Using the Email Rich Text Editor - Legacy Composer

  • Updated

The Rich Text Editor lets you create and format HTML text for your Act-On content. 

In most cases, you'll start by dragging a Rich Text block into your message or page, or by clicking Edit on an existing block.

Quick Reference (Advanced Users) - Click to Expand
  • Drag a Rich Text block into your email, landing page, or form and click Edit.
  • Use the toolbar for basics: headings, lists, alignment, font family, font size, and colors.
  • Insert images with Image or Insert/Edit Image, and add links with Insert/Edit Link.
  • Add CTAs with the Bulletproof Button and personalize them using the Personalization menu.
  • Use Paste as Text and Clear Formatting to fix messy pasted content.
  • Open View/Edit Source Code if you need to adjust HTML or troubleshoot layout issues.
Try it like this: Build a simple newsletter section with a heading, a short intro paragraph, an image added via a Rich Text block, and a bulletproof button that links to a landing page and uses a personalization field in the button text.

Some composers will show a minimized menu with the most used editing features. To expand the other rows, click the three dots on the far right.
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Undo/Redo

Use these buttons to undo your last change or redo an action you just undid.

Basic Text Options

You can quickly apply standard text formatting:

  • Add bold, italics, and underline.
  • Choose a font color or text highlight color.
  • Set the alignment of text (left, center, right, justified).
  • Indent or decrease indentation.
  • Add a bulleted or numbered list.

Image

Click this button to insert an image from your Act-On Image Library. You can also upload new images from here.

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Once you've added your image, you can edit it using the options covered below.

Bulletproof Button

Add a clickable button to your content for a high-quality Call to Action.

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You can link the button to any URL, including:

  • A standard web page.
  • A mailto: link to open an email draft.
  • A tel: link to open a phone dialer on supported devices.
  • Existing Act-On Landing Pages or Forms (Classic Forms only).

Personalization

Make your content more engaging by personalizing it to the reader. You can add personalized values from:

  • The Standard Field Names that have been set up in your account.
  • Any field included in a specific marketing list.
  • Fields synced to Act-On from your integrated CRM.
  • Account fields such as your business address or the phone number of the message sender.

You can also add fallback text to display when the personalization value is not available.

For best results, the personalization fields for a piece of content should include data that is relevant to that asset. For example, when personalizing an email, use fields from the list you are sending to. We recommend always testing your content to make sure it appears as you intended.

Link to Landing Page

Add a link to any of your existing Act-On landing pages. If you have created multiple Public URLs for tracking purposes, you can choose the specific one to use here.

Link to Media

Add a link to any of the files you have uploaded to your Act-On Media Library.

Insert/Edit Image

Use this option to insert an image from any internet location and to set advanced options such as border, spacing, and alignment.

You can also click on an image in the editor to enable simple drag-and-drop resizing.

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View/Edit Source Code

The source code view is useful if you want to add advanced HTML and CSS styling or need to troubleshoot a formatting issue. You can directly edit the HTML of your content and then click OK to see your changes take effect.

Text Styles

Use text styles to switch between paragraph text and different heading levels. This helps you structure your content and keeps it easier to scan.

Font Family

Choose from a variety of pre-loaded fonts:

  • Andale Mono
  • Arial
  • Arial Black
  • Arial Narrow
  • Book Antiqua
  • Calibri
  • Cambria
  • Century Gothic
  • Comic Sans MS
  • Copperplate
  • Courier New
  • Georgia
  • Helvetica Neue
  • Impact
  • Lucida Sans
  • Lucida Console
  • Palatino Linotype
  • Symbol
  • Tahoma
  • Terminal
  • Times New Roman
  • Trebuchet MS
  • Verdana
  • Webdings
  • Wingdings

 

Note: You can import other fonts through custom CSS, but these fonts are not officially supported and may not work across all devices.

Font Size

Choose a size between 7pt and 36pt from the dropdown. If you need a size that is not listed, you can adjust it in the source code view.

Insert/Edit Link

Insert a link to any internet location. To link existing text or an image, highlight it in the editor and then click this button to add the URL and optional settings such as title and target.

Anchor

Add an anchor that you can link to from another place in the content. Once you enter an ID for the anchor, you can link to it by using the same name prefixed with a #.

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Table

Insert an HTML table and manage it with the toolbar that appears below it. The far left option, Table Properties, is useful for changing border styles, spacing, and other general settings. Hover over each option to see a tooltip that reminds you what it does.

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Special Character

Insert special characters such as currency symbols, arrows, or mathematical expressions.

Paste as Text

Paste content with all formatting removed. This is helpful when pasting from tools like Microsoft Word that may add extra HTML and cause layout issues.

Clear Formatting

Remove HTML styling from the selected text. This is useful if you are having trouble controlling the appearance of pasted text or want to reset styling.

Find and Replace

Locate every occurrence of a word or phrase, and update it if needed. This is a quick way to fix repeated typos or update brand terms.

Fullscreen

Expand the editor to take up your entire browser window so you have more space to focus on editing your content.

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