BwPostman since 1.3.0 is a complete and extensive newsletter extension for Joomla!® Joomla!® 3.3.6. The versions until 1.0.8.2 of BwPostman also work with Joomla!® 2.5.16.
For Joomla!® there is BwPostman 4.
The package of BwPostman can be installed as usual by the installer of Joomla!®.
This manual is arranged in such a way, that you are able to learn the use of BwPostman step by step and you are able to create your first newsletter as soon as possible. For that reason I suggest to practise the use of BwPostman parallel to reading this manual.
While the module to register effectively is a copy of the subscription form of the component, the settings are exactly the same as at the component. Therefore there is a switch, with which the settings may be adopted. If the switch is set to no, then you have to set the options of the module completely.
This manual is written mainly for less experienced Joomla!®-Users. Experts in Joomla!® may overlook the very detailed descriptions.
The main idea of BwPostman is based on the component mkPostman, which is no longer supported and maintained by their developers after Joomla!® 1.5.
In comparison to the predecessors BwPostman in version 1.0.1 is mainly rewritten. The code is adapted to the new API, reduced and many internal processes are simplified. With version 1.1.0 the support of Joomla!® 2.5 was dropped. The code could be slimmed down, filtering and searching in back end is obviously improved with the possibilities of Joomla!® 3.
BwPostman must be installed and configured, before you can use the component.
Because of that you now need one or more mailing lists, that keeps the subscribers.
It is very useful to create some test recipients. They can be used to learn about the functionality of BwPostman. Next you can test the CSS entered in the options without sending these tests to a real mailing list. Later you can use test recipients to test the single newsletter, before it is sent to the subscribers.
Then the first newsletter will be created and sent.
Finally I will write about the special features BwPostman contains:
If there are questions or problems occur, fast help in English and German you get at the Forum of BwPostman:
https://www.boldt-webservice.de/en/forum-en/bwpostman.html
Since version 1.0.1 of BwPostman there is a button Help in the toolbar at the back end, which opens a new browser window with the forum of BwPostman. Furthermore there is a button in the main view of BwPostman to the forum. A click to the button opens a new browser window or browser tab – depending on browser settings – with the forum of BwPostman.
Since version 2.2.0 of BwPostman You find a new button Manual at the toolbar at the back end beneath the button Help, which leads You to the appropriate chapter of the online manual. This button works a bit specific: In example, if You are at the newsletter list or editing a newsletter at the back end and click to this button, You get directly to the chapter for newsletters. For this a new browser tab or browser window opens, depending on the settings of the browser. Also the button to forum now doesn't open imperatively a new browser window, but depending on the settings of the browser a new browser tab or browser window.
Incidentally you everywhere find tooltips (that is, when you move the cursor to the list entry and wait a little while), that may help very fast. Many are really detailed, some will get improvements with the time.
BwPostman is tested on many Joomla!® installations without problems. Most notably I test with the current Version of Joomla!®, partly also with the preceding version. Nevertheless I can't exclude that something goes wrong during installation. Especially the „interplay“ of different extensions can't be estimated fully and negative effects can't be excluded.
Since BwPostman 1.0.1 the possibility exists at maintenance to save and restore the tables of BwPostman directly from BwPostman. Furthermore since this version there will be created a backup file of the tables of BwPostman at each update and the tables were checked on consistency. Particulars in chapter Update.
Testing an unknown extension – this is also true for BwPostman – it is highly advised not to do at a life-system.
After installation BwPostman must be configured. To do so you click in the top right corner of Components → BwPostman at the button Options in the back-end of your Joomla!® installation. Or you click at the button Basic settings in the main view of BwPostman. The options are only available in the main view or in the maintenance.
The options are divided in seven sections: Basic Settings, Registration, Activation, Unsubscription, Lists View, Single View and Permissions. For all options there are tool-tips.
Since version 2.1.1 of BwPostman all texts of the options are multi-language-capable, where it makes sense. That means, You there may enter language strings and depose the appropriate texts at the override files for the respective language. Also see article Texts of Fields of BwPostman do not fit.
These settings are for the newsletters list view front-end. They serve as default values if there is nothing entered at menu entries.
In permissions you set, who may do what in back-end of BwPostman.
The rights Configure, Administration access, Create, Edit, Modify state, Edit self-created contents and Delete correlate to them you know in Joomla!®.
BwPostman adds additional rights for Archive, Restore, Delete, Send newsletter, View Newsletter, View Subscribers, View Campaigns, View Mailinglists, View Templates, View Settings and View Maintenance. The denotations of this rights are self-explaining, nevertheless following:
Important:
It is not enough to set the access rights for the actions Create, Edit, Modify state, Edit self-created contents or Delete, it also always needs the right for the view!
With that one also has the possibility to restrict the access for single user groups to one or multiple views.
BwPostman version 2.0.0 is also delivered with predefined user groups to see, how they work with the access rights. You may use these user groups as is.
Since version 2.0.0 BwPostman offers the ability to set access rights for a single data set (mailing lists, newsletters, subscribers, campaigns, templates). Here You are able to revoke permissions for an administrator. If You locked out, the SuperUser can correct this, because You can't revoke permissions for a SuperUser.
To be able to edit these permissions as administrator of a section (mailing lists, newsletters, subscribers, campaigns, templates) there are the new permissions Manage Newsletters, Manage Mailinglists, Manage Subscribers, Manage Campaigns, Manage Templates.
Checking the permissions BwPostman works a bit different than Joomla!®. BwPostman checks bottom up: If a permission is explicitly set at a data set (allowed of forbidden), this permission is valid. If there is nothing set (inherited), the permission of the section will be checked. If the permission here is set explicitly, this permission is used. If not, the permissions of the component is used. At least now is clear, if a user is allowed to this action or not. The strategy Joomla!® uses, namely to check the permissions top down excludes to allow something on a lower level if it is forbidden at a higher level.
With this it is possible to allow for a user to edit a single mailing list while the others are tabu.
Important:
BwPostman works for the permissions like Joomla!® with user groups, not single users!
If You want to grant permissions for a user group from different sections, then You have to derive Your user group from a general user group. General user groups are Administrator, Publisher, Editor, Author, ManagerBwPostmanAdmin, BwPostmanManager, BwPostmanPublisher and BwPostmanEditor. If You derive from a section group of BwPostman, You will not get, what You want.
The permission Admin Login is always needed, so that the members of the appropriate user group are able to log in to back end.
Each of these user groups needs the permission Configure, otherwise their members don't see the menu at back end.
Needed permissions:
Admin Login Configure View subscribers Create Edit self-created content
Needed permissions:
Admin Login Configure View mailing lists Create Edit
Modify state
Needed permissions:
Admin Login Configure View newsletters View archive Create Edit
Modify state Archive Restore Send newsletters
Needed permissions:
Admin Login Configure View campaigns View archive Create Edit
Modify state Archive Restore Delete Manage campaigns
The back-end of BwPostman has a main view, dashboard called, that may be used as a starting point for all actions that are possible in BwPostman. It contains buttons for all overviews together with buttons to create newsletters, subscribers, test-recipients, campaigns or mailing lists. There are also buttons to reach options, the maintenance and the forum of BwPostman. At the right you find informative statistics.
The menu at the left may be switched of by a click to the blue left arrow.
Okay, let's start:
Before the first newsletter can be created, there must exist at least one mailing list. It is possible to use separate lists for different topics and/or groups of recipients.
Via menu entry Mailing lists you get an overview about already created mailing lists.
A new mailing list will be created either in the main menu of BwPostman with the button Add mailing list or in the overview of the mailing lists with the button New in the toolbar. The view Mailinglist details appears and one is at the tab Edit mailinglist.
Each mailing list needs a title/name and a description. Both can be displayed in the front-end.
In the select list access level you can determine, who can subscribe to this mailing list. When a subscriber is not allowed to subscribe to this mailing list, then it will not be shown in the select list in the front-end.
In order to be able to select the mailing list in the front-end, it must be published. This can be done in the details (mode Edit) of the mailing list. But also a click to the symbol in the column Published in the overview of the mailing lists switches the state, too.
At the tab Mailinglists permissions the permissions or exactly this mailing list may be edited.
A mailing list can be edited by clicking at the title in the overview of the mailing lists or while checking the check box in front of the title and clicking at the button Edit in the toolbar. The view Mailinglist details appears and one is at the tab edit mailinglist [ID = nn].
Archived mailing lists will not be displayed in the overview!
Normally subscribers subscribe to the mailing lists by themselves. More precisely mailing lists will be subscribed to and to them you send newsletters. But there are cases to create a subscriber in the back-end by webmaster. Because of that you got this possibility in the back-end. Test-recipients only may be created in back-end.
How we just learned at the mailing lists, subscribers can be created in the main menu of BwPostman with the button Add subscriber or in the overview of the subscribers with the button New at the tabs Confirmed subscribers and Unconfirmed subscribers. The view Subscriber details appears an one is at the tab New subscriber details.
Test recipients will be created in the main menu of BwPostman with the button Add Test-Recipient or in the overview of the subscribers in the tab Test-Recipients with the button New. The view Test-Recipient details appears an one is at the tab New subscriber details.
Last name and first name must be entered, when it is set to obligatory in the options of BwPostman. There also is no exception in the back-end!
It must be entered at least a mail address for the subscriber. Indeed, BwPostman has to know where to send the newsletter.
The mail format can be selected at Format and is predefined with the value from the options of BwPostman.
The field Confirm only appears when you create a new subscriber. Once a subscriber is confirmed and saved, this field isn't displayed. Since version 3.2.1 of BwPostman this field is displayed also on editing a subscriber as long as it is not confirmed. At test recipients and editing a subscriber it is not displayed.
At the right there are further information of the subscription. Details of registration and details of confirmation. If there is nothing to see at registered by or confirmed by, the subscriber has done it by himself.
Since version 2.1.0 of BwPostman there is a button Print subscriber data at the top if these details. With a click to this button a pop-up is displayed, which shows all in BwPostman available and used data of the subscriber. A click at the button print opens the print dialogue of the browser.
The available mailing lists will be shown below. On the left you find the mailing lists, that ever can be selected in the front-end in general. The state of this mailing lists is Public and they are published.
In the middle there are mailing lists, that only specific user groups may subscribe to in the front-end. These mailing lists are published basically and can be subscribed at front-end, but not for everyone.
At the right there are mailing lists, that only can be assigned in the back-end. These are the mailing lists, that are unpublished, nevertheless to which user group they are assigned to.
The mailing lists are not shown at test-recipients. They will be created in general and get all mailing lists at test sending.
Like noted above someone with appropriate access to the back-end may assign the subscriber to that mailing lists, that are not shown in front-end, for what reasons ever.
While the subscriber has not confirmed his subscription, he will be displayed in the overview at the tab Unconfirmed subscribers. When the subscription is confirmed, the entry moves to the list Confirmed subscribers.
Archived subscribers and test recipients will not be displayed in the overview!
At the tab Subscriber permissions the permissions or exactly this subscriber may be edited.
If a subscriber is added, BwPostman checks back whether this mail address perhaps exists at a registered Joomla!® user. If so, then the corresponding ID will be stored at the subscriber and the subscriber – if he is logged in – gets offered the mailing lists to subscribe, that are available for his access level.
Now we come to the core piece of BwPostman, the newsletters.
A newsletter can be created by copying an already created newsletter. Either unsent and sent newsletters may be copied.
To copy a newsletter check the checkbox at the list of newsletters in front of the desired newsletter and click at the button Copy in the toolbar. The copy appears in the tab Unsent newsletters in the overview, even if you copied a sent newsletter.
A click on the subject of the newsletter or select the checkbox in front of the row and a click to Edit on top opens the newsletter.
Creating newsletters will be processed in five steps. This will be symbolized with five tabs. Creating a new newsletter or modifying an existing newsletter always begins at tab General information. Within a Joomla!® session BwPostman reminds the last used tab of each edited newsletter. When editing this newsletter again in this session, BwPostman opens the newsletter with the last used tab.
To see sent newsletters not only as email, BwPostman offers the ability to create menu entry points for front-end.
You are free to decide, if you create an own menu for BwPostman or if you add single menu entries to an existing menu and which menu entries you offer your visitors. I suggest to create at least one menu entry to edit the subscription. This is especially important, if you do not use the module for subscription.
For subscription it is not critical, whether you use the module or a menu entry to the subscription page of the component. It depends on how you are interested to get subscribers. While the subscription page of the component is only reachable by the menu entry, the module for subscription will be shown on all pages, that are selected in module options.
Another difference is, that the module for subscription needs space on all pages, where it is shown, while the page to subscribe of the component only shows on one page in the area, that is used for articles on Joomla!®.
For menu entries you may select:
The procedure is as usual in Joomla!®:
In the back-end add further menu entries to an existing menu or create a new menu with the desired menu entries.
If a newsletter belongs to a mailing list, that is not selected, the newsletter is not displayed. If a newsletter belongs to several mailing lists, from which at least one is selected, then it will be displayed. If a newsletter belongs to a mailing list, that is not selected, while it also belongs to a selected user group, the newsletter is displayed and vice versa.
If a newsletter belongs to a campaign, that is selected, then it is displayed, even if the related mailing list is not selected. Because of this there is the separate tab to select the campaigns.
You eventually ask, what this option is good for. Why access restrictions, if it is levered out here? To this the following deliberations:
You don't want the content of a just sent newsletter to be accessible to all. After one or two years these information is so “old”, that it does not matter, if all visitors may see it. But in BwPostman there is no possibility to change the assignment to the mailing lists, if the newsletter once is sent and that is a good ting, too. But changing the access level of a mailing list is no option, because the mailing list is still active. How to get the newsletter accessible to the community? For that reason this option exists!
The accessibility is always checked, if you select All at mailing list selection, user groups or campaigns, there is no change. But if you select specific mailing lists, user groups or campaigns (you also may check all), then you are able to suppress the check for access with this switch.
I think, there is no need to write more, that is obvious. Perhaps it is to mention, that there is a column to display, if a mailing list or campaign is archived.
The Front-end usually shows the module of BwPostman at a module position to enable the visitors to subscribe to the (several) mailing lists.
As mentioned previously only the mailing lists will be shown here to which the visitor has access to. If only one mailing list is selectable, then the select list will not be shown to save a needless click. Is no mailing list available that the visitor may subscribe to, a warning message is displayed instead.
In front-end you are able show an overview of all newsletters, if a menu entry is created. The titles (subjects) of the newsletters are linked to show the single newsletter. Unpublished newsletters principally will not be displayed in the overview. Which newsletters are displayed you set at the options of the component and may override it in the options of the menu entry.
It is also possible to create a menu entry for a single newsletter.
Filters, that means select lists for mailing lists, user groups or campaigns, only are displayed, if there is something to select. If there is only one mailing list available to display, then a select list is redundant, because there is nothing to select and select lists are not displayed even if there is set something else at the options.
Finally you should enable the subscriber to edit or to delete his subscription while visiting the website. For this you also can create e menu entry in the front-end.
Editing the subscription for subscribers without user account in Joomla!® works with Double-Opt-In, too: If the subscriber clicks at this menu entry, it will be asked for his email address. To this address a link will be sent to edit the subscription, provided the subscriber has entered the correct email address. Clicking to this link the subscriber will be conducted to the web page, at that he/she may edit or delete the subscription.
Subscribers with an user account in Joomla!® are able to edit their subscription directly.
If a Subscriber changes the mail address, this new mail address has to be confirmed anew. This has to do with the double-opt-in. Since version 2.3.0 of BwPostman a message appears after saving the changes to notify the subscriber about the need to confirm the new mail address to be able to get newsletters furthermore.
Hint:
At the end of each newsletter there are links to unsubscribe and edit the subscription. For Germany this is mandatory! A click to the link unsubscribe will not be processed immediately since version 1.2.0. This lead to remove the complete subscription, even if only this specific mailing list should be unsubscribed.
This behaviour also is mentioned as a problem, if a newsletter was forwarded. If the recipient of the forwarded newsletter clicked to unsubscribe, the origin subscriber was unsubscribed!
Because of that this link also leads to the page to edit subscription. Beneath the selectable mailing lists there is a checkbox to unsubscribe the whole subscription at once. The expense for the subscriber isn't grown essentially.
Since version 2.1.0 at the options of BwPostman there is a possibility so switch to the previous behaviour. With this the subscriber is completely archived and does not get any newsletter to the subscribed mailing lists.
This is about:
Several newsletters, that are build on one another and/or correlate thematically are called campaigns in BwPostman. Campaigns are used e.g. to launch, relaunch or promote a product or a service and in this case have few to do with a common newsletter, that first of all serves for information. Nevertheless the newsletters belonging to campaigns also are displayed in the list of newsletters. Additionally, newsletters of campaigns you can see in the details of the campaign at the particular tabs.
Campaigns may be used, but it is no must. They only give you the ability to give a structure to your newsletters.
Have I to write how to create or edit a campaign? That happens like all other parts of Joomla!® or BwPostman.
A campaign at tab Campaign details owns a title, which is mandatory, and a description, which is useful for orientation. A subscriber does not see this description.
Since version 1.2.0 the recipients of a campaign you set here. Therefore below title and description a section exists, at which you may select mailing lists and/or user groups. It is absolutely the same dialogue like at newsletters.
For information there are listed all newsletters of a campaign at the tabs Unsent newsletters and Sent newsletters.
At the tab Campaign permissions the permissions or exactly this campaign may be edited.
BwPostman offers the ability to import subscribers. The accepted formats are XML and CSV. You also are able to export your subscribers. The used formats are XML and CSV as well.
To see how the data looks like in the respective formats, demo data are supplied. You will find them in the admin-folder of the component (<path-to-your-Joomla-installation>/administrator/components/com_bwpostman). They are named import_demo.csv and import_demo.xml.
With batch processing at subscribers it is possible to subscribe a further mailing list, to move from one to another mailing list or to unsubscribe from a mailing list multiple subscribers at once. Especially with filter by mailing list this is a very strong tool! Moving only works, if you filter by mailing list. The filtered mailing list is that one, from which the subscribers are taken off.
Batch processing is very simple: Tick the checkbox in front of the subscribers, you want to edit. Then click to the button Batch at the toolbar. A pop-up appears, at which you select the desired mailing list and the action Subscribe, Unsubscribe or Move. A click to Process processes the selected action.
Archive is exactly that what the name says: To archive something.
In BwPostman you can archive newsletters as well as subscribers as well as mailing lists and even whole campaigns and templates. All, BwPostman has to deal with, you can archive. And all what is archived, can be restored from the archive. But in the archive you can't change anything except the state of a newsletter.
To archive e.g. a newsletter go to the overview of the newsletters (mostly is wanted to archive sent newsletters), mark the select box it front of the row of one or more newsletter(s) to archive and click in the toolbar at the button Archive. BwPostman shows a confirmation prompt to surely archive the selected newsletters, that you can answer with Ok or Cancel.
For archiving the permission archive is necessary.
For restoring you select the tab newsletter at the archive, select the desired newsletter(s) to restore, and click in toolbar at Restore.
Archiving mailing lists, subscribers, campaigns and templates works the same. At campaigns there is an additional question, whether the newsletters assigned to the campaign shall be archived or restored, too.
For restoring the permissions View archive and Restore are necessary.
The archive contains an additional function: It is not possible to delete something in the lists of newsletters, subscribers, campaigns, mailing lists and templates. Deleting only is possible in the archive. Here, too: Mark the desired to delete in the appropriate tab at the select box and click on Delete at right top. Here also you have to answer a confirmation prompt. And also an additional question appears at campaigns to delete the assigned newsletters or not, too.
For deletion the permissions View archive and Delete are necessary.
Before deleting You should reflect, if You possibly have obligation for verification or retention and the subscriber may not be deleted finally.
The button Check-In you find in each list view of BwPostman. With this button you may check-in entries that are orphaned. You recognise these entries at the lock symbol at the beginning of a row.
Caution:
Not all entries, that show a lock symbol, are orphaned! Rather in the contrary. The lock symbol shows, that an entry is edited. The entry indeed becomes an orphan, if you don't leave editing of the entry by buttons but closing the browser or tab, the browser or pc crashes or something else.
To check-in tick the checkbox with the lock symbol and click to the button Check-In. To check-in you need administration rights.
To adjust the look of BwPostman to fit your template, basic knowledge of CSS and HTML is necessary. You also should use an extension in your browser to inspect the currently displayed page for check-up purpose. For Firefox, my preferred browser, there exists the developer tools. Such an extension also exists for Edge, Internet Explorer and in Chrome and Opera such a function is already implemented.
All elements, that are shown in the front-end, may be addressed individually at least since version 0.9.7 of BwPostman. The exact CSS path to the element you may find easily with above-mentioned extension. For all elements, BwPostman uses in front end, CSS Styles exists in the CSS file delivered with BwPostman. Most of them are empty and may be filled if needed.
For the component you find this file at
<Joomla-installation-directory>/components/com_bwpostman/assets/css/bwpostman.css
For the subscription module it is the file:
<Joomla-installation-directory>/modules/mod_bwpostman/css/bwpostman.css
For the overview module it is the file:
<Joomla-installation-directory>/modules/mod_bwpostman_overview/css/bwpostman_overview.css
You might change the CSS Styles in this files. But that only would reach until the next update of BwPostman, because while updating the file is set back to initial settings.
Another possibility is to set the desired CSS Styles in a CSS file of your template. But alike before there is still the problem, that the changes only last until the next update of the template.
Because of that I implemented a solution on a permanent basis since version 0.9.7 of BwPostman:
Create a file named com_bwpostman.css for the component and one file called mod_bwpostman.css for the module in the CSS directory of the template you use, or copy the delivered ones there. Or better: Copy the delivered CSS files to this location. These files will be read from BwPostman after all other CSS files. This means, that the CSS styles set in these files, override all previous read CSS styles.
Thus the path to these CSS files is:
<Joomla-installation-directory>/templates/<your template>/css/
With version 3.1.0 of BwPostman the CSS files are loaded at the templates instead of the view. This has the advantage, that You are able to use different CSS files including different paths with Your overrides.
Since version 1.1.0 BwPostman has a great template system for newsletters. Many thanks to Karl Klostermann for this. It is not only his idea, he realized it. Very great!
Thanks to the provided default templates for HTML and text newsletters, it is now also possible for less experienced users to send out optical attractive newsletters, that meets the corporate identity, the appearance of the association or or or and really looks well on mobile devices. Simply copy one of the delivered templates, give a new name and make changes to your wishes.
For the experienced user there are free templates also for HTML and text newsletters. Here you are completely free in design. Important to know, that despite of the high grade of freedom the newsletter finally gets added a table with the imprint by BwPostman.
You may create as many templates as you want. In example you may create an own, individual template for each mailing list.
Templates will be assigned to the newsletters while creating a newsletter. There you select the desired template from lists of HTML and text templates. To simplify the selection, a thumbnail will be shown at the tool-tip.
One each HTML or text template you can set to default. This then is the preselection, if you create a new newsletter.
Like all other sections of BwPostman you reach the templates by main menu of BwPostman with a click to templates. With the buttons Add HTML-Template and Add Text-Template you create a free HTML or text template. Templates also are reached by main menu of Joomla!® with Components → BwPostman → Templates.
Since version 1.3.0 of BwPostman there is a possibility to install further standard templates. To do this there exists a button Install template at the toolbar. A click to the button leads to a view, where you may select and install the template package. The packages is a ZIP archive – as usual at Joomla!® – , that will be installed with a click to the button Start template installation. Now a view appears, where you see the single steps of the installation of the template. A click at the button back leads you back to the list of templates. Afterwards the new template is available like all other templates for the use at a newsletter.
New templates you may get at the downloads for BwPostman at Boldt Webservice.
Important:
Templates of BwPostman don't have to do something with templates of Joomla!®! While templates for Joomla!® are build to display websites all the same in all browsers as desired by the website owner, templates for BwPostman are made to give the same look-and-feel for the newsletters of BwPostman at all mail clients. But while even some “renegade” browser manufacturers made their browsers standard-compatible, at the mail clients is heavy proliferation the norm, which grows with each second mobile device.
Since version 2.1.0 of BwPostman there is the ability to export templates. With this You are able to transfer templates created for one installation to another.
After activating the checkbox of the desired template at the list of templates and a click to Export template a file is created that contains the template in a installable manner. When this process has finished, a message with a download button is displayed. This file also is stored at
<my_Joomla_installation>/images/bw_postman/templates/
and can be deleted from there as well using the Media-Manager of Joomla!®.
Since version 3.0.0 the storing path for the exported template is
<my_Joomla_installation>/images/com_bwpostman/templates/
The file name contains the ID of the exported template, because the ID is surely unique, there are no two templates with the same ID. The title of the template cannot be used (quite alone).
You don't have to conserve the file name, the import of the template works with every file name.
Standard templates are predefined templates for newsletters, that you may use directly. The title of the included standard templates begins – who wonders – with standard. They all are responsive. That means, that they look well even on small displays, which occurs on mobile devices. Nevertheless standard templates can be individualized widely. To keep out of harm's way I suggest to copy a provided template and then adjust. If an adjustment is not possible with one provided template: Perhaps it is possible with another?
At the left you make the adjustments, at the right you see a preview of the template, that will be refreshed by clicking to Refresh preview. A refresh also will be done, if the template will be saved.
Free Templates for newsletter are exactly that what the name says: Free! Free in positioning of the elements, free in the look of the elements. However this freedom has its price: There are no predefined sections, that you may adjust fast and easy only by clicking with the mouse. Here all is “hand made”. There are provided samples for each HTML and text templates. The title begins with Sample / Beispiel.
Because there are no predefined sections, there only are three (HTML Templates) or two (text templates) Tabs.
Here, too, counts: In the left you make your settings, in the right you see a preview of the template, that will be refreshed and updated by clicking to Refresh preview or saving the template.