Nested ~%WhatToEnter for an email subject line

In Shared Email Templates for Outlook

Nesting ~%WhatToEnter: What's in it for you

If you've never heard of macros, let alone nested ones, but enjoy using Shared Email Templates and want to reach a master level to create templates that are as interactive as possible, you're on the right help page ;)

Being hidden inside another macro, which means being nested, ~%WTE, short for ~%WhatToEnter, can definitely work magic :) Let's see how to make that magic happen.

Fill an email subject with ~%WTE inside ~%Fill

Relying on the ~%Fill macro to get the subject line filled with the text you need, you might want to have an opportunity to change the default text to another one when pasting your template. It can easily be done with a dialog that will show up every time you click Paste—if there's ~%WTE inside the ~%Fill macro.

To nest ~%WTE within ~%Fill, follow these steps:

  1. When adding Fill Subject to your template (see How to add a macro to your template), delete "Text" in the Fill Subject line box and click the Insert Macro icon.
    The Insert Macro icon in the ~%Fill macro dialog
  2. Select What to Enter. Then opt for Text field. Decide what title you need for the dialog you're going to add and specify it under Window title. Enter the default text for your message subject in the Default value box. When you're done, click Insert.
    The ~%WTE macro parameters
  3. The ~%WTE macro that is going to be nested will appear in the Fill Subject line box. Click OK.
    Finish by clicking OK.

You can check the result by hovering the cursor over the ~%Fill macro placeholder in your template:
~%WTE nested within ~%Fill

As soon as you paste such a template into an email message, the dialog you've created will appear showing the default text for the subject line. You can keep it or change to another one—it's up to you ;)
The ~%WTE dialog

Add to an email subject with ~%Add plus ~%WTE

If you'd like to choose between several options when adding text to your message subject, nest ~%WhatToEnter within the ~%Add macro and let ~%WTE display a dropdown list that will contain the items you need. These are the steps to follow:

  1. Start inserting the ~%Add macro into your template (see How to add a macro to your template) by selecting Add to Subject from the Select macro menu. In the macro dialog, delete "Text", add any symbols you need, for example, a dash surrounded by spaces, and click Insert Macro.
    Click Insert Macro to start nesting ~%WTE.
  2. On selecting What to Enter, opt for Dropdown list, specify the title that will appear above the listed options when you paste your template, type in or copy-paste the phrases you're going to choose from, and then click Insert.
    Insert ~%WTE.
  3. As soon as ~%WTE is added to the Add to Subject line dialog, click OK.
    ~%WTE is ready to be nested.

Here you go. Now the ~%Add macro has the nested ~%WTE inside:
The ~%WTE nested within the ~%Add macro

When pasting this template into an email message, you'll see a dialog with the dropdown list that the nested ~%WTE returns. Just decide what text you need to add to the subject line in the email message you're going to send, select the corresponding list item, and click OK:
A dropdown list returned by the nested ~%WTE

Now when you know how to make the ~%WhatToEnter macro nested, feel free to use it as a secret ingredient of your most interactive (and definitely most impressive) templates. Add it to taste :)