How to set up message templates

Message templates in eCourtDate are auto messages, reusable content your agency writes once and reuses for automated sends, one-off messages, and bulk actions.

### Overview

Auto message templates live under **Admin** > **Messaging** > **Auto Messages**. Each template holds a subject and a message body for every language your agency has enabled, plus an optional attached file, a trigger, scheduling rules, and filters. The **Messaging** page describes auto messages as automated one-off messages based on a conditional trigger, and flows as a series of automated messages. Flows keep their own message content, so the templates you build here are the ones eCourtDate uses for triggered auto messages and offers in the **Auto Messages** dropdown when you compose a message or build a bulk action.

- Merge tags in square brackets pull client, case, event, and payment values into the body.
- eCourtDate sends the template that matches the client's language and falls back to the English template when no translation exists.
- **Simulate Mode** lets you build messages without delivering them while you test.

### Prerequisites

Before you set up a template, make sure you have:

- Access to **Admin** > **Messaging** in your eCourtDate agency
- Languages selected under **Admin** > **Settings** > **Languages** (the editor shows "Choose enabled languages in General Settings" until you set them)
- At least one agency phone or email under **Admin** > **Settings** > **Agency Phones** or **Agency Emails**
- Files uploaded under **Admin** > **Files** if you plan to attach or insert a file
- Statuses created under **Admin** > **Settings** > **Statuses** if you plan to use the **Enabled Trigger** filter

### How-To Steps

#### Step 1: Open Auto Messages

1. Click **Admin** in the top navigation bar.
2. Select **Messaging** from the dropdown menu.
3. Click the **Auto Messages** card.

The **Messaging** page also links to **Flows**, **Sample Templates**, and **Content Generator**, and carries **Preview Messages** and **Merge Tags** buttons. Each of those list pages shows a tab strip that links back to the others.

#### Step 2: Create the template

1. Enter a name in the **Auto Message Name** field of the **Create Auto Message** card.
2. Click **Create**.

eCourtDate saves the template, copies the name into the English subject, and opens the editor.

#### Step 3: Write the English content

1. Enter the subject line in the **English Subject** field.
2. Write the message body in the **English Template** editor.
3. Click **Merge Tags** above the editor to search the tag list.
4. Click a tag to copy it to your clipboard, then paste it into the body where you want the value to appear.
5. Watch the **Characters** badge below the editor as you write.
6. Read the "Unknown tags" line below the editor and correct any tag it lists.

The **Characters** badge turns yellow above 320 characters and red above 1,500.

#### Step 4: Add translations

1. Click **Show Languages** below the English editor.
2. Write the translation in the template field for that language, labelled **Spanish Template** for Spanish.
3. Click **Auto Translate Spanish**, or the same button for another language, to fill that language from the English content instead.
4. Click **Auto Translate All** to translate the English subject and body into every enabled language in one pass.
5. Review each translation for legal terms specific to your jurisdiction.
6. Click **Save**.

#### Step 5: Attach or insert a file

1. Select a file from the **Attach File** list to send it with the message.
2. Click **Insert Files** to search your files and place a file link inside the language template you last clicked into.

#### Step 6: Set the trigger and delivery rules

1. Select a **Trigger** in the **Edit Auto Message** card to control when eCourtDate sends the message.
2. Enter any extra phones or emails in **Additional Recipients** as a comma-separated list.
3. Set **Maximum Messages** to cap how many messages one contact receives (0 for unlimited, 1 for a single message per contact).
4. Enter minutes in the **Delay** field of the **Scheduling** card.
5. Check **Delay to Business Hours** to hold the message until your agency's business hours.
6. Select a value in **Enabled Trigger** in the **Filters** card to restrict the send to one status or client group.
7. Check **Override Statuses that Disable Messages** if the message must go out even when a status blocks messaging.
8. Click **Save**.

**Delay** defaults to 5 minutes. When **Delay to Business Hours** is off, the editor warns that the message can be sent at any time.

#### Step 7: Preview and test

1. Check **Simulate Mode** in the **Edit Auto Message** card so eCourtDate builds messages without sending them.
2. Click **Preview** in the top right of the editor to open the preview screen with your English content loaded.
3. Check **Simulate Client** to render the content against sample data, or search for a client to render real data.
4. Select a **Language** to preview a translation.
5. Click **Preview Messages**.
6. Compare the **Template** and **Rendered** blocks to confirm every merge tag resolved.

### What to Expect

Saving shows an "Auto Message updated" confirmation, and the template is available on the next load of any screen that lists templates. Only templates that contain English content appear in the **Auto Messages** dropdown of the message form and of bulk actions. Each card on the **Auto Messages** list reports **Trigger**, **Delay**, and **Mode**, where **Mode** reads **Live Mode** or **Simulate Mode**. Staging regions report **Simulate Mode** for every template regardless of the checkbox.

### Best Practices

- **Name the template for its purpose.** The name becomes the English subject when you create the template, and the list lets you search by **Name**.
- **Keep the Characters badge green.** It stays green between 10 and 320 characters, and the preview screen counts SMS segments at 160 characters, or 70 once it flags the content **Non-GSM**.
- **Turn on Simulate Mode before you select a trigger.** Build and review messages first, then clear the checkbox when the content is right.
- **Wrap optional tags in the conditional syntax.** `[%Case ID% CaseNumber]` renders "Case ID 12345" when a case number exists and disappears entirely when it does not.
- **Set Maximum Messages to 1 for one-time notices.** It stops a contact receiving the same notice more than once.

### Frequently Asked Questions

**Q: What happens if a merge tag has no value for a client?**

A: eCourtDate removes the tag from the content. With the conditional form `[%Label% MergeTag]` the label is removed along with it, so no stray text is left behind.

**Q: Why is my template missing from the Auto Messages dropdown when I send a message?**

A: The message form and bulk actions list only templates that have English content. Open the template and fill in the **English Template** field.

**Q: What does the "Unknown tags" warning under the editor mean?**

A: eCourtDate compared the bracketed tags in your content against the merge tag list and could not match one. Check the spelling against the **Merge Tags** dropdown, because an unmatched tag is delivered as plain text with its brackets stripped.

**Q: Which language does a client receive?**

A: eCourtDate uses the template for the client's language and falls back to the English template when that language has no translation.

**Q: How do I stop a template from sending real messages while I test?**

A: Check **Simulate Mode** in the **Edit Auto Message** card. The list card for that template then reports **Mode: Simulate Mode**.

### Troubleshooting

**Issue:** The editor shows a language warning instead of message fields.

**Symptoms:** The **Message Templates** card reads "Choose enabled languages in General Settings" and no **English Subject** or **English Template** field appears.

**Solution:**

1. Go to **Admin** > **Settings**.
2. Open the **Languages** section.
3. Add your agency's languages to the **Languages** field and save.
4. Reload the auto message.

**Issue:** The Enabled Trigger list has nothing to select.

**Symptoms:** The **Filters** card shows a "Create statuses here." link in place of options.

**Solution:**

1. Click the "Create statuses here." link.
2. Create the statuses your agency uses.
3. Return to the template and select a value in **Enabled Trigger**.

**Issue:** The Preview button is missing from the editor.

**Symptoms:** The top right of the editor shows **PDF**, **Save**, and **Close**, but no **Preview** button.

**Solution:**

1. Write content in the **English Template** field, because the **Preview** button appears only when the English template has content.
2. Click **Save**.
3. If the button is still missing, open the **Help** menu and click **New support ticket**.

### Related Articles

- [How to Create an Auto Message](/how-to-create-an-auto-message)
- [How to Create a Flow](/how-to-create-a-flow)
- [How to Use Merge Tags](/how-to-use-merge-tags)
- [How to import sample message templates](/how-to-import-sample-message-templates)
- [How to preview message templates](/how-to-preview-message-templates)