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Author: Kristenson, Joel
Last Updated: 2016-10-27
Overview
This article walks through the steps to upload a file (email attachment) to the System Gallery, and link to that file in your email as an attachment. Note: you can link to a file hosted on your own server, but this article talks specifically about hosting it on our server.
Tip: Watch this 20 minute video to learn how to use the Trail Blazer CK email editor to style your email templates.
Steps
Save your email attachment (file) onto your local machine in a directory that’s easy to find. In my example I saved a PDF Newsletter into my Temp folder as shown below.
Open the System Gallery to first upload your file by following Application Menu > System Manager > System gallery. This area of the database requires admin security clearance.
Click on the folder you want to upload the attachment too (or create a new folder), and then click [Import File]. In my example I selected a custom folder I created called Documents / E-Mail Attachments.
Locate and select the file on your local machine, and then click [Open].
Once the file is uploaded, right-click on it, and select ‘Publish on web’. This is the step where the file gets hosted on the Trail Blazer server.
Click [OK] to proceed.
Click [OK] again once the process is finished.
Next you’ll need to right-click on the file and select ‘Get URL…’.
Click the [Copy URL to Clipboard] button. This is what you’ll use in the final steps to hyperlink the attachment in your email.
Once that’s finished you can [Close] the System Gallery.
Next you’ll need to open the email template or campaign that you’re working on. In my example I opened a campaign that had already been started.
Once the email composer is open, compose your email, highlight some text or an image where you want the attached link to go, and click the [Link] button. My example is below where I highlighted some text that read “this link”.
Right-click in the URL field and select Paste. This is where you’ll paste in the URL that was copied in the previous steps for the location of the attached file.
Once the URL link is properly inserted, click [OK] to finish.
Finish off your email and then run some tests to verify the link is working. Click [Test] in the bottom-right which will bring up your list of ‘testers’, it’s good to test on many different email clients (i.e. Gmail, Outlook, AOL) and on different devices (i.e. iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, Tablets, Desktops, etc.).
Once you’re satisfied you can schedule your email. After the email goes out you can go to the Campaigns list, click [Search] and see how many people are clicking on your links to download the attachments.
It’s a great idea to give the tracked link a name so you can also search for the people who actually clicked on it. You can run this search from the Contacts (Voters/Donors) list. My example is below.
The related resources below provide links to a variety of similar articles and videos on the email tools.
Related Resources
Article: How to Upload Documents to your System Gallery such as PDF’s, Spreadsheets, Audio Clips, Image Files, Etc.
Article: How to Create a Hyperlink around a Screenshot of your PDF Newsletter and Hyperlink it to the PDF Document
Article: How to Create a Hyperlink around a Screenshot of your Video and Link to the Video from your Trail Blazer Email Template
Article: Adding SPF / DKIM Key to your domain’s Txt Record --- Greatly Improve Your Email Open Rates! (*requires access to your web host)
Article: Configuring your From and Reply Email Address Settings
Article: Editing Tracked Links for Mass Email Campaigns – Creating Names for those Missing a Name
Article: How to Delete Unsent Email Campaigns, Test Email Campaigns, and Email Templates
Article: Setup a User to Receive Test Emails, How to Send Out Test Email Campaigns, and How to Test an Individual Email Template
Article: How to Access and Use the Standard Trail Blazer Email Templates as a Starting Point for Template Creation and Mass E-Mail Campaigns
Article: How to Create a Custom Thank-You Auto-Responder Email with Merge Fields for your Online Donation Form
Article: How to Import a Google Web Font into your Trail Blazer Email Template
Article: How to Use the Event Contribution Total Merge-Field in a Mass Email to Thank Attendees for the Total Amount they Gave at a Specific Event – 2016 Upgrade
Article: How to Create Trackable Links in your Email Campaigns, and How to Analyze those Statistics after the Eblast Goes Out
Video: Eblasts Create and Send Eblasts – Includes Image Management
Video: Eblasts Configure email settings before mass emailing
Video: Eblasts –Setting people up to receive test (draft) emails
Video: Scheduled Emails
Video: Donation Auto Responders with Merge Fields
Video: Thank you’s using mass email
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