Editing email templates

Templates are the building blocks of every automated and manual email TrailerBase sends. You get a full library of pre-built templates out of the box, plus tools to edit, test, and track changes.

The template library

Go to Automations > Templates to see every template. They are grouped by purpose:

• Lifecycle — the nine automation templates (confirmation, reminders, thank-you, etc.).
• Transactional — receipts, refunds, invoices, cancellation confirmations.
• Manual — quotes, marketing blasts, one-off announcements you send by hand.
• Custom — any template you have built from scratch.

Every template is production-ready the moment you activate it. The defaults are written to be warm, clear, and professional, and they work for most operators without heavy editing.

Rich text editing

Click any template to open the editor. The rich text mode is the default — it is a WYSIWYG editor that looks like a miniature word processor:

• Bold / Italic / Underline
• Bulleted and numbered lists
• Headings (keep to H1, H2, H3 — deeper nesting looks awkward in email clients).
• Links — paste a URL and it becomes a clickable link.
• Buttons — click the button icon to insert a styled CTA button with a configurable color, label, and destination URL.
• Images — drag-and-drop images or paste a URL. The editor automatically handles email-safe image sizing.
• Merge tags — click Insert tag to add dynamic content.

Rich text is the right choice for 95% of editing. It prevents you from writing markup that looks fine in a browser but breaks in Outlook.

HTML mode

For advanced operators who want pixel control, flip the HTML toggle in the top-right. The editor swaps to a raw code view with syntax highlighting.

Guidelines for writing email-safe HTML:

• Use inline styles — stylesheets are stripped by many clients.
• Use tables for layout when you need consistent rendering across Outlook.
• Avoid background images on email headers — they ghost on Outlook.
• Keep CSS simple — no flexbox, no grid, no custom properties.

You can round-trip between HTML and rich text, but complex markup will be simplified on the trip back. Keep a copy if you are doing heavy customization.

Test-sending

The Send test button is your best friend. Clicking it sends the current draft to an email of your choice, rendered with sample merge data. Most clients look slightly different, so make a habit of testing in:

• Gmail (mobile and desktop).
• Outlook (desktop and Outlook.com web).
• Apple Mail on iPhone.

Do not send marketing emails you have not personally read in at least one mobile client. Fix anything that feels off before turning the template live.

Previewing with different data

The Preview panel shows the template rendered with a sample dataset. Click the dropdown at the top of the preview to switch between:

• Typical renter — an average booking.
• Long-name edge case — stress tests layout with long names and addresses.
• Empty-fields edge case — shows how missing data looks (no company, no delivery address).
• Recent real rental — picks a real recent rental (PII masked in the preview) so you see how it renders with your actual data.

Duplicating templates

Need a second version for a different trailer category or seasonal campaign? Click the three-dot menu on any template and select Duplicate. The copy lands in Custom and you can edit it independently.

Version history

Every save creates a new version. Click Version history on any template to see:

• When each version was saved and by whom.
• A side-by-side diff showing what changed.
• A Restore button to roll back instantly.

Version history goes back one year. Restoring a version creates a new version at the top of the stack, so you can always un-restore if you change your mind.

Renaming and archiving

Right-click a custom template to rename or archive it. Archived templates are hidden from the main list but stay in history forever — you can un-archive any time.

When to build from scratch

Build a brand-new template when:

• You are running a seasonal campaign (Black Friday, Spring kickoff).
• You are announcing something specific (new trailer, new location, policy change).
• The pre-built defaults fundamentally do not match your brand voice and you want to rewrite from zero.

For everything else, start from a default and edit. It saves hours.