News & Features

Save Time with Email Boilerplates

Volume 5, No. 6

Automate email by using  the “signatures” feature to create boilerplate content. For instance if you often type something like “Hello, please take a moment to let me know when would be a good time to meet. I look forward to hearing from you,” simply create a new signature which includes this text. (Images can also be included in boilerplates.) Create a new signature for each boilerplate of reusable content. After a boilerplate is inserted into a new email message, its contents can be edited to customize the message.
Note: Be sure to add your signature block to each boilerplate since the default signature will be replaced when the boilerplate is inserted into the message.

Here are directions 1) to create and 2) to utilize boilerplates in both Outlook (PC) and Entourage (Mac):

 Outlook on a PC (desktop client version)

To create a boilerplate

To insert a boilerplate into a new message
  1. After launching Outlook, select the Tools menu
  2. Choose Options… from the menu choices
  3. Select the Mail Format tab
  4. Click the Signature… button
  5. Click the New button and give the signature (boilerplate) a name
  6. Insert text, image and/or hyperlink as desired (be sure to add your signature content to each new boilerplate created)
  7. Click OK button to save the new boilerplate
  8. Click OK button to exit the signature set up
  1. In a new message window, click the Signature icon which is located on the toolbar
  2. From the dropdown list, choose the desired boilerplate
  3. The boilerplate content will appear in the new message replacing the default signature

Entourage on a Mac

To create a boilerplate

To insert the boilerplate into a new message
  1. After launching Entourage, select the Tools menu
  2. Choose Signatures… from the menu choices
  3. Click the New icon (plus sign in a green circle) and give the  new signature (boilerplate) a name
  4. Insert text, image and/or hyperlink as desired (be sure to add your signature content to each new boilerplate created)
  5. To save the new boilerplate, select the File menu and choose Save (or use the Command/S shortcut key combination)
  6. Exit the signature set up dialogue box
  1. In a new message window, select the dropdown arrow on the Signature icon which is located in the Include group on the Message tab of the Ribbon
  2. From the dropdown list, choose the desired boilerplate
  3. The boilerplate content will appear in the new message replacing the default signature

The Tech Byte team uses a boilerplate (which includes logo along with heading and footer content) to format each of the bi-monthly issues.

Note: There are some limitations when using the Web version of Outlook in the MyCLU portal.

*This Issue’s Techno Term
Term:  TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol)
Definition:  a set of rules that allows computers to communicate over long distance networks; TCP relates to verifying delivery of computer data, and IP refers to moving the data between devices/systems on a network
Example in a sentence:  When Crystal had trouble with her email, she suspected that errors in the TCP/IP protocols were the problem.
Source: http://www.techterms.com/definition/tcpip

 


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