Writing an issue

Write, review, send

Start a draft from the Campaigns page. A campaign goes through three steps, shown at the top: Write, where you type the subject, the preview text and the issue; Review, a checklist of what to fix before it can go out; and Send, where you pick who gets it and when. Everything saves as you type, and a check shows each time it's saved.

If another tab changes the campaign, saving stops with a conflict message. Copy your unsaved text before reloading, then compare it with the saved draft. Scheduled campaigns and drafts locked for approval cannot be edited.

The preview text is what inboxes show after the subject. Without one, they show your issue's first words.

The editor

• Formatting: select text to get bold, italic, strikethrough, a link, two heading sizes and a quote.
• Slash commands: type / on an empty line for text, three heading sizes, bulleted and numbered lists, a picture, a quote, a divider or a box, which sets a block apart on a gray background.
• Links: select text, press ⌘ K (Ctrl K on Windows) and paste the address. An email address becomes a link that opens an email to it.
• Markdown: shortcuts work as you type, like # and a space for a heading, - for a list or > for a quote.

Apresly countdowns

Choose Countdown in a campaign or sequence email, select your published Apresly campaign, and optionally add a published checkout link using that campaign. Insert the block where the cursor is. Your verified account owner email must match Apresly.

Previews, archives and test emails show a placeholder. Sent emails use the recipient’s own offer deadline. An email provider may fetch the image before the person opens the email. Checkout links retain the same offer identity; changing the buyer email cannot reuse another person’s offer. Use the exact recipient address, including capitalization and any +alias. Links are available for one year after sending.

Writing Markdown source

Choose Markdown above the editor to write source directly, or Visual to use formatting tools. Switching views keeps the saved message unchanged. Editing in the other view saves that format. Opening a Markdown draft, changing its subject or preview text, and switching back without editing preserve its exact source.

Switching is available only when both editors can preserve the content. Tables, code blocks, raw HTML, custom boxes and resized or aligned images may prevent switching. The editor explains what it cannot convert; your original content stays editable and can still be previewed and saved. Finish image uploads before switching. Complete HTML campaigns keep their HTML editor.

Pictures

Paste a picture, drop it in the editor, or type / and pick Image to upload one or use one you uploaded before. PNG, JPEG, GIF and WebP work, under 4 MB. Wider pictures are resized to 1,200 pixels. A picture shows at once and uploads in the background, and its address never changes, so sent emails keep showing it.

Drag the handles on a picture's sides to resize it. Point at it to show its toolbar, inside its top edge (on a touch screen, tap the picture): place it on the left, in the center or on the right, add its alt text, or delete it. Emails and your website keep it where you put it.

Alt text describes the picture in a few words, for readers who can't see it, inboxes that block images and search engines reading your website. Click Alt and type it: it saves as you type, and Enter closes it. The Alt button stays highlighted once a picture has one.

Moving blocks

With a mouse, a grip appears to the left of the paragraph, heading, list, picture or box under the pointer. Drag it to move the block, and a line shows where it lands. Click it to select the block. From the keyboard, ⌘ Shift ↑ and ⌘ Shift ↓ (Ctrl instead of ⌘ on Windows) move the block the cursor is in. Moves undo like any other change.

Preview and test emails

In the shared dashboard, HTML previews are display copies. They cannot run scripts, submit forms or follow links. Scroll inside the preview to read a longer email. Some imported formatting is removed, and remote images may contact their image host. These display protections do not change your saved draft, public page or sent email.

After preparing a campaign review, open Frozen preview to inspect its saved email. Choose Desktop or Mobile for the formatted version, or Plain text for the text version. All three views use the same saved review, not your current draft. Plain text keeps line breaks and displays links as inactive text. Switching views does not change or approve the campaign.

Preview, in the write step and in the ⋯ menu at any step, shows the email in a mail app's window on a desktop, or in Gmail on a phone: the inbox first, then the email once you tap it. Press Esc to close it.

Send a test email, in the same menu, sends the email as saved to your account's address, with [Test] before the subject. Nobody else gets it. The review step reminds you when you haven't sent one.

Duplicate, discard and HTML

The ⋯ menu also duplicates a campaign into a new draft, or discards a draft. A sent campaign can't be changed or deleted.

A campaign made with the API or an AI assistant can be a whole HTML document. The dashboard then shows its HTML to edit, and it needs {{unsubscribe_url}} where the unsubscribe link goes. API and AI assistants

When you're done, send or schedule it.