NirmaanOne Help
ScreenReviewed 2026-09-29

Message template

One message template's page: change its wording, attachments and settings, and preview it filled in for a real record.

Message template

This is one message template's page. Here you change its wording, subject, attachments and settings, and preview the result for a real record before a rule sends it.

Where to find it

Click a template's code or name on the Message templates tab, or its pencil / eye icon. Rows in the Audit log link here too, and the page opens after you create a template. The breadcrumbs read Settings > Workflows > Message templates > <code>.

You need the View permission on Message Templates. To change a template you need the Edit permission on Message Templates (in the default roles, the Administrator and the Sales Manager); otherwise the form is read-only and the button reads Back.

What you see

The header is the template's name with the channel badge, an Active or Inactive badge, System for a system template and Unsaved changes once you change something. Under it: "Used by N workflow actions."

The cards are the same as on New message template, with two differences:

  • Channel is greyed out: "The channel cannot change after creation."
  • On a system template, Code is greyed out too.

On the right, the Variables reference and the Preview panel.

Preview

"Render the saved template against a record." When you have unsaved edits it adds "You have unsaved edits: save them first to preview the new version."

  • Entity: shown only when the template has no record type ("Choose an entity…").
  • Record: a search box for a record of that kind ("Choose an entity first" until there is one).
  • Extra context (optional): for templates that read a manual form's values or an event's keys, you can type those as JSON, for example {"input": {"note": "…"}, "event": {"reason": "…"}}. Hint: "JSON with optional input and event keys for templates that read them."

Preview (greyed out until you pick a record) renders the saved template and shows the channel, "for <record>", the Subject, the HTML body (in a frame) and the Plain-text body (or just Body for a template without a designed body). Empty parts read "(empty)".

Messages: "The extra context is not valid JSON.", "The extra context must be a JSON object such as {"input": {...}, "event": {...}}.", ""input" must be a JSON object.", ""event" must be a JSON object.", and, for a template without a record type and no entity chosen, "Choose an entity to preview the template against."

What you can do

Save changes

Saves what you changed, with the message ""<name>" saved."

  • Who: anyone with the Edit permission on Message Templates. Without it the button isn't shown.
  • Greyed out until you change something.
  • The same checks apply as on New message template: merge-field mistakes ("<field>: <problem> (line N)"), "Email templates need a subject.", attachments of another record type, the same document attached twice.
  • Rules that use the template pick up the new wording the next time they send.

Preview

Renders the saved template for a record, as described above. Nothing is sent.

  • Who: anyone who can open the page. The record search needs the View permission on that kind of record (for example on Demands to preview a payment reminder).

Attach a generated document

Adds an attachment row (up to five). Remove one with the x next to it.

Cancel / Back

Returns to Message templates. Cancel discards unsaved changes.

Statuses

  • Active: offered when adding a Send email action to a rule.
  • Inactive: stays on existing actions but isn't offered for new ones.
  • System: one of the six templates that came with your organization. Its code is fixed; its wording is yours to change.

Things to know

  • Preview shows the saved version. Save first, then preview; the panel reminds you when there are unsaved edits.
  • Preview is the safe way to check a customer email before switching on a system rule such as "Demand issued: email the demand letter (system)". Pick a real demand and read the result as the buyer would.
  • The channel is fixed because rules and campaigns pick templates by channel; changing it would silently break the actions that use the template.
  • A system template's code is fixed; everything else about it, including the wording, can change.
  • "Today" is the calendar date in UTC in the preview as well as in sent messages.
  • There is no History button here. Changes are recorded in the Audit log under Settings, whose rows link back to this page.

Related

  • Message templatesScreen

    The list of your organization's message templates: the wording that Send email actions and campaigns use, with filters and the actions to create, open or delete one.

  • New message templateScreen

    Write a message template on its own page: code, name, channel, record type, subject, the designed email body and its plain-text version, attachments, and the merge-field reference.

  • RulesScreen

    Every automation rule in your organization, system and custom, with filters, the switch that turns each rule on or off, and shortcuts to edit, test, clone, see the run history of or delete a rule.

  • New ruleScreen

    Build an automation rule on a full page: which records it watches, what starts it, which records qualify, and the ordered actions it carries out.

  • Document templatesScreen

    The list of your organization's document templates (demand letters, offer letters, termsheets, agreements, allotment letters, receipts, cost sheets), with filters and the actions to create, duplicate, open or delete one.

  • Audit logScreen

    The organization-wide change log: every create, change and delete, every sign-in (including refused ones), sign-out and downloaded file, with who did it, when, from where and what changed.

  • Message templatesConcept

    The reusable wording of the emails that workflow rules, record-page buttons and campaigns send: a code, a channel, a subject and body with merge fields, an optional rich HTML body and up to five generated-document attachments, rendered against the record that triggered it.

  • Merge fields and filtersConcept

    Merge fields are the double-brace placeholders in document and message templates ({{ entity.demand_no }}, {{ contact.name }}) that are replaced with the record's values when a document or message is rendered; filters such as inr, words and date format the value, and Repeat row / Show when add tables and conditional blocks.

  • Design an email template and use it in a ruleHow-to

    Write a reusable email (subject, designed body, plain-text version and optional generated attachments) with merge fields, preview it against a real record, and have a workflow rule send it.

  • Switch on a system ruleHow-to

    Switch on one of the ready-made system rules that ship switched off, such as emailing the demand letter when a demand is issued: publish the document template it uses, review and preview its email template, then press Switch on and check its runs.