External Editor

How do I use an external HTML Editor to edit an Email Newsletter Message?

 

This tutorial describes how to use an HTML Editor like e.g. Adobe® Dreamweaver® or Microsoft® Web Expression® 
to edit an Email Newsletter Message.

Step 1:
Click on "New Message" in MailList Controller to open the editor.

Step 2:
Click on "HTML Source"

Step 3: 
Check "Source Mode - Disable Rich-Text (HTML) WYSIWYG Editor".
This ensures, that the html sourcecode will not be changed by the internal edior.

external editor 1

Step 4:
Create the newsletter message in external HTML Editor and save the .html file to your hard-disk.

Step 5:
Go back to the MailList Controller Editor and select "File -> Import HTML" or click on the "Open" icon.

external editor 2

Now the program imports the email newsletter message created in the external editor. The HTML code remains unchanged because you checked the "Source Mode" option. Please make sure, that the HTML file does not use any external references, which are not accessible within an email! e.g. use inline CSS code instead of external files. Local images will be imported automatically and attached to the message (inline attachments) - external (linked) images will NOT be attached: the recipients mailclient will download such images when the recipient views the message.


How to setup an external editor for the future?

This prodedure can also be automated, so that the external editor opens the "HTML Source" directly.

Click on "External Editor" and select the executable of the external editor. (This must be done once only)
A click on "External Editor" will open the "HTML Source" in the external editor directly in the future.

external editor 3

Its very easy to use: edit the email newsletter message in the external editor and save it (don't change the filename).
Now go back to the MailList Controller editor and click on "Update now!". This will re-import the HTML code from the external editor.