Creating Templates

Templates are the foundation of your email signatures in Signkit. This guide covers everything you need to know about creating effective templates.

What is a Template?

A template is a reusable design that defines:

• The visual layout of your signature
• Which fields to include (name, title, phone, etc.)
• Brand elements like colors and logos
• Placeholder areas for campaigns

When you create a signature from a template, the user's information fills in the placeholders to create their individual signature.

Creating a New Template

Step 1: Open the Template Picker

1. Navigate to Templates in the sidebar
2. Click the Add Template button
3. The Template Picker dialog opens

Step 2: Choose a Starting Point

The Template Picker offers two options:

• Starter Templates: Pre-designed professional layouts you can customize
• Blank Template: Start from scratch with an empty canvas

Select a starter template that matches your brand style, or choose blank for complete control.

Step 3: Customize in the Editor

After selecting a template, you're taken to the template editor where you can:

• Edit text fields: Modify placeholders and labels
• Add your logo: Upload or use your organization logo (auto-populated from settings)
• Adjust colors: Set brand colors for text and accents
• Configure layout: Arrange elements horizontally or vertically
• Add social links: Include LinkedIn, Twitter, and other profiles
• Switch to HTML mode: Toggle between visual editor and HTML code view

Step 4: Save Your Template

1. Click Save when you're satisfied with the design
2. Give your template a descriptive name (e.g., "Marketing Team", "Executive")
3. The template is now available for creating signatures

Template Best Practices

Keep It Professional

• Limit to 4-6 lines of content
• Use consistent font sizes (12-14px for body text)
• Maintain adequate white space between elements

Optimize for Email Clients

• Use web-safe fonts (Arial, Georgia, Verdana)
• Keep total width under 600px
• Avoid complex nested layouts that may break

Plan for Campaigns

If you'll run promotional campaigns:

• Include a banner area in your template design
• Position banners below main signature content
• Typical banner dimensions: 600x100px

Account for Variations

• Test with long names and short names
• Consider different title lengths
• Ensure the design works with and without optional fields

Organization Logo Fallback

When you add a logo block to your template:

• If no custom logo is uploaded for the template, your organization's logo is used automatically
• This ensures brand consistency across all templates
• You can still upload a custom logo to override the default

To set your organization logo:

1. Go to Settings
2. Upload your logo in the organization settings
3. All templates without custom logos will use this default

HTML Editor

For advanced customization, use the HTML view:

1. In the template editor, click the Code toggle
2. View and edit the raw HTML
3. Toggle back to Preview to see changes
4. Use this for precise control over styling

Template Screenshots

Signkit automatically captures screenshots of your templates for previews. You can also:

1. Click Update Screenshot to refresh the preview image
2. Upload a custom thumbnail for the template picker
3. Screenshots help team members identify templates quickly

Managing Templates

Viewing Templates

On the Templates page, you'll see three tabs:

• All: Every template in your organization
• In Use: Templates with signatures assigned to them
• Unused: Templates not currently used by any signatures

Editing Templates

1. Click on a template to open it in the editor
2. Make your changes
3. Click Save

Deleting Templates

1. Open the template
2. Click the delete option
3. Confirm deletion

You can only delete templates that have no signatures assigned to them.

Common Issues

Logo Not Displaying

• Check file format (PNG or JPG recommended)
• Verify file size is under 500KB
• Ensure the image URL is accessible

Layout Breaking in Email Clients

• Reduce content width
• Simplify nested elements
• Test in Gmail, Outlook, and Apple Mail

Fonts Not Matching

• Use only web-safe fonts
• Avoid custom or uploaded fonts
• Test across different email clients

Next Steps

After creating your template:

• Create signatures for team members
• Deploy signatures to email clients
• Add a campaign for promotional banners