Technical Bulletin 10302

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The Draft Editor

 

The Draft Editor allows users to create customized body templates that fit the user’s specific need for that email.  The Draft Editor is useful for companies who send out mass emails, such as newsletters or other marketing pieces.

 

1. Overview of Draft Editor

 

Users can create and edit Drafts using the Draft Editor in Tour de Force.  Although most users will only have permission to create Personal Email Drafts (accessible for only that user) in the Draft Editor, you can grant permissions to allows users access to create Global Drafts, which are available for the whole company.  

The permission “Global Draft editor” can be granted by a Tour de Force Admin and is located within User Permissions (“Other Tab”, “Admin Utilities”, “Users, Permissions, and Organizational Structure”, “User Permission Wizard”).

 

 

Users can open Global Drafts and copy the contents to a Personal Draft without permission to Global Draft Editor.

 

Draft Editor also allows you to use Bookmarks, which map to fields in the Tour de Force Database, allowing you to bring information into your draft from Tour de Force.  For more information regarding Bookmarks, refer to the section on “Overview of Bookmarks” within this Technical Bulletin.

 

 

Draft Editor is divided up into three main sections:  Email/Body Drafts, Item Detail Drafts, and Quick Note Templates.

Within each section, you will see Global and Personal Drafts, as well as the Active and Inactive Drafts within each section.  On the right-hand side, you will see several fields that allow you to define the template, as well as the actual template editor.

 

• Subject – This field is used to type in the subject of the Body or Email Draft.  For Email Drafts this is the subject that is going to be used when generating the email message.  Bookmarks can be used in the Subject field for Item Detail Drafts; however, bookmarks cannot be used in the Subject field for Email Drafts.
• Category - This field is used to set a category for the draft.  Categories should be used if the company using the Draft Editor uses a lot of drafts.  Grouping the drafts in a category is a good way to keep the drafts organized for quicker access.  Categories are not available for Body Drafts.
• Internal Description - This field is used to provide a short description for each Email Draft.  Descriptions are entirely optional and are used to give internal users a short description of the draft so that users can find the draft they are looking for quicker.  The internal description is not used anywhere on the Email Draft.  Internal Descriptions are only available for Email Drafts.
• Item Specific – Allows you to determine if the Draft can be used on all Records and Items in Tour de Force, or only for a Specific Record or Item Type.
• Draft Type – Allows you to determine if the Draft is Global or Personal (permissions required for Global).

 

2. Accessing Draft Editor

 

There are multiple ways to access the Draft Editor:

 

1. Click the Draft Editor icon on the Tour de Force toolbar in Microsoft Outlook.

 

 

 

2. Click the Draft Editor icon on the toolbar in the Info Center.

 

 

3. Click the Draft Editor icon from an email message.

 

 

3. Body Drafts

 

Body drafts are templates that you can use to populate the body of the Notes field on a Tour de Force Record or Item.  Examples of a Body Draft could be an outline for meeting notes, pre-call checklist, outline for a Inside Sales cold call, etc.

 

There are two types of Body Drafts available: Global and Personal.  

 

Global Drafts are company-wide drafts that can be used by any user of Tour de Force, but can only be created/managed by users with the permissions discussed in the section titled “Overview of Draft Editor”.  

 

Personal Drafts are drafts that can be created by any Tour de Force user.

 

Creating a Body Draft

 

In Draft editor, from the Email/Body Drafts tab, Go to "File", "New Body Draft".

 

 

• Body Template Subject – Type in the subject of the Draft you are creating.
• Category – Assign one of the existing categories to the draft to file it accordingly.  (For assistance with creating categories, refer to the section on "Draft Categories".)
• Internal Description – If you would like to create a description for internal use only, you can do that here.
• Item Specific – Determine if the draft will be available for all Item/Record Types, or for a specific Record or Item.
• Draft Type – Choose whether the Draft will be available at a Global or Personal level.
• Body – Here you can create your draft/template.  You can utilize bookmarks to populate pieces of information into your draft/template directly from Tour de Force.  For assistance on how to use Bookmarks, please refer to the section on “Overview of Bookmarks”)

 

Using a Body Draft

 

Once you are done creating your Draft, be sure to save it!  Once you have saved your draft, keep in mind that you can no longer change it between Global/Personal.

Using a Body Draft

 

In this example, we will publish a Draft to the notes section on an Activity.  We will create an Activity for a meeting that we attended.

 

With the Activity form open, and the cursor focused on the notes section, drop down the menu to select from our available Drafts.  You will have the option to select from Global and Personal Drafts.  Choose the appropriate category, then select the Draft you would like to load.

 

 

A screen may appear while your Draft loads to indicate that it is processing Bookmarks.  

 

 

You may also get prompted with the following options if the Notes field already contains data.

 

 

Once that is completed, your draft will load into the body of the Notes field and you can add/edit/remove the data as you see fit.

 

4. Email Drafts

 

An Email Draft is a template for the body in an email message.

 

There are two types of Email Drafts available: Global and Personal.  

 

Global Drafts are company-wide drafts that can be used by any user of Tour de Force but can only be created by users with appropriate permissions.  These drafts are generally used to send out promotional materials, sales materials, or other types of documentation that get mailed out on a regular basis. Global Drafts can only be created/managed by users with the permissions discussed in the section titled “Overview of Draft Editor”.  

 

Personal Drafts are drafts that can be created by normal users of Tour de Force to further personalize their email messages.  For example, a salesperson may create a draft for a specific customer or prospect.  Personal Email drafts are generally not used for mass mailings through the Mailer.

 

Creating an Email Draft

 

In Draft editor, from the Email/Body Drafts tab, go to "File", "New Email Draft".

 

 

• Body Template Subject – Type in the subject of the Draft you are creating.
• Category – Assign one of the existing categories to the draft to file it accordingly.  (For assistance with creating categories, refer to the section on "Draft Categories".)
• Internal Description – If you would like to create a description for internal use only, you can do that here.
• Item Specific – Determine if the draft will be available for all Item/Record Types, or for a specific Record or Item.
• Draft Type – Choose whether the Draft will be available at a Global or Personal level.
• Body – Here you can create your draft/template.  You can utilize bookmarks to populate pieces of information into your draft/template directly from Tour de Force.  For assistance on how to use Bookmarks, please refer to the section on “Overview of Bookmarks”)

 

Once you are done creating your Draft, be sure to save it!  Once you have saved your draft, keep in mind that you can no longer change it between Global/Personal.

Using an Email Draft

 

In this example, we will publish a Draft to an email that we are sending to a Contact in TDF.

 

With the email open and the Contact’s email address listed in the “To” box, go to the Tour de Force Tab, choose “Global Drafts” or “Personal Drafts” and choose your draft.

 

If the body of the email already contains content, you will get prompted with the following screen to determine if you want to replace the contents of the email with the new Draft.

 

 

Once that is completed, your draft will load into the body of the email and you can add/edit/remove the data as you see fit.

 

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5. Item Detail Drafts

 

The Email Details function is a useful and quick way to forward a Tour de Force user, information related to an Item or Record in Tour de Force.  

 

 

However, the emails generated by the Email Details function can be overwhelming out of the box, as it displays all the fields in that Record or Item into an email that can be very lengthy.  Item Detail Drafts are used to create an email that is produced in a much more readable format and includes only the details you wish to provide to the user (as opposed to everything).  Bookmarks can be used in the Title as well as the body of an Item Detail Draft.  Please refer to the Section on “Overview of Bookmarks” for more information on how to use them.

 

Creating an Item Detail Draft

 

Go to the Item Detail Drafts tab in Draft Editor, and this will allow you to create a New Item Detail Draft.  Once you have Saved your Item Detail Draft, if you wish to create another one, you can click the Save Icon again which will prompt you to either overwrite the existing template or create a new one.

 

• Title – This field is used to set the title of the Item Email Draft.  This field also acts as the Subject for the email message generated.  

 

• Item Type – This field is used to select which item or record the draft needs to be created for.  For example, drafts created for Account records are only going to be available when you Email Details from an Account record.

 

• Detail Drafts – This section lists all the Item Detail Drafts for the selected Item Type.  

 

• Body – This allows you to type up the contents of the email body that you would like to display.  You can utilize bookmarks here to pull in data from the Record or Item that you Email Details from.

 

 

 

 

Using Email Details (Item Detail Draft)

 

To use one of the Item Detail Drafts, click on the “Email Details” button located in the toolbar of any Record or Item in Tour de Force.  

 

 

You will be prompted with 4 options.  

• Include TdF Item data in message – (to send to TDF Users) Creates an email with hyperlinks to the Desktop and TDF Web item.  Includes a list of all UDFs (User-Defined Fields) and their values in the body of the email.
• Include link to TdF Item only – (to send to TDF Users) Creates an email with hyperlinks to the Desktop and TDF Web item only.  Does not include UDF (User-Defined Field) values in the email.
• Send to a TdF Contact using a TdF Draft – allows you to send an email to any TdF Contact using an Email Draft (Not Item Detail Draft).  More information can be found on this in the section on “Email Drafts”.
• Send to a TdF User using Detail Draft – this allows you to send an email using the Item Detail Draft that we created in this section.  Once you have selected this option, the drop-down menu will be enabled and will allow you to select from all the available Drafts for the specific Record or Item.

 

 

Once you click OK, an email will be created, and the Item Detail Draft will populate the body of the email.

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6. Quick Note Templates

 

Quick Notes Templates are used on any Record or Item that supports the Notes List Control Type.  Primarily it is used within Support or Tickets, but can also be used with Activities, Opportunities, Events, Literature, and Worklist Items.

 

 

Global Draft Editor rights are required for users to be able to create Quick Note Templates.

 

Creating a Quick Note Template

 

Go to the Quick Note Templates tab in Draft Editor, and this will allow you to create a New Item Detail Draft.

 

 

• Select an Item Type – Choose the Record or Item that the template will be associated with.

 

• Templates – This section displays all the templates that have been created by users for the specified module.  Clicking on a title, displays the template on the right-hand side.

 

• Template Title – This field is used to enter in the title of the new Quick Note Template being created, or to update the title of an existing template.

 

• Template Content – This section is used to enter in the content of the template.  

 

Clicking the Save icon saves the new template or overrides an existing template.  You can click the New icon (white paper with green plus sign) to create a new Quick Note Template.  “Auto-send to customer?” allows you to send the note template to the assigned customer when it is created.

 

Using the Quick Note Templates

 

To use a Quick Note template, open an Item or Record that has the Note List Control Type available (in this example, we will use Support).  Click on the plus sign to add a new Note.

 

 

Within the note, click on the plus sign to drop down a menu with a list of the available Quick Note templates to choose from.  Select the template to publish to the note and click “OK”.

 

 

The template will be added to your note and will populate any existing bookmarks with information from the selected Record or Item.

 

 

7. HTML Drafts

 

Tour de Force allows you to import HTML files to use as a Template.  This can be helpful for things such as mailings.  You can create an HTML brochure that you can attach as a Template to a mailing.  

 

Importing an HTML Draft

 

To import an HTML file for use as a Template, within Draft Editor, go to File, Import HTML File. (This must be done with the Email/Body Draft tab active, as the File menu is greyed out for the other Draft Types.

 

 

Browse out and select the HTM or HTML file you wish to import.  Notice the File Type defaults to HTML, so if your file is stored as an HTM file, you will need to select the appropriate type or select “All Files”.

 

 

When prompted as to whether the file should be editable within the Draft Editor, it is recommended that you choose “NO” to preserve formatting.  You will not be able to edit the HTML of the document within TdF.  If you need to make changes to the file, you should use your HTML editor to make the changes, and then re-upload the file.

 

 

Configure the Subject, Category, Internal Description, and specific Records/Items the HTML Draft should be available for, like how we configured the Body/Email Drafts then click “Save”.

 

Using an HTML Draft

 

HTML Drafts are used/populated exactly like the Email Drafts.  Refer to the section on “Using an Email Drafts” located in this Technical Bulletin for more information.

8. Using a Draft within a Mailing

 

To use a draft within a mailing, and your contacts chosen to launch the mailer.

 

 

You will receive this message, choose yes:

 

 

This message will then populate to show how many contacts you are going to send this mailer to:

 

 

Within the “Processing” section, on “Select a Mailing Type”, you can browse through the Email or HTML Drafts that are available.  Select the draft you want to use and then continue through the Mailing.  Refer to "Technical Bulletin 6304 – The Mailer" for more information on the Mailer Module.

 

9. Overview of Bookmarks

 

Within Draft Editor, you can use Bookmarks to map locations in the template that you would like to pull data into from the Tour de Force database.  These bookmarks will populate the data accordingly when the template is published.

 

Bookmarks exist for all Records and Items in Tour de Force, but it is important to know that the bookmarks will only be populated if the item you are publishing the draft or template from is linked to or created directly from that type of Record or Item.  For example, if you publish an Item Detail Draft from a Support Request that is created from an Account and not a Contact, Contact bookmarks will not be populated and will just display the name of the bookmark.

 

There are also User bookmarks that allow you to display information as it relates to the user who is publishing the Draft or Template.

 

From within any of the Draft/Template types, you can go to the Drafts menu to locate all the available bookmarks.  Place your cursor in your Draft/Template where you would like the bookmark located, then click on the Bookmark within the Draft menu.  This will add the bookmark to your Draft/Template and will populate with the data from that field when it’s created.

 

 

10. Draft Categories

 

When a user creates a new Email Draft that Email Draft gets added to the Available Drafts section of the Draft Editor.  For companies that need to create a lot of drafts, as the list grows larger this makes it harder to locate the draft you want to use as users have to scroll to find the draft they need.  However, Categories can be used to group similar drafts so that users can find the draft they need quickly without having to scroll through a long list of drafts.  Only Email and Body Drafts can be categorized Creating a Category

 

11. Manage Categories/Drafts

 

Within Draft editor, go to the “File” menu and select “Manage Categories/Drafts”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once the Draft/Category Manager opens, click where it says “Click here to add a new row” and type the name of the new Category.  Press Enter to add the new Category.

 

 

Deleting a Category

 

To Delete an existing Category, highlight the Category on the screen, and press the “Delete” key on your keyboard.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Categorizing Drafts

 

To add an existing Email or Body Draft to a Category, go to the Categorize Drafts tab.  Under the Category ID column, you can select what Category an Email or Body Draft should belong to.

 

 

Activating/De-activating Drafts

 

To Activate or De-Activate an Email or Body Draft, under the Categorize Drafts tab, there is a column for Active.  Simply check or un-check the box.  (Checked = Activated, Unchecked=Deactivated)

 

 

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12. Miscellaneous Reminders

 

How a company uses the Draft Editor is going to solely depend on business needs and practices.  However, there are a few things about the Draft Editor that need noted, and there are a few best practices that can be followed to help users when they are using the Draft Editor.

 

• Use Categories to Organize Email and Body Drafts

 

While using Categories are an optional feature of the Draft Editor, using them can greatly reduce the hassle of finding the appropriate Email or Body Draft to edit.  Categories also come into play when a user is selecting a draft to use in an email or note field.  Instead of having a list of potentially hundreds of drafts to scroll through, if the draft is added to an appropriate category the user can spend less time hunting for it.

 

• Mark a draft as Inactive instead of deleting the draft

 

A draft can be deleted from the Draft Editor by selecting a draft and pressing the Delete key on the keyboard.  However, Tour de Force recommends going into the Manage Categories/Drafts window and setting the draft to Inactive.  By setting the draft to Inactive the draft disappears from the list of available choices for a user to select but keeps the draft in the Global (Inactive) category.  By setting the draft to Inactive the information that has been typed does not get lost and can be used for future purposes for future draft creation.

 

• Use internal descriptions when necessary

 

An internal description is a useful way to provide users with a brief reason why or explanation for what the purpose of the draft.  However, the internal description gets prefixed before the actual subject or title of the email or body draft.  If the internal description is too long the name of the draft could be hidden or not easily viewable by the user.  If the company decides to use internal descriptions then Tour de Force recommends keeping the descriptions short, and to use them only on drafts that absolutely require an internal description.