Using a Draft of an Email Message Composed Earlier

If you had composed an email message earlier but were not quite ready to send it and saved it to your Drafts area, you can open that draft message.

Note: The process for using a draft differs slightly than when you compose and send an email all in one step, use a template, or model it after a message you sent earlier. Any recipients you selected and the subject you entered display appropriately along with the content entered in the draft before it was saved.

You can add more recipients (or delete some), change the subject line, and modify the content.

After you send this message, it will no longer be available in the Drafts directory. However, you can save it as a template, which saves the message content.

Step 1: Select the Draft

1. After accessing your Participant Center Home page, click EMAIL from the navigation options along the top of the page or click the Send email button from the options along the right side of the page.
2. Click Drafts from the options along the right side of the page.
3. Click the name of the draft from the list displayed.

Step 2: Optionally, Fix the Recipients List

Although any recipients you entered when you worked on the draft are still listed in the To field, you may need to revise the list to remove a recipient or to add new ones.

To specify more recipients who should receive this email by:

• Typing them in manually, click into the To field and type the first or last name of each recipient. (Note: As you type, a pop-up will displays with any contacts from your Contacts list whose name or email matches the letters you are entering. Select the appropriate contact by clicking it or using the arrow keys to highlight the name and pressing the Enter key on your keyboard.)
• Copying and pasting them in from another source, position your cursor in the To field and press the Ctrl + V keys on your keyboard.
• Selecting them from the Contacts list:
  1. Click the choose from your contacts list link.
  2. Locate the first set of contacts on the page displayed and click the checkboxes next to their names.
  3. Click the Compose Message option near the top of the page.
  4. To add more contacts from other pages, click the choose from your contacts list link again and click the next page arrow (located below the list).
  5. Click the checkboxes next to the contacts on this page and click the Compose Message option again.
  6. Repeat these steps until all of your recipients are in the To field on the Compose Message page.
• Selecting a group of contacts:
  1. Click the choose from your contacts list link.
  2. Click the  (Individuals/Groups) toggle.
  3. Click the checkbox next to the name of the group and click the Compose Message option from along the top of the page.

Step 3. Edit the Subject of the Email Message

Click into the Subject area and make any fixes to the phrase that you want recipients to see when they view their email message list.

Notes:

• It is important to use details that will not be considered SPAM or JUNK. For example, entering the phrase "Please Suppport My Fundraising Efforts" may not trigger the SPAM or JUNK filters of many of the popular email applications while "Hello" may trigger the filters.
• A compelling subject increases the chances that the intended recipients will open and act on your email.
• If you intend to continue a draft that you have put in the Drafts directory, any Subject you enter here will be overwritten by the subject from the saved draft.

Step 4. Arrange to Add the Name of the Recipient to the Subject Line

If it is not already checked, click the Add Personalized Greeting checkbox. The first name of each recipient (the default greeting) will be added to the salutation. (Note that sometimes the greeting maybe changed to the word Friend or the salutation "Dear" may also be replaced.

Step 5. Work with the Content of the Message

To enter more content directly into this email, type it into the appropriate area or (paste in copied content by pressing the Ctrl + V keys on your keyboard). Or, you can remove content as necessary.

Notes:

• As you type or paste in content or copy it in from another source, the WYSIWYG content editor expands and displays scroll bars.
• You cannot always paste content directly into this WYSIWYG Editor from other content editors, such as Microsoft Word, due to their proprietary formatting code. Instead, you may need to save your content in a file as Rich Text and then copy and paste in the content from that file.
• You can format the content in the body of the message using the tools provided on the toolbar of the editor. For details, refer to Using the Rich Text Editor.

Step 6. Spell Check Your Message Content

Click the (Spell Check) tool (located next to the font drop-down list) and make any necessary corrections.

Step 7. Select Your Stationery

If stationery layout options are displayed, click the appropriate option from the Layout drop-down list below the content editor area.(Note that stationery defines certain elements to display in the margins around the content.)

Step 8. Preview Your Message

1. Click Preview to display the message in another browser window.
2. Make notes about fixes you may need to make and close the Preview window.
3. Make your changes and preview your work again.

Step 9. Send Your Email or Save It

If you want to:

• Send your email now, click Send. The success message displays along the top of the page and the fields on this Compose page are cleared so you can send another one.
• Save this message and work on it or send it later, click Save as draft. The success message displays along the top of the field.
• Save this message as a template before you send it, so you can reuse the content, click Save as template. The Subject line is saved as the title of your template and the template will display in the Templates directory.

Step 10. Save the Sent Email as a Template

If you have already sent the email:

1. Click Sent (from the options on the right) to display the list of email messages you have already sent.
2. Click the name of the message to display any recipients, the subject, and content on the Compose Message page.
3. Click Save as template.