Message templates: e-mail, in-app and SMS wording

A template is the wording of one message the system sends: the e-mail, the in-app notification or the SMS for an event such as a new invoice or a password reset. Edit the wording here; the system fills in the names and numbers.

Administration Notifications and SMS

4 min read

Updated October 20, 2026

For Administrator Owner

What a template is

When something happens that the system tells people about (a new invoice, a password reset, a cheque due), it sends a message built from a template: fixed words with places for the details of the event. Each kind of event is a service, and each service can have an Email, a Web (in-app) and an SMS template.

The page

Open Common notification template (menu Common Notification Template; you need the right to see templates). Three tabs:

Tab	Lists	Shown when
Email	The e-mail templates	Always
Web	The in-app notifications people see in the notifications list (Notifications you receive)	Always
SMS	The SMS templates	Only when your company has the SMS feature

Each row shows the service, the Template type and the Status, with edit and delete. Tick rows for Activate all, Deactivate all or Delete all.

Edit or add a template

Open it
Who
Administrator
Where
Add, or a row's edit button
What changes
The form opens.
Choose the service
Where
The service box of the form
What changes
The kind of event. On an existing template it is fixed.
Write the wording
Where
For Email: Email layout, Email subject, Template (Email). For Web: Title, Template (Web). For SMS: Template (SMS)
What changes
Type the text. Under Environment variables and Available variables are the places the system fills in (the company's name, the customer, the amount). Click one to copy it, then paste it where you want it in the text.
Needs
The subject, text, layout (for e-mail) or title (for in-app) are required for the part you use.
Look at it
Where
The View template design link of the Email layout box, and the preview
What changes
Shows the layout and a sample before you save.
Save
What changes
"Template saved successfully".

Worked example: the wording of a new-invoice message

ABC Traders wants the e-mail for a new invoice to read well. On Common notification template > Email > Add, the administrator chooses the service for a new sales invoice. The screen then lists Environment variables (such as the company's name and telephone) and Available variables (the details of that kind of event). Each variable is shown in capital letters between two dollar signs; clicking one copies it, and the screen says "Variable ... copied to clipboard." Below, a word in square brackets stands for a variable that was clicked in and pasted.

Box	What is written
Email layout	One of the layouts offered. View template design shows how it looks
Email subject	Invoice [voucher number] from [company name]
Template (Email)	Dear [customer name], your invoice [voucher number] for [amount] is ready. For questions, call [company telephone].

For a new sales invoice the system supplies the customer's name, the invoice date, the voucher number, the amount, the contact person and the company's telephone, and the environment variables supply the company's own details such as its name. The screen lists the variables of the chosen service under Available variables.

Preview shows the e-mail before it is saved. When the message is sent, each variable is replaced by the details of that invoice: the voucher number, for example SB-00041-83/84, the customer's name, and so on.

An in-app notification of the same service has its own wording on the Web tab: Title and Template (Web), filled in the same way, for example Title "Invoice [voucher number]" and Template (Web) "A new invoice for [customer name], [amount]".

Common questions

What do the environment variables hold?

The company's own details: its code, its name, its e-mail address, its telephone and the address replies go to. They are the same in every template, whatever the service (Company details, logo and subscription).

I added a template for a service and the save was refused.

A service can have only one template, and this one already has it. Edit the existing template instead of adding another (Messages you may see).

Message templates: e-mail, in-app and SMS wording

What a template is

The page

Edit or add a template

Common questions

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