Email Content Rules

Your makerspace writes many of the emails your members receive: customized templates, custom templates and announcements. MakerVera checks that content when you save it and again when it’s sent. The rules keep your members safe and make sure no email from MakerVera’s address can pass as a message from MakerVera itself.

This page covers:

• what you can put inside a template (Template variables);
• when you can use custom HTML (Custom HTML needs your own sending domain);
• what changes in emails sent from MakerVera’s address (Emails sent from MakerVera’s address).

Permission required: Manage Notification Settings

Template variables

Variables are the {{...}} placeholders that MakerVera fills in when it sends a message, such as {{first_name}} or {{event_title}}. The rules below apply to every channel (email, SMS and push) and to every template your makerspace edits or creates.

Which variables you can use

The Available Variables panel in the template editor lists every variable the template accepts. Only those variables can be used. Each template has its own list, based on what MakerVera knows when that message is sent. For example, an event reminder knows the event’s title and date, and a password reset doesn’t.

These three are available in every template:

Variable	What it shows
{{first_name}}	The recipient’s first name
{{last_name}}	The recipient’s last name
{{makerspace_name}}	Your makerspace’s name

Insert variables with a click

Click a variable chip in the panel to insert it at your cursor. That’s the quickest way to avoid typos, which would otherwise stop the template from saving.

What a template can do

Templates can insert variables, show a section only when a condition is true, and repeat a section for each item in a list. Anything else is rejected when you save.

You can write	Example
A variable	Hi {{first_name}},
A section shown only when a variable has a value	{% if waitlist_position %}You're number {{waitlist_position}} on the waitlist.{% endif %}
A section with alternatives	{% if status == "confirmed" %}See you there!{% else %}We'll let you know.{% endif %}
A section repeated for each item in a list	{% for item in required_attachments %}- {{ item.name }}{% endfor %}

Conditions can check whether a variable has a value, use not, or compare a variable with a fixed word or number using == (equals) or != (doesn’t equal). Inside a repeated section, you can use the item’s own details, such as {{ item.name }}.

These aren’t supported and stop the template from saving:

• variables that aren’t in the Available Variables list;
• changing how a variable looks, for example {{ first_name|upper }};
• math or other calculations, for example {{ 7*7 }};
• details of a variable outside a repeated section, for example {{ event.title }};
• combining conditions with and / or;
• other tags, such as set, include or macro. Only if and for are allowed.

When a template won’t save

The editor tells you exactly what to fix and where, for example:

Line 3: “event.title” isn’t supported. Only items inside a loop have fields.

1. Go to the line number in the field the message points to (subject, body, SMS text, or push title, body or link).
2. Replace the text it quotes with a variable from the Available Variables list, or remove it.
3. If the message says the template has a syntax error, check that every {{ has a matching }} and every {% if %} or {% for %} has its {% endif %} or {% endfor %}.
4. Save again.

Older templates keep sending

A template your makerspace saved before these rules existed keeps sending as it is. You only need to fix it the next time you edit it: the editor won’t save until the whole template follows the rules.

Custom HTML needs your own sending domain

Unless your makerspace has its own verified sending domain, emails go out from MakerVera’s shared address. To keep that address trustworthy, free-form HTML is only available to makerspaces that send from their own domain.

What you want to do	Without your own sending domain	With a verified sending domain
Edit a MakerVera template (customize it)	Yes	Yes
Send a plain-text announcement	Yes	Yes
Send a broadcast using a saved template	Yes	Yes
Create a custom template	No: New Template is disabled	Yes
Edit an existing custom template’s email	No: Edit is disabled	Yes
Send an announcement with custom HTML	No	Yes
Existing custom templates used by notification rules	Keep sending	Keep sending
Delete a custom template	Yes	Yes

When an option isn’t available, the page shows a notice titled Custom HTML email needs your own sending domain, with a link to your sending domain settings. Sending domains are set up by the MakerVera team. See Custom Sending Domains to get started.

If your sending domain stops working before a scheduled send

MakerVera checks your sending domain again at the moment a scheduled announcement goes out. If an announcement with custom HTML is due and your domain is no longer verified, it isn’t sent. In the member’s Communications history it shows as Failed with the reason Custom HTML blocked. Send it again as a plain-text announcement, or ask MakerVera support to verify your domain first.

Emails sent from MakerVera’s address

When your makerspace doesn’t have its own sending domain, the content your makerspace wrote gets a few extra protections before it’s sent. These apply to customized templates, custom templates and announcements. They don’t apply to emails sent from your own verified domain, or to MakerVera’s standard templates that you haven’t changed.

What	What happens
Who sent it	A line at the top of the email reads “Sent by Your Makerspace via MakerVera. MakerVera did not write this message.”
Links to other websites	Each link first opens a MakerVera page titled You’re leaving MakerVera. It shows the website the link goes to, and the member clicks Continue to go there. Web addresses typed as plain text are treated the same way.
Links to MakerVera and email links	Work as normal.
Other kinds of links	Removed. This includes phone (tel:) links and links that aren’t full web addresses.
Images	Images hosted outside MakerVera are removed. This also removes hidden tracking images.
Reply-To address	Must be a valid email address. An invalid address is left out, and replies go to MakerVera’s no-reply address.

The footer, your makerspace’s address and the unsubscribe link are never changed.

Writing links that work well

Members see the leaving page before any external website. Write link text that says where the link goes, such as “Register on Eventbrite”, so the destination on the leaving page is what they expect. For a phone number, write it out as text instead of a link.

Links that are rejected when you save

Links must start with http://, https:// or mailto:. A link that runs code or embeds data (javascript:, data: or vbscript:) stops a template from saving, and the editor shows Links must start with http://, https:// or mailto:. Replace it with a normal web address.

What you see in the Communications history

The Message content shown in a member’s Communications history is the message as your makerspace wrote it. It doesn’t include the sender line or the changed links that members actually received.

Troubleshooting

The New Template button is disabled.

Your makerspace sends from MakerVera’s address, so custom templates aren’t available. Customize one of the existing templates instead, or contact MakerVera support about a sending domain.

I can’t edit a custom template, but I can delete it.

The template was created when custom templates were available, or before these rules existed. It keeps sending from your notification rules. To change it, your makerspace needs a verified sending domain.

A member says a link in our email opened a “You’re leaving MakerVera” page.

That’s expected for emails sent from MakerVera’s address. The page shows where the link goes. The member clicks Continue to open it.

An image in our email doesn’t show up.

Images hosted outside MakerVera are removed from emails sent from MakerVera’s address. Put the important information in the text instead.

My announcement says “Custom HTML can only be sent from your verified sending domain.”

The announcement included HTML and your makerspace sends from MakerVera’s address. Send it as plain text, or use a saved template in Notification mode.

Related pages

• Admin Configuration Guide: templates, rules and settings
• Broadcast & Announcements: sending to groups of members
• Custom Sending Domains: sending from your own domain
• Links in Makerspace Emails: what members see when they click a link