The editor is where an email campaign is actually built. It is a drag-and-drop canvas with a palette on the right, and it is the same editor whether you are building a campaign or a content block, so learning it once covers both.
Getting to it
Open a campaign and go to the 2. Content step.
In the left panel, pick the channel you are writing for, then the language underneath it. Content is stored per channel and per language, so an email in English and an email in Spanish are two separate pieces of content.
At the top of the canvas, choose your authoring mode.
There are three modes, and the editor is only one of them:
Message is a plain body, styled the same way an SMS is. Use it for messaging channels.
Editor is the drag-and-drop canvas this article describes.
Paste HTML takes an email you built elsewhere. See Paste HTML into an email campaign.
Switching away from Editor asks before it discards your design, so you cannot lose a layout by accident.
The three panels on the right
The right-hand rail has three tabs, and knowing which one you want saves a lot of hunting.
Content is the palette of individual elements. This is the tab you will spend most of your time in.
Blocks holds rows you have saved to reuse. Save a row you have designed once, then drag it into any future campaign. See Reuse your designs with Blocks.
Body holds the settings for the email as a whole rather than for one element.
The twelve elements
Everything on the Content tab, grouped by what you would reach for it.
Structure
Columns sets up the row you drop other elements into. Start here when a section needs two things side by side.
Divider is a horizontal rule, for separating sections without adding empty space.
Text
Heading for section titles.
Paragraph for body copy.
Media
Image for a picture. Your Brand Library images are available here, and can be inserted so they resolve per property. See Use your brand colours and assets in the email builder.
Video for a video, which in email means a clickable thumbnail rather than something that plays in the inbox.
Getting the guest to act
Button for your main call to action. A button is also the way to give a guest a working link when the destination comes from a custom token, because custom token values arrive as plain text. See Custom token values are plain text.
Menu for a row of links, the way a website navigation bar works.
Social for a row of social media icons.
Beyond the basics
Table for genuinely tabular content, such as a rate breakdown or a schedule.
Timer for a countdown, which is worth knowing about if you run limited-time offers.
HTML for markup you write yourself, inside an otherwise drag-and-drop design.
The editor controls
Bottom-left of the canvas sits a small dark toolbar that is easy to miss:
Undo and Redo, which reach back as far as the editor has been open in this sitting.
An eye icon, which opens the preview.
Desktop and Mobile view. Switching to mobile is the fastest way to catch a layout that only works on a wide screen, and it is worth doing before every send.
The preview that the eye opens has its own bar across the top: desktop, tablet and mobile icons, a width dropdown, and a sun icon that becomes a moon and switches the preview to dark mode. Close the preview with the X. See Dark mode in email campaigns.
The toolbar underneath
Along the bottom of the content step:
Subject sits above the canvas. It accepts tokens, so you can personalise the subject line the same way you personalise the body. See Email subject ideas.
Preview opens the guest-eye view, and lets you pick a real example booking so you can see tokens resolved rather than as placeholders. See Test your campaigns.
Content Blocks inserts a reusable snippet as a token. Different from Blocks above, which are saved rows. See Save time with content blocks.
Digital Reception inserts a form.
Token opens the Personalization Tokens panel, grouped into categories, with a Copy button on each token. It includes the Functions group at the bottom. See Use functions alongside tokens in your templates.
Auto Save is a switch, and it is off until you turn it on. With it off, nothing is stored until you press Save, so save before you leave the step.
Save stores the design.
Revert undoes the whole editing session. It asks to confirm first, and the dialog is precise about what it does: "This will discard your changes and return the template to how it was when you started editing."
Export Design hands you the design as JSON, to copy or to download, and Import Design takes that JSON back in. Together they are how you move a layout from one campaign to another. Importing replaces the design that is open and cannot be undone, so export the current one first if you might want it back. See Save time with content blocks for the same two controls in the block editor.
Revert is not the same as undoing your last change. It goes back to how the template was when you opened it, so anything you did in this sitting goes, including work you have already saved along the way. For stepping back one change at a time, use Undo. Revert also only appears once a design has been saved at least once, so you will not see it on a design you have only just started.
Two things the editor does not control
The editor is only the layout. Two of the things people go looking for in it live elsewhere:
Colours and brand assets come from your Brand Library, and appear in the colour picker and the image window automatically.
Who receives the email, and when are set on the other steps of the campaign, not here.
Getting help
Open Talk to Us in the left menu of the platform, or email support@bookboost.io. Tell us the campaign name and which element is giving you trouble.