equinux Mail Designer Pro 2 User Manual

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Mail Designer Pro 2

Contents

.......................................................The Design Chooser 4

..................................Mail Designer Pro 2 at a glance 5

Adding masks 17 Adding a mask 18

Filling a mask with your image 18 Adding your own logos and signatures 19

Optimizing your Image Area 19

....................................................The contents window 6

.....................................................Your first mail design 9

...................................................Creating a new design 9

.........................................Working with layout blocks 9

Layout blocks: working with text and image areas 9 Adding layout blocks 10

Removing layout blocks 10 Adding space in-between layout blocks 10

Duplicating layout blocks 10 Adjusting the size of areas within a layout block 11

Choosing a background for all text areas 13 Choosing a background for a single text area 13 Applying a background to a text column 13

.........................................Working with image areas 15

Adding graphics and shapes 15 Duplicating objects 15

Adding animated graphics 15 Adding Video Placeholders 16 Editing objects 16

Resizing an object 16 Rotating objects 17

Using objects with text 17 Adding photos 17

.........................................................Working with text 19

Editing a text area 20 Copy and Paste Style 20

To copy and paste a text style 20 Paste text and keep style 20

Add lists to text areas 20 Using a predefined Font Set 21

Editing text in an image area 22

.......................................................Working with links 22

Creating a text link 22 Creating an image link 23

.....................Optimizing your template for Mobile 24

......................................Working with Layout Blocks 24

Add dedicated layout blocks for the mobile version 24 Hide certain layout blocks 25

Detaching certain layout blocks 25

.........................................Working with Image Areas 25

Editing image areas 25

....................Using retina images with your design 26

Deactivating retina images for your template 26

.....................................Working with Text and Links 26

...................................................Sharing your designs 38

....................................................Preview your design 26

Open the preview window 27 Changing the preview device 27

Setting up a custom preview device 27 Refreshing the preview window 28

.................................................Collaborative working 29

.......................Review changes and add comments 29

See document changes in the Log 29

.........................................................Lend a document 30

..........................Preparing your design for sending 31

...........Setting up Mail Designer Pro 2 for sending 32

Configuring the Design Delivery Account 32 Configuring a standard email service 32

Configuring a generic email service 32 Sending emails via Mail Designer Pro 2 33

Adding attachments to your message 33

.......................................................Export your design 38

Share as Mail Designer Pro 2 Document 38 Share via Email 38

Print your document 38

..................................................................HTML Export 39

Offering your newsletter on the web 39 Export to other Email Marketing Tools 39

............................Exporting a Design to MailChimp 41

Uploading a design to MailChimp 42 Using placeholders with MailChimp 42

MailChimp placeholders explained 43

.............Exporting a Design to Campaign Monitor 45

Uploading a design to Campaign Monitor 46 Using placeholders with Campaign Monitor 46

Campaign Monitor placeholders explained 47

.............................................Appendix: Compatibility 48

Compatibility examples and tips 48

....................................Advanced design techniques 34

Aligning single objects 34 Aligning a group of objects 34

Aligning objects from different layout blocks 34 Edit images in third party applications 34

Combining graphics 35 Moving objects to the front or back 36

Grouping designs elements 36

.................................Appendix: Keyboard Shortcuts 49

The Design Chooser

Create a new mail using a Design Idea or pick one of your saved designs to send.

Any mail designs you create will show up here

Access the design categories you have created

Choose a design idea as a starting point for your design

Access templates from Design Blueprints

Use the zoom slider to take a closer look at the designs

Start working on a new design based on the selected design idea

Mail Designer Pro 2 at a glance

Add images, edit text and re-arrange your layout – in the main document window.

another Mail Designer Pro 2 user

Hit ‘Send’ to send your design

Switch between mobile and desktop version

Grab a layout block by its handle and just drag ‘n drop to rearrange your layout.

Show or hide the layout, distance indicators or rulers.

Show the Log for your templateShare your template by email or lend it to

Open a device preview

Check your template for any issues

Change the background color or add a background pattern and give your design a whole new look.

The contents window

Drag and drop new layout elements, graphics, text objects, placeholders, background patterns and photos into your design.

To add a layout block to a design, just drag and drop it into your design.

You‘ll see a preview how your template will appear in the Desktop and Mobile version of your template.

Drag graphics to your design and double-click the text to write your own.

Choose a shape you want to add to your template.

Choose an animated graphic into your design. You can use one animated graphic for every image area.

Choose a video placeholder and drag it into your template. Add then a link to a Youtube or Vimeo video.

Use masks to add picture frame effects, or to resize or crop your images. You can also replace placeholders later in Mail.

Choose a text style, drag it into your design and then double-click to write your own text.

Switch to background mode and drag in the texture you prefer.

Add your own pictures from iPhoto, or your logos and signature from a folder.

Your first mail design

To get you started, we’re going to design a new email step-

by-step, explaining the options in detail as we go.

Creating a new design

Working with layout blocks

First, make sure you can see the layout by clicking

the “Layout” button in the toolbar. Click the Layout

button to show or hide the frames around the sta-

tionery’s layout blocks.

Mail Designer Pro 2 includes several “Design Ideas” – common email layouts

that can be used as a starting point for a new email. You can also start with a

template from templates purchased In-App. Just double-click a design in the

chooser window to create a new design based on that Design Idea.

You’ll notice a translucent tab attached to the left

side of each block. Those are the layout block “han-

dles”, each individual layout block has one. You can

rearrange a layout block by grabbing its handle and

dragging the layout block into another position.

Layout block “handles”

Layout blocks: working with text and image areas

Mail Designer Pro 2 oﬀers layout blocks that have text areas, image areas or

both. A text area can only contain text, while an image area can contain im-

ages, photos, shapes, masks and styled text.

Layout block with two image areas Layout block with text areas

The design will open in a new window, ready for you to start editing.

A layout block with text, text with background and image area

Layout block with text and image areas

Adding layout blocks

Click the “Contents” button to open the Contents panel. This contains all the

design elements you can add to your Mail Design. Go to “Layout Blocks”,

choose one and drag it to your design. The other layout sections will slide

out of the way so you can drop in the new layout block.

We need to add space in-between these two layout blocks

Go back to the Contents panel and drag the spacing layout block in-

between the two content layout blocks.

You can then ﬁne-tune the size of the divider by

dragging the line above or between it - it should look right with about 30

pixels between the two layout blocks.

Drag a layout block into your design.

The other layout blocks will slide out of the way and you can drop the new

layout block into place.

Removing layout blocks

Click the “x” icon on the layout block “handle” to delete a

layout block.

Adding space in-between layout blocks

Click “x” to delete

You'll notice that your new layout block is very close to

the top of the next layout block. This makes the design feel a bit cramped, so

we need to add a bit of space in between the two blocks.

Duplicating layout blocks

If you are setting up multiple similar layout blocks, it may be easier to dupli-

cate an existing layout block instead of choosing your font and color options

again.

There are two ways you can duplicate layout blocks.

‣

Click the selection tab at the side of a layout block and choose “Edit > Duplicate” from the menu bar

Click the selection tab to choose a layout block - then choose Duplicate from the Edit menu

‣

Hold down the option key on your keyboard and click and drag a layout block.

In an image area, drag the dividers to adjust the height of the area.

Drop it into position to create a copy of that layout block. Then edit your text

and other options accordingly.

Adjusting the size of areas within a layout block

You can also adjust the width and height of layout blocks, or of sections

within a layout block as well.

Just drag the dividers to adjust the width of a section within a layout block.

In a text area, you can adjust the height by adding or deleting lines of text.

Choosing a background

There's a paint roller icon in the lower left corner of the window. Click it to

switch to the background editing mode. When choosing a background, you

will see two areas: the background of your text areas in the middle of your

design and the surrounding background area:

Drag a color or texture to this area to set your main background

Drag a color or texture to the inner area of your design, to choose a background for your text areas

Color picker

Click the paint roller icon to switch between background and layout views

Choose a texture or color

Click the 'Textures' or the 'Colors' icons to

choose a background texture or a single

background color to apply to your design.

Choose a texture or color

To apply a background color

Click the "Color" bucket icon to open the color picker window. Click a color

or drag it onto the background to apply it.

Click the magniﬁer glass in the ”Colors” window and pick any color

form your desktop.

To apply a background texture

For our email, we're going to use a light grey background wallpaper texture.

Click the paint roller icon to switch to background mode:

Next, click the textures icon to bring up the Contents panel and open the

background textures. Then drag a texture to your background to apply it.

Applying a background to a text area

You can also choose a background texture or background color for the text

areas in your design.

Choosing a background for all text areas

Switch to background mode by clicking the paint roller icon in the bottom

left corner of your design. Apply a background to the middle area to apply it

to all of the text areas in your design.

Choosing a background for a single text area

Choose a layout block area and click the background paint roller icon for

that layout block. Now you can choose to apply (or remove) a background

for just that text area.

Applying a background to a text column

Custom backgrounds

You can also use one of your own photos or texture images as a

background: choose the “Photos” section in the Contents panel and

drag your photo or texture image to the background to apply it.

Alternatively, drag in an image from the Finder, or copy and paste a

image to set your background.

Some text areas can be assigned a separate back-

ground. This can be used to create sidebars

with links or other at-a-glance information.

Text areas that support backgroundsare highlighted in orange in the Con-

tents panel.

A layout block with a text area that uses a custom background

Applying a background to an image area

You can also change the backgrounds of image areas individually. Select an

image area and click the paint roller icon to switch to background mode.

Then drag a background texture or color into the image area to apply it.

Creating transparent background eﬀects

If you would like to create design eﬀects by giving some layout blocks a

“transparent” background, try this:

‣

Click the paint roller icon in the bottom left corner of your document

‣

Choose the middle background for all text areas

‣

Right-click and choose “Delete Background” from the shortcut menu

Now all of your text areas will appear with no background. Leave back-

ground selection and now selectively apply a background to all layout

blocks, expect those that you wish to remain “transparent”:

‣

Choose layout blocks, except those that are to appear “transparent”

‣

Click their individual paint roller icons

‣

Apply a background

Working with image areas

Image areas can contain images, photos, shapes, masks and stylized text – so

you can really let your creativity ﬂow.

Image areas are highlighted in blue in the Contents panel:

Layout block with text and image areasLayout block with an image area

You can drag graphics, shapes, masks, photos and stylized text to these areas

in your design. Mail Designer Pro 2 will highlight those areas where you can

drop images into.

Adding graphics and shapes

To add graphics or shapes, simply choose one from the Contents panel and

drag it into an image area in your mail design.

Duplicating objects

You can duplicate objects by choosing Edit >

Duplicate from the menu bar. Alternatively,

you can also hold down the option key and

drag the object to place a duplicate in your

design.

Adding animated graphics

Mail Designer Pro 2 comes with a variety of animated graphics. Drag the animated graphic you want to use in your design from the Animated Graphic section into your template.

As long as the animated graphic you have added is selected, you will see the animation of the graphic.

Hold down the Option key and drag to duplicate an object

Graphics and other objects

Mail Designer Pro 2 includes graphics that you can use to spruce up your

email design. These include sales promotion artwork as well as border de-

signs.

You can also add custom gif ﬁles you‘ve created in your design. Simply drag the ﬁle into an image area.

Adding Video Placeholders

With Mail Designer Pro 2 you can add a Video Placeholder to your document. After dragging the placeholder into an image area, you can enter the public link to the video.

Editing objects

Mail Designer Pro 2 allows you to manipulate your graphics and shapes in

multiple ways.

Resizing an object

You can resize and adjust graphics using the resize controls. Click a graphic

to see the resize controls.

Then drag the graphic to the size you would like it to be.

Adjust the size of graphics using the resize controls

Resizing from the center

Visit our website to ﬁnd a complete list of supported video services and ﬁle types.

→www.equinux.com/goto/md/videoplaceholder

If you hold down the option key while resizing a graphic, it will be resized

evenly from the center (i.e. it will be resized in from the edge you’re dragging

as well as from the opposite edge).

Resizing without constraining proportions

Ordinarily, Mail Designer Pro 2 preserves the proportions of a graphic when

you resize it. However, you can also optionally choose to disregard the pro-

portions while resizing.

Click and hold the resize controls of a graphic or image and press now the

Command key to resize the graphic without preserving its proportions.

Hold down the Command while resizing for more options

Rotating objects

Photos

As everyone knows, a picture is worth a thousand words. Photos are a great

way to grab your readers attention and immediately let them know what the

email is about.

You can rotate an object in 90 degrees steps by clicking ”Rotate” from the

toolbar. Hold down the Command key before clicking one of the graphics

resize controls in order to rotate the shape or mask freely. You will see that

the cursor will turn into a rotate icon.

Using objects with text

Some of the objects may contain text. You can double-click the text to re-

place it with your own.

Choose “Graphics” in the Contents panel, choose for example the grey “Spe-

cial Edition” image and drag it into an image area:

Double-click the “Special Edition” text and we can type in a custom name.

You can also choose a font and make it bigger or smaller to ﬁt the available

space:

Adding photos

Open the Contents panel and choose "Photos". The photos tab gives you

quick access your iPhoto and Aperture libraries, as well as other folders that

contain images.

To add an image, just drag it into an image area.

Once you've dragged your image into an image area, you can use the or-

ange resize controls along the edge of your picture to resize it.

Adding masks

For greater ﬂexibility, Mail Designer Pro 2 also includes masks that can be

used to crop or resize a picture and also oﬀer interesting frame designs and

masking eﬀects.

Open the Masks tab in the content win

dow. Mail Designer Pro 2 includes plain

placeholders, framed placeholders and

even masking eﬀect placeholders, like

the t-shirt or ﬂag designs.

Filling a mask with your image

After you have added a mask to your template simply drag your own photo

on to it in order to apply it for your

mask.

Adding a mask

Pick the placeholder style that you

would like to use and drag it into your

design. You'll notice that Mail Designer

Pro 2 has highlighted the image areas

again, so you know which areas you can

add your placeholder to.

Double-click the image placeholder

we just added. You'll see the image

zoom slider which allows you to zoom

in to your image.

This blue rectangle is the mask we have added.

Adding your own logos and signatures

You probably have logos or a scan of your signature that you would like to

frequently use in your mails designs.

You can add these to the “Photos” section of the Contents panel, so you’ll be

able to get to them faster.

Go to the Photos section and

right-click underneath the pre-

deﬁned folders that are listed.

Then choose a folder with your

images that you would like to

add.

There you go! Now you can easily access your logos and other company im-

ages directly within the Contents panel.

Optimizing your Image Area

Mail Designer Pro 2 allows you to deﬁne the level of compression for an im-

age area. To do so, please choose an image area and click the ”Optimize im-

age” button from the overlay menu.

You can now choose the format your image area will be saved. Select ”JPEG”

and drag the slider to the level of compression you want to use. You will also

see the size the image area will have for a certain compression level. Best

quality settings make your image sharper but will also increase the size of

your template. Click ”OK” for saving your changes.

Working with text

With the design more or less complete, it's now time to work on the text of

your email.

What can text areas do?

There are two kinds of layout blocks in Mail Designer Pro 2: text areas

and image areas. Image areas can contain both text and images,

while text areas can only include text.

Editing a text area

the text area you’re pasting it to.

If you would like to preserve your text style, you can use the “Paste with

Style” command instead.

To paste and preserve the original style of your text

‣

Copy text that has formatting you want to preserve

‣

Choose “Edit > Paste With Style” from the menu bar

To edit a text area in your message, just click inside a text area and start typ-

ing – simple! You can also adjust your font and text ﬂow options by selecting

text and choosing your options from the popover.

Copy and Paste Style

If you have added additional layout elements, you may want to copy and

paste your existing font style into your new layout elements.

To copy and paste a text style

Select the text that has the style you would like to

copy, then click “Copy Style” from the toolbar. Then

choose the text you would like to apply the copied

style to and click “Paste Style”.

Add lists to text areas

Mail Designer Pro 2 2 allows you to use lists in your text areas. Choose the

text area which should contain a list and place your cursor on the position

where you want the list to appear. Now open the list style menu from the

overlay menu and choose the style you want to use for your list.

Highlight the list you have added and choose another list style from the

drop down menu if you want to.

Paste text and keep style

Any text you paste into Mail Designer Pro 2 from a source other than a dif-

ferent Mail Designer Pro 2 document will automatically receive the style of

Using a predeﬁned Font Set

In Mail Designer Pro 2 you can choose from a variety of diﬀerent Font Sets. A

Font Set consists of multiple fonts. If the ﬁrst font is not available on the

computer where your recipient is reading your newsletter, the second font

will automatically be applied to the text area.

In order to use a Font Set for text, select the text in your text area and choose

from the font menu a Font Set.

You will now see a Preview Window where all available fonts will be dis-

played. Click ”Start Download“ to download additional Web Fonts you can

then use in your template.

Using Web Fonts in Mail Designer Pro 2

Using Web Fonts is a great way to use beautiful fonts and make sure that the

design displays the way you want it on your recipient’s devices. When using

a Web Font for text the font will not be shipped together with your template

but loaded automatically from the internet by the recipient’s device if the

font is not installed yet.

In Order to use Web Fonts in your template they must be downloaded ﬁrst.

To do so choose ”Web Fonts > Download Additional Fonts…“ from the font

menu.

A note about font options

Special Characters

If you're in a text area, the font options in the popover only include

so-called "Web-safe Fonts". These are fonts that can be viewed on

most computers. If you're adding text to an image area, you can

choose from a wider selection of fonts, as these will be displayed as

part of an image, ensuring their compatibility with most email pro-

grams.

Editing text in an image area

In an image area, Mail Designer Pro 2 oﬀers more ﬂexibility and you can get

really creative with your text. Let's try out some creative ideas!

Open the Contents panel and choose "Text Objects".

Like every tab in the Contents window,

also the Text Objects are divided into

multiple subsections. This allows you to

easily ﬁnd the font and style you want.

You’ll notice that some of the text objects use special characters like these: ★ ♫.

You can ﬁnd lots more of these types of characters under “Edit >

Special Characters…”

Select text somewhere in an image area, choose a special character

and click “Insert” to add it to your text.

Working with links

You can include links to your website, ﬁle downloads or other resources on

the web in your design. Mail Designer Pro 2 support links for image areas as

well as text links.

Creating a text link

Mark the text that you would like to turn into a link. Then click the arrow link

in the popover. A dialog will slide in and you can enter your link.

We have also created a few other text

styles using diﬀerent fonts and colors.

Drag any of these text objects into an

image area and double-click it to edit

the text.

Select some text and click the link button.

Then enter your URL in the Link destination dialog box:

Note: you can change the color and text options of your link using the regu-

lar font options.

Creating an image link

You can create a link with an image area, so the image area will be clickable

in your email. It’s important to note, that as an entire image areas will be

displayed as a single image in your email, you can only assign one link per

image area.

To create an image area link, choose an image area in your design and click

the arrow link button from the popover. Then just enter your URL. The entire

image area will be “hot” and can be clicked in your ﬁnal message.

Multiple links

We’ve included several layout blocks that contain several image ar-

eas next to each other.

You can use these blocks to create multiple image area links, e.g. in

order to use multiple buttons with links to social media sites.

A little link icon will show you for which image areas links has been embed-

ded.

Optimizing your template for Mobile

As your design is now beautifully layouted and packed with

your texts and images, we can now start optimizing your

template for mobile devices such as iPhones and iPads.

Working with Layout Blocks

Most of the layout blocks added for the desktop version also ﬁt in the mobile

version of your template.

However you might want to have a dedicated image or a diﬀerent text in the

mobile version. In this case you can add layout blocks that will only appear

in the mobile version of your template.

Please access the mobile editing mode by clicking ”Mobile“.

You can switch back by clicking ”Desktop“.

You now see a mobile version of the template we created before. You will

notice that some layout blocks are modiﬁed in comparison to there appear-

ance in the desktop editing mode. In general the multiple elements of an

single layout block are orientated vertically in the mobile version instead of

horizontally in the desktop version.

Add dedicated layout blocks for the mobile version

In order to add a layout block just drag it from the ”Contents” window to

your template like you did before for the desktop version.

On the right side of the layout block you will ﬁnd a little ﬂag that says

”MOBILE ONLY”. This handle indicates that this particular layout block will

only be displayed if the recipient is reading your newsletter on a mobile de-

vice. The layout block will also not be displayed when switching back to the

desktop editing mode of Mail Designer Pro 2.

Hide certain layout blocks

Mail Designer Pro 2 not just allows you to add a dedicated layout block for

the mobile version of your template, you can also hide certain layout blocks

in the mobile version so they will be only displayed in the desktop version of

your design.

In order to hide a layout block, click the little eye icon on the left border of a

layout block.

The layout block will disappear and you will see instead a little ﬂag with an

eye symbol and the number of layout blocks that are hidden for the mobile

version.

By hiding multiple successive layout blocks for the mobile version the num-

ber you will see in the arrow ﬂag will increase.

Switching back to the desktop editing mode, you will

see a ﬂag ”DESKTOP ONLY” for the layout blocks you’ve

hided before.

Detaching certain layout blocks

Detaching a layout block from the desktop version allows you to make

changes for a layout block without touching the desktop version.

In order to detach a layout block just drag the border line of

an image area or text area.

You will see a message that informs you about separating

the layout block from the desktop version.

The layout block will get a ”MOBILE MODIFIED” ﬂag on the right, which in-

forms you that this layout block diﬀers from the

desktop version.

All changes to this layout block will now only

apply to the mobile version.

Working with Image Areas

Creating a template that looks perfect on your recipients desktop and

mobile devices require sometimes some modiﬁcations. Big images contain-

ing text and graphics might be diﬃcult to read on a mobile device.

Editing image areas

If you only want to change certain images like your company logo for certain

layout blocks you don’t have to detach the whole layout block from the

desktop version.

Just remove the old image from the image area and drag the new banner

image or logo you want to use into it. Mail Designer Pro 2 will automatically

detach the image area from the image area of the desktop version.

All your other content will stay unchanged.

Using retina images with your design

With Mail Designer Pro 2 you can use retina optimized images for the mobile

version of your template. In this way your images look sharp and crisp on

mobile phones with a retina resolution display.

The button to switch between desktop and mobile version

shows you, if retina support is activated.

If this is the case, Mail Designer Pro 2 will automatically

create retina optimized images for the mobile version of

your template.

In order to deactivate the retina option in Mail Designer Pro 2, please choose

”File > Mobile Options…” from the top menu bar. In the next window untick

the setting “Create retina images”:

In addition Mail Designer Pro 2 also checks every image you add to the

mobile version, so you get the best result with your template. If an image

has a to low resolution, Mail Designer Pro 2 will show you a little yellow tri-

angle:

In this case, you can either replace it with a higher resolution image or make

the image smaller inside of your image area.

Deactivating retina images for your template

In some cases you might don’t want to use retina images for your design.

Working with Text and Links

Working with text and links is the same like in the Desktop editing mode. If a

layout block is not detached from the desktop version all changes you make

either in the desktop or mobile version will also be applied to the other one.

Preview your design

As we have now optimized your design for mobile devices, we can now pre-

view the result for multiple devices right in Mail Designer Pro 2 without the

need of test sending it to your own devices.

Open the preview window

Clicking the mobile preview button in the toolbar will open an additional

window where you can see the mobile version of your design as

it would appear on an iPhone 6 Plus.

Move your cursor of the iPhone’s dis-

play in order to scroll through your

message.

Click the little rotate icon in order to

switch the iPhone into landscape

mode.

Changing the preview device

Mail Designer Pro 2 not just allows you

to view your design on an iPhone 6 Plus

but also on an iPad Air, iPhone 4/4S and earlier models and an Android 4 de-

vice.

Change the preview device by clicking the drop down menu and choose the

device you want to use for previewing your template.

Setting up a custom preview device

You can also deﬁne your own preview device, if you want to preview your

template on a display with a certain resolution.

Click the drop down menu and choose ”Device Preferences…”.

You will see a list of all the devices available for preview at the moment. Click

the ”+” in order to add a new display resolution to this list.

Change the name and choose the resolution you want to use.

Unticking the checkbox in front of each entry lets you determine which de-

vices will be available in the drop down menu.

Refreshing the preview window

If you changes an image or layout block in your template click the refresh

button to update the view in the preview window.

Collaborative working

Mail Designer Pro 2 has been designed for collaborative

working. Work together with your colleagues on one

design, leave a comment and review changes.

Review changes and add comments

See document changes in the Log

Collaborative working on a single document requires that you can identify

who made which change in a document. With Mail Designer Pro 2 you can

do this with ease.

Show the logging sidebar by clicking ”Log” in the

toolbar and click ”All” in the sidebar. You will see all

changes that have been made by you and your col-

leagues for this document.

Leave a comment

Mail Designer Pro 2 not just saves all made changes in its log, but also allows

you to highlight an important text area using a comment. You can of course

also add a comment for image areas.

Add a comment for an area by dragging your mouse from the connector to

the area you want to comment.

You can now enter the text for your comment.

Hover your mouse over an entry to see the exact changes directly in your

template.

Lend a document

Lending a document makes it easy working on a single document with mul-

tiple colleagues from your oﬃce. Mail Designer Pro 2 allows you to lend a

design to someone else who also uses Mail Designer Pro 2 on his Mac. He

can make changes and give the ﬁle afterwards back to you.

If you want to lend one of your templates, follow these steps:

‣

Open your document and click ”Share > Lend…” from the toolbar.

‣

Enter an email address and leave a short message for the recipient

‣

The template can be returned by clicking ”Return Document…”

‣

Click ”Send” for sending your message together with your Mail Designer Pro document.

‣

You will see a message that informs you that the document has been lend to another user

Preparing your design for sending

Saving your design

Once your design is ﬁnished, you can save it for later re-use.

Choose “File > Save” from the menu bar.

You can give your new template a name. Save your design into an existing

category or create a new one. You can also save your template to the section

”Design Ideas”:

Open the check window, to see the issues Mail Designer Pro 2 found. You will

also get a description about the issues Mail Designer Pro 2 found, so you can

make the necessary changes.

You’ll ﬁnd your design in the Design Chooser under the category you saved

it in, or you can also see all the designs you’ve created under “My Designs”.

Choose your design and click “Edit” to open your design.

Checking your design for issues

Mail Designer Pro 2 is continuously scanning your design for issues that can

occur. Like two many animated graphics in your template or other things

that can aﬀect the experience of your design.

As soon as Mail Designer Pro 2 ﬁnds an issue you will get a notiﬁcation in the

top right corner of the Mail Designer Pro 2 window. The badge shows you,

how many issues Mail Designer Pro 2 found.

In Addition the check window also shows you the size of your email.

Setting up Mail Designer Pro 2 for sending

Before you can use Mail Designer Pro 2 for sending your template to your

recipients, we have to conﬁgure the email account you want to use.

Conﬁguring the Design Delivery Account

Mail Designer Pro 2 comes with a free mail delivery service you can use for

testing your design. This account is called ”Design Delivery” and can be con-

ﬁgured in the preferences of Mail Designer Pro 2.

‣

Open Mail Designer Pro 2‘s preferences by choosing ”Mail Designer Pro > Preferences…“ from the top menu bar.

‣

Open the ”Mail“ tab and select the ”Design Delivery” account.

‣

Enter the email address your recipient will see when receiving your message and your name.

‣

Click ”Mail” to save your changes.

Conﬁguring a standard email service

With Mail Designer Pro 2 you can conﬁgure the most popular email services

with a few easy steps and use them for sending your messages.

‣

Enter the missing information like user name and password.

‣

Click ”Mail“ to save your changes.

By choosing one of the standard services, all you have to do is enter a few

things like the description you want to use, your email address, your name

and user name and password.

Mail Designer Pro 2 knows all the other settings like SMTP server or port so

you don’t have to. After you are done, close the preference window and save

the changes.

‣

Open Mail Designer Pro 2‘s preferences by choosing ”Mail Designer Pro > Preferences…“ from the top menu bar.

‣

Open the ”Mail“ tab.

‣

Click ”+“ at the end of the list and choose the account type you want to add.

You can now add additional services or begin sending your messages.

Conﬁguring a generic email service

In order to set up an email service which is not already in the list of precon-

ﬁgured services, please choose ”Other”.

In addition to the account speciﬁc information you will now also need to

enter the address for the outgoing server, the port that must be used and

the authentication method.

Most services provide these information on their websites so you can easily

paste them in to the settings of Mail Designer Pro 2.

Adding attachments to your message

When sending your design via Mail Designer Pro 2 you can attach additional ﬁles to your message. This allows you to send a PDF ﬁle or a zipped folder along with your message.

To do so, drag the ﬁle you want to attach into the attachment area. Mail Designer Pro 2 will check your attachments and will send it together with your message.

Sending emails via Mail Designer Pro 2

With the ﬁnal graphical touches added, our email design

is ready to be sent. To do so, click ”Send” in the toolbar.

You can now enter the email addresses and the subject line for your mes-

sage. Enter the name of recipients and Mail Designer Pro 2 will display the

email address available for this name from the address book.

If you conﬁgured several email services you can choose the send service you

want to use from the drop down menu.

Mail Designer Pro 2 shows you the name of the ﬁle you‘ve attached and its

size. You can also click the little red button at the end of the line to remove

the ﬁle and attach another one.

Advanced design techniques

We’ve covered the basic, so let’s look at some of the slightly

more advanced layout and design techniques you can apply

to your email designs.

Aligning diﬀerent objects

Aligning single objects

Mail Designer Pro 2 makes it easy to align a single ob-

ject to certain positions in an image area. Simply

choose the object you want to align and click ”Align”

from the toolbar. Choose between diﬀerent aligning

options. Combining multiple aligning options makes it

easy to center an object such as an image or text box to

the center of an image area.

Simply drag an alignment guide from the ruler on the left into your template

and position it.

Drag certain objects to the alignment guide for a professional look of your

templates. You can also resize text and image areas by clicking a border and

dragging it to the alignment line.

Aligning a group of objects

You can not just align single objects with the border of an image area but

also multiple objects with each other.

Select multiple images by shift clicking them and choose ”Align” from the

top menu bar. Like before you can choose from diﬀerent aligning options.

Aligning objects from diﬀerent layout blocks

With Mail Designer Pro 2 you can easily arrange multiple objects from diﬀer-

ent layout blocks using alignment guides.

Edit images in third party applications

With Mail Designer Pro 2 you can open certain images you have used for

your image areas in third part applications. Just select the image you want

to edit and click ”Edit In” from the toolbar.

Choose the application you want to use for editing and Mail Designer Pro 2

will open your image in the right application.

Combining design elements

You can create some interesting eﬀects by combining multiple design ele-

ments. Mail Designer Pro 2 can arrange objects in layers, so you can stack

objects on top of each other for eye-catching looks.

Combining graphics

Let’s say we have a big sales event on July 16th that we want to announce.

We can highlight that date visually by combining the calendar text element

with a graphic element to highlight the speciﬁc date.

Now go to the graphics and drag the black marker circle onto the calendar:

Finally, grab the black circle by the orange adjustment handles, resize it, and

then click and drag it into position over July 16th.

Drag in the July Calendar text object:

Perfect! A great visual reminder to let customers know to check out the

event on July 16th!

Moving objects to the front or back

Once you start combining design elements, you may want to place certain

objects in image areas in front of or behind other objects.

Moving objects

Select an object and click the “Front” or “Back” button in

the toolbar. For more granular control over your layers,

you can also choose “Arrange > Bring Forward” or

“Send Backward” from the menu bar.

For instance, in order to place this “Get the App” text object in front of image,

I right-click it and choose “Bring Forward”:

That will place it in front of the image:

Grouping designs elements

You can also group design elements together, making it easier to move ele-

ments that belong together around in your design.

To group elements together

Drag across two or more elements to select them together and then choose

“Group” from the toolbar. Here we’ve selected three elements: the “Sale” text,

the description and price and the strikethrough line:

You can now move the elements around together, and they’ll be treated as

one single element, making it much easier to move them around in my de-

sign:

Ungroup the included text objects

Several of the text objects that we include are images and text ob-

jects grouped together. You can ungroup these for greater control

over the look of a certain element – just select “Ungroup” from the

toolbar.

Sharing your designs

Share your latest stationery with your friends and

colleagues.

Export your design

Mail Designer Pro 2 oﬀers several ways of exporting your design.

Share as Mail Designer Pro 2 Document

This option will create a ﬁle that can be opened in Mail Designer Pro 2 on

another Mac. This gives you more ﬂexibility, but also means you'll need to

have Mail Designer Pro 2 installed on the Mac you send the ﬁle to.

‣

Open the template you want to export.

‣

Choose ”File > Export…“ from the top menu bar.

Share via Email

Print your document

Mail Designer Pro 2 makes it also easy, printing your design in case you want

to hand it directly to your customers. Print a document by choosing ”File >

Print…” from the top menu bar.

With Mail Designer Pro 2 you can share your design as email. This option will

send an email with your template attached as Mail Designer Pro 2 docu-

ment.

‣

Open the template you want to export.

‣

Choose ”Share > Share via Email…“ from the top menu bar.

HTML Export

Mail Designer Pro 2 can export a HTML ﬁle containing your

design. You can re-use your design with other services, or

publish a copy as a webpage.

Once you have created your design, you can export it as wesbite. This will

allow you to do even more with your design:

Upload your design to third-party newsletter services

•

Oﬀer readers with email programs that don’t support HTML the option to

• view your message as a webpage in their browser

Link to your newsletter directly from your website, for people that would

• like to see a newsletter before they subscribe

To export your design as a website

‣

Open your design

‣

Choose “Share > Website…” from the menu bar

Oﬀering your newsletter on the web

You can upload the exported HTML and image ﬁles to a web host. This

would allow your readers to open your message in their web browser. This

can be be used to give readers an alternative way to read your message, if

their email application doesn’t support advanced HTML messages.

To oﬀer your newsletter on the web:

‣

Export your design as a website

‣

Upload the exported folder to a web server (via FTP, or tools oﬀered by your host)

‣

Add a link to the web version of your newsletter in your email

Export to other Email Marketing Tools

There are dozens of email and newsletter services that support HTML emails.

If your newsletter provider supports custom HTML templates with images,

you may be able to export your design from Mail Designer Pro 2 and import

into your tool of choice.

‣

Choose a location to save your design

‣

Optional: If you plan on uploading your images to a separate web server, you can enter an absolute URL preﬁx for images.

Mail Designer Pro 2 will create a folder containing the HTML ﬁle and images that make up your newsletter.

Preparing your design for import

Depending on your service, you may need to import your design in one of

the following ways:

‣

Create and upload a compressed zip archive containing all of the ﬁles you exported from Mail Designer Pro 2

‣

Upload your HTML ﬁle and a separate zip ﬁle containing all of your images

‣

Copy & paste the contents of your HTML ﬁle and upload your images

‣

Upload all of the exported ﬁles individually

Getting help with other email marketing tools

This manual can only outline the basic steps required to upload a

design to an email marketing tool. As every newsletter service works

diﬀerently, you’ll need to consult the documentation provided by

your newsletter service to see if it is possible to import custom HTML

templates and how they recommend you upload your design.

Exporting a Design to MailChimp

If you’ve created a newsletter design that you want to email

to large number of users, you might want to send it out with

MailChimp – a professional email marketing service.

While you can send your newsletter directly to your readers from Apple Mail,

most email providers won’t allow you to send emails to hundreds or thou-

sands of readers at a time. That’s where MailChimp comes in. This service can

send emails to large numbers of newsletter subscribers at a time.

You’ll be asked to enter your MailChimp API key:

MailChimp oﬀers free accounts to get you

started, with paid accounts available for

users with larger numbers of subscribers.

To start using MailChimp

First you’ll need a free MailChimp account, so head over to their website to

→ http://www.equinux.com/goto/maildesigner-mailchimp-signup

Once you have a MailChimp account, open one of your templates in Mail

Designer Pro 2 and choose “MailChimp template” from the share menu:

To add your API key:

‣

Go to the MailChimp website and sign in to your MailChimp account

‣

Choose “Account > API keys & authorized apps” from the menu

‣

Copy your API key

‣

Paste it into Mail Designer Pro 2

Mail Designer Pro 2 can store your API key in your keychain, so you should

only need to set this up once.

API Key?

In order to add new templates to your MailChimp account, Mail De-

signer Pro 2 needs your MailChimp account API key, which will allow

it to upload templates on your behalf.

Uploading a design to MailChimp

Compatibility

Before uploading your design to MailChimp, you have to add a MailChimp

Unsubscribe Link to your template.

To add a MailChimp Unsubscribe Link

‣

click into the text area you want to add the link to.

‣

choose ”Insert > MailChimp > Unsubscribe Link“ from the top menu bar.

You can now upload your design to your MailChimp account. Choose a

name to save your design as and click ”Export”:

When Mail Designer Pro 2 documents are exported to MailChimp, the HTML

formatting is re-interpreted by MailChimp’s HTML engine.

We have tested compatibility thoroughly and have strived to ensure that

designs are exported as accurately as possible.

However, it is possible that you may see some minor discrepancies with re-

gards to the exact ﬂow and formatting of your text (e.g. a paragraph may

take up four lines of text instead of three) and MailChimp’s editing preview

can also sometimes display things slightly diﬀerently.

Your design will then be uploaded to your MailChimp account. You can then

view it on the MailChimp website to see how it looks and use the new tem-

plate in your MailChimp marketing campaigns.

MailChimp Editing and Compatibility

Editing

MailChimp also oﬀers an online editing tool. However, it is usually easier to

use Mail Designer Pro 2 for all editing and to simply upload your edited

document when you’re ﬁnished.

Just be sure to export your edited template with a new name, as Mail De-

signer Pro 2 can’t overwrite templates already uploaded to MailChimp.

For a more precise preview, use MailChimp’s Preview feature or send your-

self a test message through MailChimp once you have created your cam-

paign, before sending it to recipients.

Using placeholders with MailChimp

MailChimp can use “placeholders” or “merge tags” in your design to auto-

matically insert personalized details into your message.

To use MailChimp placeholders

‣

Go to a text area within your design

‣

Right-click and choose “Insert Placeholder > MailChimp “

‣

Placeholder

Description

Address and vCard

Your details, as stored in your

MailChimp account.

Includes your address and a

download link for your vCard

Current Year

Inserts the current year

Date

Inserts the current date

First Name

Adds the recipients ﬁrst name

Placeholder

Description

Forward

Include a link that can be clicked for

forward your newsletter to other

recipients

Last Name

Adds the recipients last name

List Address

Adds your address, as stored for a

particular list

List Company

Adds your company name, as

stored for a particular list

List Description

Includes a description of why your

customers are receiving this email,

as stored for a particular list.

List Phone

Include your phone number, as

stored for a particular list

Recipients Email

Adds the recipients email address

Rewards

Adds MailChimp’s Rewards Badge

Unsubscribe

Adds an unsubscribe link

User Address

Add your postal address, as stored

in your MailChimp account

User Company

Add your company name, as stored

in your MailChimp account

User Phone

Add your phone number, as stored

in your MailChimp account

Choose the placeholder you would like to add

A placeholder will be inserted into your text, which will later be replaced

with information from your MailChimp account.

MailChimp placeholders explained

equinux Mail Designer Pro 2 User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual