Images

• Images (JPG, PNG, BMP, GIF) have a size limit of 1 MB.
  Tip: We recommend you keep your total template size under 3 MB. Anything over that could negatively impact performance.
• Uploaded images are stored in AWS, however you can't go to AWS. If you use the same image for multiple templates, you must upload the image to each template.
• If enabled by a SPoC, the Template Editor tool offers a collection of royalty-free stock images that you can use in any template. This feature has images from a handful of Creative Commons licensed sources.
  Note: The stock image feature is offered "as is". We don't maintain, generate, or review this content. SPoCs who enable this feature understand the content is not filtered or limited and something inappropriate could display.
• The template body has a default width of 500 pixels. For example, you could use a width of 480 pixels with a default padding of 10 pixels. The designs are responsive, meaning larger images are scaled down to fit smaller screen sizes. Files, however, can load slower if you use this on a smaller device, like a mobile device.

Videos

You can link videos hosted by Vimeo or Youtube within a template. Vimeo videos must be public for the preview image to display. The URL you provide generates a preview image. You can use the editor panel to adjust the play icon.

Buttons

Love including buttons in your emails? Us too! But note that Outlook Desktop uses Word to put HTML in emails. This might make your buttons display without text when they're opened in Outlook Desktop.

While we can't control Microsoft, one smart church included text with a link under buttons in their templates: "If the button does not display as it should, click here to...". Have another creative way to handle this? Let the MinistryPlatform Community know!

Footers

Depending on the message type, your organization may need to include certain information in the footer of an email. One thing you might want to include is an option for recipients to unsubscribe. We recommend you compose a template with a footer that links to the My Subscriptions widget. Or, if you're using publications to send messages, you can insert unsubscribe snippets in your template. For more on that, see Use Publications for Unsubscriptions.

CSS & Data Detectors

Some email services like Apple Mail and Gmail use a feature called "Data Detectors" that scan emails for patterns to turn them into clickable links. Auto-linking certain types of text like dates, addresses, and phone numbers with these Data Detectors can interfere with an email's layout and styling in the Template Editor tool. You can override this behavior with some CSS targeting.

Here's an example you can include in your email HTML code:

<meta name="format-detection" content="telephone=no">
<style type="text/css">
  a[x-apple-data-detectors], 
  span[x-apple-data-detectors], 
  span[x-apple-data-detectors] * {
    color: inherit !important;
    text-decoration: none !important;
    font-size: inherit !important;
    font-family: inherit !important;
    font-weight: inherit !important;
    line-height: inherit !important;
  }
</style>

Here is an example of tags to include:

<meta name="format-detection" content="telephone=no">
<meta name="format-detection" content="date=no">
<meta name="format-detection" content="address=no">
<meta name="format-detection" content="email=no">

In this example, the <meta> tag disables phone number detection on iOS, and the CSS targets the elements that Apple adds and forces them to match the email's original styles so they don't like a link. This doesn't technically remove the link, but it neutralizes the styling so it doesn't stand out or interfere with the email's design.