizing the image.
This will have the same visual effect as resizing the image in the image editor.
You can resize the the frame by moving the slider bar, which will maintain the height/width aspect ratio.
Or you can enter pixel values directly into the Display Height and Display Width fields.
If you want to reset the frame size to the actual image size, just click the button.
The Replace with another image... option will, in turn, provide you with a method to select a different image, via the file selection box.
The Edit this image... option will bring up the image editor window.
The Remove this image option will just delete the image.
Dynamic Image Tokens
To modify a dynamic, placeholder image, right-click on the image and you will be provided with these popup options.
The Resize image frame... option will provide you with a method to resize the visible frame without actually resizing the placeholder image.
All the images that will replace the placeholder image will have the same visual sizing effect.
The resizing functions are exactly as described above, but when you click on the button, you may be presented with an additional option - i.e.:
The options above will only be displayed if your template contains other dynamic, placeholder images.
The Replace with static image... option will, in turn, provide you with a method to select a static image, via the file selection box.
The Remove this placeholder option will delete the placeholder image.