Email Templates

GT Email Template provides an easy-to-use template for creating email notifications that support the workflow process. It allows the functional user to create and edit email notifications as per their business requirements.

Navigation: Manage GT eForms 3.x > GT Functional Setup > eForm Parts Gallery > Email Templates

Add a new value

	Field	Value/Use
1	Email Id	Unique email description.
2	Add	Proceed to next page.

Find an existing value

	Field	Value/Use
1	Email Id	Search by email ID description.
2	Description	Search by description.

GT Email Template

	Field	Value/Use
1	Email Id	Read-only name of the template entered when the template was created.
2	Languages (button)	When clicked, opens multi-language window to enter template translation.
3	Description	Enter a description for the new template.
4	Reply To	Indicate the address you want to be used as the sender address. Any replies will be sent to this address. Note: A Reply To value on an email template takes priority over the Default Reply To Email value on the Form Installation Table. If there is no Reply To value on the email template and no Default Reply To Email on the Form Installation Table, the email will appear to be sent from environment’s default email.
5	Subject	This will be the subject line on the email notification. When using a bind variable, the variable must be formatted using “%N” with N = the variable's number. The variable must be defined in the variable section below.
6	Send Method	Choose from one of the options: BCC: all recipients = The system will send a single email and any email recipients will receive the email with “Undisclosed Recipients” in the BCC line as a way to hide the list of recipients. To: All Recipients = The system will send a single email and any email recipients will appear in the "To" line. Recipients will see other recipients on the email. Unique email per recipient = The system will send a separate email for each recipient. Allows for customized subject and body text for each email recipient. Recipients will not see other recipients' information. This option requires technical assistance.
7	Link URL Type	Dropdown shows “Default” and any URL Overrides that were technically setup in the Email URL Override Table. If email should be sent with standard URL links that point to the default Peoplesoft portal (which typically requires the user to login upon redirect), then select “Default”. If the email should be sent with different URL parameters defined to point to a separate portal, select the desired value in the dropdown appears based on the URL parameters defined on the Email URL Override table.
8	Message Text	This will be the body of the email notification. When using a bind variable, the variable must be formatted using “%N” with N = the variable's number. The variable must be defined in the variable section below. The rich text editor box can also be used to format the Message Text.
9	HTML (checkbox)	If this field is checked, then the system will read HTML tags and render the format based on HTML. If the field is not checked, it will send plain text. This field will default to checked.
10	Store Messages (checkbox)	When checked, this email is stored for the user in the on-boarding dashboard message center.
11	Dynamic SmartSource Tags – Value	Here, you can create variables for use in the email subject or message text. To create a new one, insert a row and define the variable by choosing a number.
12	Dynamic SmartSource Tags – SmartSource	These are the bind variables available for use in the email template. If a variable that is needed is not defined, a technical resource can define it through code.

Important considerations for using placeholders (SmartSource Tags) in email templates

Possible issue and workaround

When an email template contains both of the following, issues can potentially occur.

1. Placeholders — referred to in the Email Template menu as 'Dynamic SmartSource Tags' (e.g. %20)
2. URL-encoded content (such as a link to another website)

The issue affects the URL-encoded content by altering it unintentionally. The following is an explanation of what causes this and how to avoid it.

When you create an email template, you can set up special placeholders (called Dynamic SmartSource Tags) that will be automatically replaced with certain values when the email is sent. For example, you might define a variable like %20 to represent a person's name, so it can be inserted into the email wherever you want.

The problem happens when you add links to your email, like a "mailto" link, which includes special characters that are encoded in a way computers can read. For example, a space is encoded as %20, and an "@" symbol is encoded as %40. These special characters are part of the link itself.

If your email template has a variable named %20, and there's a space in one of your links that’s already encoded as %20, the system might accidentally replace that encoded %20 with whatever value you've assigned to the %20 variable. This breaks the link by replacing what's supposed to be a space with something else.

Why it happens:
This issue occurs because the system doesn't know that %20 in a link is different from the variable %20. Both are seen as the same thing, and so the system replaces the %20 in your link with the wrong value, which messes up the link.

This is not an issue with the GT eForms framework, but a natural consequence of the way computers format characters to send them over the internet. If you're interested in learning more about URL Encoding, you can read about it on w3schools.com.

How to fix it:
The best way to handle this issue is to use different names for your variables that don’t conflict with the special characters used in URLs. For example, instead of using %20 for a variable, you could choose a different number that doesn't match any of the URL-encoded characters used in links contained in the email template.

By doing this, you can make sure your email template will only replace the variables where you intend, and it won't accidentally change parts of your links that need to stay the same.