This feature is inspired by our customers' requests and feedback. Template shortcuts can be viewed as templates for templates. You can create a number of template shortcuts and use them in different combinations and order to construct your templates and email messages.
Click the button below to open or download a quick How to use template shortcuts cheat sheet:
A template shortcut is a shortened name of a template that you can use to insert the template into an email message, another template, a dataset, or a profile or team property.
To insert a template that has a shortcut into your email, simply type two hash signs and the name of the shortcut in the message body, and then click the Handle Shortcuts button. The hash signs and the name of the shortcut will be replaced with the full text of the corresponding template, and it doesn't matter how big that template is (a few lines or a few pages).
For example, this is a typical salutation you might begin your emails with:
Hello InsertRecipientFirstName,
I’m writing regarding your request.
Instead of typing this text in each and every template, create a separate template and add a shortcut to it, say, "hello1". Then begin all your templates where this salutation should be used with "##hello1":
##hello1
Some text
As a result, your messages will look like this:
Hello Joe,
I’m writing regarding your request.
Some text
Feel free to create as many templates of this kind as you need. The shortcuts might be as follows: "hello1", "hello2", "hello3".
Also, you can create a speedy reply with a few shortcuts. For example, if you have shortcuts for salutations, follow-ups and reply requests, you can insert the following:
##hello1
##followup
##askreply
Then click the Handle Shortcuts button to get something like this:
Hello Joe,
I’m writing regarding your request.
Is the issue you were having sorted out?
I look forward to hearing from you.
You can add a shortcut to an existing template or to a new one.
To start creating a template, select a folder and click the New Template button:
Enter the name and text of your template and click the Edit Shortcut icon:
Type in the name of your template shortcut (you can use both upper case and lower case) and click OK:
You'll see the name of your shortcut in blue:
Click the Save button to save your template.
You can take an existing template and add a shortcut to it. Select a template and click the Edit Shortcut icon on the preview pane:
Name your template shortcut (you can use both upper case and lower case) and click Save:
The template shortcut will be shown in blue:
You can create a number of template shortcuts and insert them right into the message body in your Outlook. Also, you can use shortcuts to design ready-made reply templates.
To use template shortcuts in your email messages, type the names of the shortcuts directly into the message body in the order you want them to appear in your email. To turn the shortcuts into text, click the Handle Shortcuts button in the lower-right corner of the add-in pane:
The shortcuts are processed, and you can enjoy the result:
You can use template shortcuts as building blocks when constructing your templates.
Create a new template and enter the names of your shortcuts in the order they are supposed to appear there:
Save your template.
When you paste this template into your email message, the shortcuts will be replaced with text:
To see all your shortcuts, click the Shortcuts icon at the top of the Shared Email Templates pane:
Select a shortcut and click its name on the preview pane:
Using the Edit shortcut dialog, you can rename your shortcut or delete it by removing the text in the Edit shortcut field.
To learn more, visit our blog and the Tips and tricks for Shared Email Templates page.