Home → Arctic Reservations → Emails → Common Email Template Formatting Issues
18.10. Common Email Template Formatting Issues
Below are some common formatting issues and questions encountered when creating email templates and instructions on how to fix the issues described. For more comprehensive Markdown formatting see the "SmartContent Syntax" section of this chapter.
Problem: Missing Line Breaks
Lines of text in the email template are running together, as below:
Trip: Trip Name Start Date: 1/1/2015 Guest Count: 4
Even though in the email template editor it looks like this:
Trip: {$trip->name}
Start: {$trip->start|format:'Date'}
Guest Count: {$reservation->guestcount}
Fix: You just need to add a two or more spaces to the end of each of the lines. This will create a single line break so the information appears on individual lines as intended.
Question: How do I add a link to an email?
Answer: Arctic will automatically turn a web address (http://www.arcticreservations.com/) into a link inside an email, so guests can click the link and visit the site. If you want to show a more friendly like (e.g., Arctic Reservations), you can achieve this using the SmartContent formatting (see the SmartContent section for detailed descriptions of what you can achieve).
To create a link, you can use the following code formats:
[Insert text here](http://www.inserturlhere.com)
This format will allow you to create nicely formatted links for all links you want to include in your email templates.
This approach even works with placeholders. For example, the {$activity->manageurl} placeholder that inserts the personalized link to access reservation or rental details can be placed within the parentheses, as follows:
[Manage my reservation]({$activity->manageurl})
The recipient will see this as a nice link that they can click to access their reservation or rental details.
Question: How do I embolden text?
Answer: To make text bold add two asterisks ** before and after the text you want to be bold. For instance if you have your email template set up as follows:
Trip: {$trip->name}
Start: {$trip->start|format:'Date'}
Guest Count: {$reservation->guestcount}
And you want to make the words "Trip", "Start" and "Guest Count" bold, you would asterisks before and after each of these words as shown here:
**Trip:** {$trip->name}
**Start:** {$trip->start|format:'Date'}
**Guest Count:** {$reservation->guestcount}
Note: Everything contained between the double asterisks will be bold. So if you wanted all of the text above bold you would just put two asterisks before the word "Trip" and two asterisks after the {$reservation->guestcount} placeholder as shown here:
**Trip: {$trip->name}
Start: {$trip->start|format:'Date'}
Guest Count: {$reservation->guestcount}**
Question: How do I italicize text?
Answer: To italicize text you do the same thing as with bold text, but use a single asterisk * before and after the text. For example, *this text would be italic* when sent in an email template.
Question: How do I create bullet points?
Answer: To create bullet points for a list of items, enter a single asterisk and a space before each point or list item as shown here:
Be sure to bring:
* Towels
* Sunscreen
* Snacks
* Water
* Bathing Suits
For more in-depth formatting options, be sure to check out the "SmartContent Syntax" section of this chapter. The above examples are just some of the commonly used formatting options. Again if you have any questions about formatting in your email templates, feel free to contact support and we will be happy to help.