Shared Email Templates: Release notes

On this page, you will find information about the latest releases of Shared Email Templates for Outlook: new features, improvements, fixes, and known issues.

QA team notes

Guys, we strive to guarantee you flawless experience with the tool, and your help is highly appreciated. So, if you come across any bugs or unpleasant surprises, please let us know at support@ablebits.com or leave a comment under this post.

Tested with

To test our Shared Email Templates web app and Outlook add-in on different hardware, OS and Outlook versions, we use a lot of software configurations and devices.

Devices:

  • Desktop PCs with FHD, 2K and 4K monitors
  • Windows laptops with FHD and 4K matrixes
  • Microsoft devices including Surface Pros and Surface Laptops
  • Apple computers – iMacs, Mac minis, Macbook Pros
  • Samsung Tab A and Tab S
  • Apple iPads

 

OS versions:

  • Windows 10 2004 and later
  • Windows 11 21H2 and later
  • macOS Big Sur and later
  • ipadOS 15 and later
  • Android 12 and later

 

Microsoft Outlook versions:

  • Outlook on the web (Outlook Online, OWA, Outlook in browsers)
  • Outlook 2019, 2021, and 365 for Windows
  • Outlook 2019, 2021, and 365 for Mac

 

On-premise Microsoft Exchange versions:

  • Microsoft Exchange 2019

 

Browsers for Outlook on the web and the Shared Email Templates web app:

  • Microsoft Edge on Windows, macOS, ipadOS and Android
  • Google Chrome on Windows, macOS, ipadOS and Android
  • Apple Safari on macOS and ipadOS

April 2023–Release (1.14.388), Stable

New features

  • A smart alternative to manual forwarding. We've extended the Shared Email Templates functionality by adding the Pass Email feature that makes it possible for you to:

    • Pass an email message from a shared mailbox to a team member.
    • Pass an email message from any of your mailboxes, including shared ones, to yourself.
    • Add a comment to an email message that you're going to pass.

You can find Pass Email on the Outlook Reading Pane:
Here is the Pass Email button.

Explore the newly added feature by visiting the How to pass email messages to teammates help page.

Improved

Fixed

  • We've fixed some minor issues.

Note. We're going to stop supporting Internet Explorer from August 31, 2023.

January 2023–Release (1.13.370), Stable

Improved

  • Attaching multiple files with ~%WhatToAttach. We have added the Allow multiple files checkbox to the ~%WhatToAttach macro dialog: The Allow multiple files checkbox selected

    With this checkbox selected, you can attach as many files as you need when inserting a template containing ~%WhatToAttach into your email message.

Fixed

  • We have fixed a lot of minor issues that occurred in Outlook Online on iPads and Android tablets.

November 2022–Release (1.12.354), Stable

New features

Improved

  • Support for iPads and Android tablets. The full Shared Email Templates functionality is now available in Outlook Online (both in a browser and in PWA) on iPads and Android tablets.
  • Dashed macros style. This style provides an opportunity to make the formatting that you apply to a macro placeholder visible in the text of your template. In the screenshots below, compare the Default macros style on the left with the Dashed macros style on the right:
    Default macros style Dashed macros style

    To switch over to the Dashed macros style, go to Profile → My Account → Edit my account.

  • Selecting time with the ~%WhatToEnter macro. We have added Time to the list of options you can choose from when using the ~%WhatToEnter macro.
  • Using macros in datasets. It has become possible to insert a macro into a cell in a simple dataset.
  • Signatures. We are continuing to improve the Signatures feature, and it is still in its beta version.

Fixed

  • We have resolved a problem of missing line breaks in templates created from selected text in Outlook Online.
  • A few issues with the ~%WhatToEnter macro have been sorted out.
  • Some other minor issues have been fixed.

July 2022–Release (1.11.336), Stable

New features

  • Beta support for personalized attachments in mail merge campaigns. If you add the Attachments column to your distribution list and fill it up with the file names separated by comma, these files will be attached automatically to each mail merge item. Please remember to specify the OneDrive folder containing the files when creating the campaigns.
  • Beta support for Outlook signatures. Now the add-in supports the Outlook signatures API, so you can create, share and unify signatures across your teams. Use the "signature" field of the Insert macro to insert the specified signature in your emails.
  • Using Azure Active Directory properties. With the "aad_property" field of the Insert macro, in your templates, you can use any text properties of the current Azure Active Directory (AAD) user. Simply find "Insert Azure AD Property" when inserting a macro.
  • Inserting a user photo from AAD. With the "aad" field of the InsertPicture macro, you can use a photo of the current Azure Active Directory (AAD) user in your templates. Simply find "Insert Photo from Azure AD" when inserting a macro.
  • Sharing links to OneDrive or SharePoint files. With the "link_to_onedrive_file" or "link_to_sharepoint_file" field of the Insert macro, you can share the selected file with the selected permissions and place a corresponding link to your email. Find "Insert Link to OneDrive / SharePoint file" when inserting a macro.
  • Binding lists to datasets. Now you can create the first item of the list, right click and select "Bind to dataset". The list will be populated from the selected dataset.

Improved

  • HTML-enabled parameters. Now all macro parameters you can use with HTML code are marked by the HTML icon.

Fixed

  • A few minor issues have been fixed.

April 2022–Release (1.10.319), Stable

New features

Improved

  • The syntax of macros. We have changed our approach to macro syntax. For updated information, please refer to the Shared Email Templates macros list.
  • Creating nested macros. It has become much easier to create nested macros.

Fixed

  • A few minor issues have been fixed.

December 2021–Release (1.9.287), Stable

New features

  • Macro placeholders – We have brought in placeholders for our macros, so they are nicely 'wrapped' now:
    Take a look at our macro placeholders.

Improved

  • New Link URL and Link Title fields – When working with ~%InsertPictureFromOneDrive, ~%InsertPictureFromSharePoint or ~%InsertPictureFromURL, you can see the Insert picture dialog window. It has two new fields now: Link URL and Link Title. If you fill in the Link URL field, the pasted image will be equipped with the link you have specified.
  • New color themes – The mail merge template color palette has become more varied. There are six new color themes there now.

Fixed

  • We have fixed the bug that prevented the following macros from inserting an image with the specified width and height: ~%InsertPictureFromOneDrive, ~%InsertPictureFromSharePoint, and ~%InsertPictureFromURL.
  • Some other minor problems have also been resolved.

October 2021–Release (1.8.258), Stable

New features

  • Mail merge – Now, you can use your Outlook inbox for sending newsletters, notifications, welcome messages, etc. to multiple recipients at once. Please note that the feature is available only in the selected subscription plans.
    How to use mail merge
  • Message Fields – You can fill the To, Cc, Bcc, and Subject fields with the help of the new option in the template editor.
    Add message fields
  • Message Attachments – Finally, no macros are needed to attach files. Now, you can do it by clicking the Message Attachments icon in the template editor.
    Add message attachments
  • View Template Content – Click the View Template Content icon in the template editor to see the template text in HTML, all the message fields and attached files.
    How to edit template
  • New way to migrate from Template Phrases – Eventually, you can quickly transfer templates from Template Phrases to Shared Email Templates.
    Migrate to Shared Email Templates

Improved

  • Paste part of template from preview pane – You can select text you want to insert right in the preview pane and click Paste.
    How to paste template
  • New Insert Macro editor – Meet the improved UI and UX of the Insert Macro editor, use the Search box to quickly find the needed macros.
    How to add macros
  • Сase-sensitive search – The add-in now can perform case-sensitive search if you select the option.
    The pane and its elements
  • Minimize preview pane – To minimize the preview pane to the maximum, hold down the upper border with the left mouse button and drag down to the very end.
    The pane and its elements
  • Copy to the clipboard with values instead of macros – If you select the Copy to Clipboard option with the Alt key pressed, the copied to the clipboard text will include values instead of macros.
    Copy template to clipboard
  • Upload files and images to OneDrive – When you attach files or insert images, you can upload the needed file to your OneDrive from your local storage by clicking the Upload button.
    How to insert pictures into your templates
    How to attach files to your templates

New subscription plan

  • Mail Merge subscription plan – The Mail Merge plan lets you create mail merge campaigns and use your Outlook inbox for sending personalized emails to multiple recipients.
    Subscription plans

June 2021–Release (1.7.230), Stable

New features

  • Default Row in datasets – Now, if you use a template with a table bound to a dataset, you can get some rows of the dataset selected automatically when inserting this template into a message.
    Set default rows
  • DatasetValue macro – The new macro lets you insert a value from a dataset into a template.
    DatasetValue macro

Improved

New subscription plan

  • We stop providing the Free subscription plan. Now, you can start acquaintance with the add-in from the Business Trial plan that includes all the functionality of the Business plan and can be used 60 days for free.

March 2021–Release (1.6.202), Stable

New features

Improved

  • New fonts for templates – You’ll get 20 new fonts in the add-in editor for your templates.
  • Title box for WhatToAttach – We added a title box for the WhatToAttach macro so you always know which exactly file you need to attach.
    How to attach a file from local storage
  • New way macros are spelled – In new templates, you will notice that macros are spelled differently, e.g. ~%InsertPictureFromOneDrive[] instead of ~%INSERT_PICTURE_FROM_ONEDRIVE[].

January 2021–Release (1.5.193), Stable

New features

  • Template export and import – You can back up your private and shared templates by exporting a .xml file. Also, you can import My Templates or team content into Shared Email Templates. Template export is not supported in Outlook desktop and Outlook Online in Safari and Firefox.
    How to export and import templates

Improved

  • Search by selection – Select text in the message body and search for templates/ folders/teams that contain this text in names or content.
    Shared Email Templates pane in Outlook
  • Single sign-on for OneDrive and SharePoint macros –
    With single sign-on, each time adding images and attaching files from OneDrive or SharePoint you no longer have to confirm your OneDrive credentials. The option is turned on by default. It relates to the following macros:

    • AttachFromOneDrive
    • AttachFromSharePoint
    • InsertPictureFromOneDrive
    • InsertPictureFromSharePoint

    Please note, SSO is not supported in the web app and if Outlook provides mailbox API lower than 1.9. The feature works for only Microsoft 365 accounts and is not supported in free mail accounts, such as outlook.com or gmail.com
    Single sign-on while attaching files
    Single sign-on while inserting images

Fixed

  • Now, you can select files and images from shared folders in OneDrive while using the AttachFromOneDrive and InsertPictureFromOneDrive macros.

December 2020–Release (1.4.172), Stable

Improved

  • Open files and folders used in ATTACH and INSERT macros – When you edit a template, you can place the cursor on the macro text and pick one of the two options: Open file or Open folder. It relates to the following macros:

    • AttachFromOneDrive
    • AttachFromSharePoint
    • InsertPictureFromOneDrive
    • InsertPictureFromSharePoint
  • Open Outlook drafts directly from the add-in – Now, you can open drafts from linked Outlook folders right from the add-in, simply select a template and click Edit. This feature works only if your Outlook provides mailbox API 1.9 and higher and the selected draft is saved to your personal mailbox (not a shared one). You can check the mailbox API version via About in the [...] ellipsis pop-up menu.

Fixed

  • A few minor issues were fixed.

December 2020–Release (1.3.166), Stable

New features

  • Enhanced template editor – We included TinyMCE as the default template editor. Enable the Use the old editor checkbox when editing your Profile if you want to get back to the old one.
  • Datasets – Now, you can create small data tables and use them in your templates with the WHAT_TO_ENTER macro. Instead of several subsequent WHAT_TO_ENTER prompts, you can select a row in your table and have several placeholders filled in at once.
    How to create and use datasets
  • Support for Calendar – This release supports templates for Outlook Calendar. However, some time is needed to have this feature reviewed and approved by the Microsoft Office Store guys. Please be patient.
    How to use Shared Email Templates in Outlook Calendar

Improved

  • No additional authentication – Now, the Edit in browser option doesn't require you to sign in to the Shared Email Templates web app.

Fixed

  • A few minor issues were fixed.

October 2020–Release (1.2.151), Stable

New features

  • All your shortcuts on a separate tab – Now, you can find all your shortcuts on the new tab named Shortcuts.
  • Release notifications – The Notification icon was added to the add-in footer. It is highlighted each time when you get a new release and opens the Notification pane with "what's new in the release" details.

Improved

  • Filling Subject field automatically – If the Subject line is empty when you paste a template, the name of this template is used for the subject.

Fixed

  • Several minor issues were fixed.

September 2020–Release (1.2.141), Stable

New features

  • All fields of WHAT_TO_ENTER in one window – Now, you can fill in all fields of WHAT_TO_ENTER macros in one window while inserting a template.
  • Select dates in drop-down calendar with WHAT_TO_ENTER macro – With WHAT_TO_ENTER, you can pick a date in a drop-down calendar each time you insert a template.
    How to use the WHAT_TO_ENTER macro
  • FROM_ACCOUNT macro – The new FROM_ACCOUNT macro may be in handy if you use shared mailboxes and want to make sure your messages are sent from correct accounts.
    How to use the FROM_ACCOUNT[] macro
  • Create new template in browser – In Outlook and Outlook Online, you can right-click a template, folder, or team and pick a new option: New Template in Browser. A new tab will open in your default browser with the Shared Email Templates web app.
  • "Snippet" is renamed to "Template shortcut" – The feature that was called "Snippet" in the previous version now is renamed to "Template shortcut". The new name represents the essence of the option better.
    How to create and use template shortcuts
  • Undo and Redo buttons – In the template editor, you will now find the Undo and Redo buttons.
  • The Cancel button stops template insertion – When you insert a template with WHAT_TO_ENTER macros, the "Fill in these fields" window will appear. If you click the Cancel button in this window, the template insertion will be canceled.

September 2020–Release (1.0.133), Stable

Finally, this is the commercial release of Shared Email Templates. We improved the user interface responsiveness and the visual appearance of the product. More than 100 minor bugs and issues were detected and fixed.

June 2020–Beta 3 (1.0.115), Stable

New features

  • Snippets are available to all team members – Now, you can create snippets in your teams and share them with teammates. All team members can see snippets, only users with Editor or Admin permissions can edit them.

Fixed

  • In Google Chrome with the Windows 10 Accounts extension enabled, there were issues with attaching files from SharePoint and OneDrive from Microsoft work/school accounts.

June 2020–Beta 3 (1.0.113), Stable

New features

Fixed

  • In Outlook Online, a template couldn’t be pasted if it contained CSS-based styles.
  • In OWA, the INSERT_RECIPIENT_FIRSTNAME, INSERT_RECIPIENT_FULLNAME, INSERT_RECIPIENT_LASTNAME macros didn’t work when Outlook was an Exchange 2016 client.
  • The Shared Email Templates app and Outlook add-in could freeze because of incorrect web-socket timeouts.

March 2020–Beta 2 (1.0.85), Stable

New features

  • INSERT_PICTURE_FROM_URL – Now, you can insert an image to your template from the specified URL.
    How to insert image from a URL
  • Support for macros inside of HTML tags – With this feature, you can use macros inside of tag attributes in your HTML code.

Fixed

  • INSERT_RECIPIENT_FIRSTNAME, INSERT_RECIPIENT_FULLNAME, INSERT_RECIPIENT_LASTNAME macros did not work when the FILLTO[] and ADDTO[] macros were used in a template.
  • WHAT_TO_ENTER[] macro didn’t work when a hyperlink was used as the default or a list value.
  • TEAM_PROPERTIES[], PROFILE_PROPERTIES[] and MAILBOX_PROPERTIES[] macros inserted non-breaking spaces ( ) instead of normal spaces.
  • A template couldn’t be saved if it was copied from Word.
  • Several minor issues when processing the FILLTO[] and ADDTO[] macros.

March 2020–Beta 2 (1.0.79), Stable

Fixed

  • Some "=" based macros did not work.
  • Macros in HTML attributes did not work.

March 2020–Beta 2 (1.0.78), Stable

New features

  • Linked Outlook folders – Now, you can create and store your templates in a separate Outlook folder and share them between devices and people. The feature has the following limitations:

    • No automatic synchronization with Shared Email Templates
    • Sharing within one Office 365 business domain only
    • No sharing for paid personal Office 365 account (Home, Personal or Student) or free Outlook.com accounts

    How to use Outlook drafts as templates

  • Team and Profile properties – For each team and profile, you can create a set of named values and use them in template macros. Limitations: you can create no more than 32 properties for your profile and each team.
    How to use team & profile properties
  • Team, profile, and mailbox macros – We have added several new macros to support team, profile, and Outlook account properties.
    Mailbox, profile, & team properties macros
    The complete list of Shared Email Templates macros
  • Import from Template Phrases for Outlook Online – Now, you can import your templates from .ptd files created when exporting templates from Template Phrases for Outlook Online.
    How to import folders to Shared Email Templates

Improved

  • Invite users by importing a .csv file – Now, you can import users from a .csv file and invite them to your team with a couple of clicks.
    Import emails and permissions
  • Size in INSERT_PICTURE_FROM_ONEDRIVE – You can now specify the desired image size when inserting a picture from OneDrive.
    Insert image from OneDrive

Fixed

  • Double click did not insert a template into the current email.
  • A separator right after a macro was removed.
  • The add-in did not restore the last selected item on startup.
  • Nested macros did not work, e.g. FILLTO[WHAT_TO_ENTER[ ]]
  • In some cases, square brackets remained in a message when FILL* macros were empty.
  • Several web browser specific issues in Edge, Firefox, and Safari.

Known issues

Some issues persist in the Shared Email Templates web appand/or the Outlook add-inbecause of browser or platform limitations, namely:

Where persists Issue
There is a bug in Office updates because of which you can get the following error in desktop Outlooks:

Add-In Error–This add-in could not be started. Close this dialog to ignore this problem or click "Restart" to try again.

For more details, see bug reports #1620 and #1356
The built-in templates editor may insert the <span> tag that breaks macros. To fix this, edit the HTML code removing the <span> tags from broken macros (use the </> button).
The built-in templates editor might corrupt formatting in some (very rare) cases.
In Firefox and Edge, the web app and add-in don’t work correctly for private browsing or when Firefox is set to never remember the browsing history. Also, the issues may occur if the Block third-party cookies option is enabled.
You can use only one macro inside another macro.
Internet Explorer has a limitation for domain data - 10 MB by default. However, you can configure your own limit up to 1 GB.
You cannot attach 30+Mb files because of Outlook API limitations.
Tabbing navigation (navigation with the Tab key) may work incorrectly in some browsers and Outlook versions.
While inserting images with the INSERT_PICTURE_FROM_SHAREPOINT or INSERT_PICTURE_FROM_ONEDRIVE macros, image dimensions may not be displayed.
Linked Outlook folders are not synchronized automatically.
In case of the linked Outlook folders, Outlook needs some time to process changes you make in your Outlook drafts, so we recommend that you wait 2-3 minutes before refreshing a linked folder in Shared Email Templates.
Outlook 2013 (on Windows) provides a very limited extensibility api, so some features do not work.
The add-in doesn’t work on Outlook on iPad since there is no support for the Compose mode.
In Outlook on the web (Outlook Online), the add-in doesn’t work (shows an empty task pane) if third-party cookies are disabled.
Inline images (the <img> tag) are supported if Outlook provides the mailbox api 1.8 and higher. You can check the api versions via the [...] button > View Logs.
On Windows 10 1803 and 1809, Outlook hosts its add-ins using the outdated IE 11 (or even IE 10), so the add-in may crash when you have a lot of templates. Please update your Windows (1903+) and Office (1908+) to make Edge the host of Outlook add-ins.
On Windows 7, you cannot attach files in Internet Explorer 11 because of an Outlook bug.
For on-premise Exchange 2016+ clients (Outlook or OWA), using Outlook drafts as templates is not supported because of Exchange limitations.
On Mac, when Outlook is an on-premise Exchange client, the INSERT_PICTURE_FROM_ONEDRIVE macro doesn’t work stably because of Office and Exchange timeout limitations.
On Mac, when Outlook Web Access (OWA) is an on-premise Exchange client, inline images are not supported because of Office and Exchange limitations.
Outlook has a bug because of which it is not possible to copy-paste a bulleted or numbered list from an email message to a template; it is pasted as a regular text paragraph, not a list.
Outlook has a bug because of which it is not possible to apply formatting to bullets and numbers of lists.
The WHAT_TO_ATTACH macro is supported if Outlook provides the mailbox api 1.8 and higher. You can check the api versions via the [...] button > View Logs.
Outlook doesn't support inserting highlighted text (the background-color property of the HTML style attribute) because of an Outlook bug.
When inserting the ATTACH_FROM_SHAREPOINT macro, you can get an empty sites list if one or several sites have an empty display name.
In Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer, when inserting the ATTACH_FROM_SHAREPOINT macro, the SharePoint authentication popup appears as a minimized window.
In localized versions of Outlook, some macros may work incorrectly because of an Outlook bug that inserts extra <span> tags and makes HTML inconsistent. You can use the Clear Formatting option to fix this issue.
On Mac, there is an Outlook bug that makes it impossible to change a OneDrive account. It also happens in Safari 14 and earlier.
In Outlook desktop, while using the Date option in the WhatToEnter macro, the date will be pasted in the EN-US format regardless the date format set in the Windows settings. The problem is on the Microsoft side. The workaround is to set the preferred date format in Outlook online and use the template there.
In Outlook desktop, the FromAccount macro may work incorrectly for shared mailboxes. The problem is confirmed to be on the Microsoft side and is currently being investigated.
In the desktop Outlook for Windows and Mac, the Shared Email Templates icon might be absent because of the disabled Turn on optional connected experiences option in your privacy settings.
In Outlook desktop for Windows and Mac, the font size of the text of a template occasionally changes from 11-point Calibri to 10-point Calibri when the template is inserted into an email message.

It's an Outlook bug. For more details, see bug report #2077
Single sign-on is not supported in Outlook Online in Safari.

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