Working with template fragments

Taking a closer look at how template fragments can help save you time and also maintain consistency across approved email content

Katy Moore avatar
Written by Katy Moore
Updated over a week ago

In this article


What is a template fragment?

A template fragment is an HTML snippet that can be added to an email template. A template fragment is similar to an email fragment, but there are two important differences:

  • Once a template fragment placeholder is added to an email template, the template fragment assigned to that email template will always be sent out automatically along with the email template. That is to say, the end user will not have the option to remove the template fragment or select a different template fragment.

  • Only one template fragment can be sent per email template.

It may be helpful to point out some use cases of template fragments to help distinguish them from other types of email content.

Template fragments can be extremely useful if you are working across multiple email templates but also need to maintain control of the footer of the email, which in many cases is a legal disclaimer or holds company information specific to a franchise. In the case that you need to update this footer, with template fragments you only need to update the template fragment itself, instead of updating the footer across all of your email templates.

The template fragment will be added to an email template at the moment that the email is sent, so a single update of the template fragment (as well as a resync and approval in Veeva Vault) will ensure that all email templates sent out after that date will have the new, updated footer. This reduces the possibility of errors and also the amount of time and effort spent during creation and update processes.

In order for a template fragment to be visible in your test CRM environment, it needs to be added to the email template and synced with that email template to your Veeva Vault or OnCore Vault.

And in order for the template fragment to show within an email template in CRM (both test and live environments), a template fragment placeholder must be added to the body of the email template in Shaman. Without it, a connection between the template fragment and the email template will not be successfully established and the template fragment will not be sent out with the email template.

In this article, we will review adding the template fragment placeholder to the body of the email template in Shaman. If you need information on how to create a template fragment, check out this article here.


How do you add a template fragment to your email template?

From the email template tab in the email overview of the email editor, find the email template you wish to open and click the name of the email template to open it.

You will be redirected to the email overview page. From here, click the "Design" tab to go to the HTML editor.

From the content menu, select the “Templates” icon and drag it onto the part of the email template where you would like to add the template fragment. You will notice that a grey placeholder has been added to the email canvas, when your email template is sent from CRM the template fragment you have created will show in its place.

You can now click “Save” using the green button in the top right corner to return back to the email details page.

Scroll down to the section titled “Veeva Details” or click "Veeva Details" using the menu on the left hand side. Click the dropdown menu next to the field “Template Fragments” to view the options available to use for your email template. Simply click the template fragment from the list to select it to be added to your email template.

Now, you can export the email template to Veeva Vault/OnCore Vault by again clicking “Export” tab, followed by "Export to Vault". The email template will be created or updated in Veeva Vault/ OnCore Vault (depending on whether it had been synced previously) and a relationship to the already created template fragment will have been created.

Good to know!

  • Template Fragments can only be added once to an email template.

  • Template Fragments can only be added to email templates (not email fragments).

  • The template fragment needs to be available first in Veeva Vault /OnCore Vault before you add it to the Email Template.

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