Creating a Custom Email Template

In PhishER, you have the option to create your own email template that will send when a specific action is manually run or automatically triggered. For example, you could create an email template to notify users that an email they reported was determined to be clean and was returned to their inbox. If you create an action that uses PhishRIP to quarantine emails, you could create an email template to notify users that a malicious email was removed from their inbox.

Read the sections below to learn the different ways you can create and edit a custom email template.

Jump to:
Creating Email Templates

• Email Templates Page
• Action Details Page
• Run Drop-Down Menu

Customizing Email Templates

• Using the Email Template Editor
• Using Placeholders

Deleting Email Templates

Creating Email Templates

You can create a custom email template in your PhishER platform using the Email Templates page, the Action Details page, and the Run drop-down menu. Each option will open the Email Template Editor, which allows you to customize the email template. Read the subsections below to learn more about each method.

Email Templates Page

To create a custom email template using the Email Templates page in your PhishER platform, follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to Settings > Email Templates.
2. Click New Email Template on the top-right corner of the page. This will open the Email Template Editor pop-up window.
   Note: If you don’t have any email templates created, you can click the Click here to add a New Email Template link instead.
   
3. Create your template in the Email Template Editor pop-up window that opens. For more information, see the Using the Email Template Editor section of this article.

Back to top

Action Details Page

To create a custom email template using the Action Details page in your PhishER platform, follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to Actions > New Action.
2. Enter a name and description for your action.
3. Under 3. Choose how you would like to report this action, select the Send Email option.
   

   

4. Create your template in the Email Template Editor that displays under the Email Options header. For more information, see the Using the Email Template Editor section of this article.

Back to top

Run Drop-Down Menu

To create a custom email template using the Run drop-down menu, follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to the PhishER Inbox.
2. Select the check box to the left of the message you want to use to create an email template. The Run drop-down menu will display in the top-left corner of the page.
3. From the Run drop-down menu, select Send Custom Email. The Send Custom Email pop-up window will open.
   
4. Create your template in the Email Template Editor that opens. For more information, see the Using the Email Template Editor section of this article.

Back to top

Customizing Email Templates

Read the subsections below to learn how to customize your email templates using the Email Template Editor and placeholders.

Using the Email Template Editor

In Email Template Editor, you can customize an email template before including it in one of your PhishER actions. For more information about the fields in the editor, see the screenshot and list below:

1. Name: Enter a name for your email template. Your users will not see this field when they receive the email.
2. Include Original Reporter: You can select this option to send an email to the user who reported the message.
3. Specify Recipients: You can select this option to add email addresses of the users you want to receive the email.
4. From: Enter the email address that will display in the email header.
5. From Name: Enter the name or email address that will display in the email header.
6. Reply To: Enter the email address the recipient will reply to when they click Reply in the email.
7. Reply To Name: Enter the name that will display when the recipient clicks Reply in the email.
8. Subject: Enter the email’s subject line. The recipient will see this subject line in their inbox.
9. Image icon: Click this icon if you would like to add an image to your email template. You must use externally-hosted images, which means you must enter a publicly-available URL in the URL field.
   Note: When you add an image, the Alternative Text field will display automatically. This optional field allows you to add alternative text to your image
10. Link icon: Click this icon if you would like to add a link to your email template. To add a link, follow the steps below:
    • Enter the text you want to convert into a link.
    • Highlight this text and click the link icon. The Link pop-up window will open.
    • Paste the link’s URL in the Link pop-up window and click OK.
11. Placeholder: The options in this drop-down menu will populate specific fields with reporter or message information automatically. For more information, see the Using Placeholders section below.
12. Source: Click this button to switch to a source code view of the email template. You can use this view to edit the email template in HTML.
13. body: Enter any text that you would like. You can use the text formatting options in the toolbar to customize the appearance of your template.
14. Include original email at the bottom of body: Select this option to include the original reported message in the body of the email template.
15. Attach original email: Click this option to include the original reported message in the email as an attachment.
    Note: Be cautious when including or attaching the original reported message as it may be malicious.
16. Include PhishER links and tag information: Click this option to include the Message link, Action link, and all message tags in the email.

Once your email template is customized, click Save. Your template will be stored under the Email Templates section of PhishER and will become a template option in the Custom Email Template drop-down menu when creating an action or in the Run drop-down menu when selecting the Send Custom Email option.

Back to top

Using Placeholders

You can use various placeholders to automatically populate the email with specific content. For more information about the placeholders you can use, see the table below:

Back to top

Deleting Email Templates

To delete an email template, follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to Settings > Email Templates.
2. Click the trash can icon under Actions.
3. In the pop-up window that opens, click Yes, delete it.
   Important: Once you delete an email template, it will be removed.

Once you click Yes, delete it, you'll see a confirmation message that your email template has been deleted successfully.

Back to top