Starting a New Mailing? Choose a Template 

When creating a new newsletter or mailing, Maileon prompts you to choose a template. Select the second option (Saved templates) and navigate to the folder Standard Templates Leiden University, which contains two templates:

Template ‘Mailing’

For text-heavy mailings with little or no visual content.

Template ‘Newsletter’

For mailings with engaging headlines, short texts, and plenty of images.

Select a template by double-clicking it or selecting it once and clicking the black Select element button.

Check the version of the template
 

Each template includes a version number in the title and at the top of the template itself.

If you’ve created a custom template or used a previous mailing as the basis for a new one, it is advisable to check whether the version number in that template matches the version listed below. There may be a newer, improved version available.

Template newsletter

Most recent version: 250106

Template mailing

Most recent version: 250107

If you’re using an outdated version, it’s best to update the template. To do this, click the three dots in the top-right corner and select Change template.

Fixed elements

Your newsletter or mailing will always include a header and footer.

Header components

• University logo
• Title
• Subtitle

Optionally, you can add a button linking to a version in another language if needed. See the page Bilingual Mailings for more information.

The subtitle in the newsletter template automatically displays the current date using a field code. You can replace this with custom text if desired.

Footer components

• Unsubscribe link (for external mailings)
• Link to update personal details (email address, name; only visible in external mailings)
• Social media links

Remove any unnecessary social media icons by clicking on the icon and deleting it in the right-hand panel.

Working with blocks

Add blocks to your design. These blocks are preconfigured in terms of layout, colors, fonts, and alignment to match the template. The blocks available depend on the template you are using:

Adding a block

On the right-hand side, go to the Saved section and under the Folder heading, navigate to the folder for the template you are using—Newsletter or Mailing. Select the desired block by holding it with the left mouse button and dragging it to the desired location in your newsletter or mailing. You can place a block anywhere where “Drop block here” is displayed, but not above the title bar or below the footer.

Check block version numbers
 

If you’re using a copy of a previous newsletter or mailing, or have saved your own version of a template, check whether newer versions of any blocks you’ve used are available. Each block has a version code, such as 241118. Compare this code to the list below. If the block is outdated, replace it by dragging the updated version into your design and deleting the old one.

Block version numbers for the newsletter template
 

• Agenda Block - 250106
• Wide Header Link - 250106
• Wide Block - 250106
• Call to Action - 250106
• Contact and Socials - 250106
• Announcements Block - 250106
• More News Block - 250106
• Language Button - 250106
• Two Narrow Blocks - 250106
• Two Narrow Header Links - 250106

Block version numbers for the mailing template
 

• Paragraph - 241119
• Paragraph with Small Image - 241120
• Call to Action (formerly: Frame) - 241126
• Contact and Socials - 241127
• Large Image - 241119
• Language Button - 241120
• Subheader - 241119

Editing a block

Below you will find instructions on how to add content to the blocks in your newsletter or mailing.

In the editor, you can (slightly) adjust the formatting of your text, add links, and personalize the content.

To edit a headline or paragraph, click on it, and you can start typing immediately. If you want to apply formatting, personalize the text, or add a link, double-click the text box or click the pencil icon in the dark toolbar above the text field.

Adding a link
 

• Select the text you want to turn into a link. If you want to make a headline in a newsletter clickable, ensure you select the entire headline text rather than clicking on the block containing the headline.
• Press the chain icon in the toolbar.
• Choose web address from the list of options.
• A new window will appear.
• Type or paste the desired address into the field labeled URL.
• Below this field, you will immediately see whether the entered address is reachable—this reduces the risk of dead links in your mailing.

Personalisation

If needed, you can personalize texts. Using special field codes, you can retrieve data from the address list (e.g., the recipient's name) and display it in the text. Fortunately, you don’t need to type these field codes manually; you can insert them into your mailing via the menu.

1. Place the text cursor where the personalized text should appear (e.g., after the salutation "Dear").
2. In the toolbar, click the button with the two curly braces.
3. Choose the option Contact fields.
4. Select the contact field whose value you want to display in your mailing. For example, First Name.

Learn how to insert images into your design and add links if necessary.

Uploading an image
 

After dragging a block with an image into your design, you need to replace the placeholder image with your own. The placeholder image specifies the required dimensions for the new image.

• Click on the image you want to replace.
• In the right-hand panel, press the cloud with arrow button.

Adding a link
 

After selecting the image by clicking on it, follow these steps:

• In the right-hand panel, press the + Define link button.
• Choose Web address from the list of options.
• A new window will appear.
• Type or paste the desired address into the field labeled URL.
  Below this field, you will immediately see whether the entered address is reachable—this reduces the risk of dead links in your mailing.

• Leave the Track clicks toggle switched on.
• Adding a tag is unnecessary.
• Finally, press the Add link button.

Editing button text
 

• Type the desired button text into the Label field in the right-hand panel.
• You can leave the Button Layout field unchanged.

Adding a link
 

If you want to modify a button, you must first click on it in the design.

• In the right-hand panel, press the + Define link button.
• Choose Web address from the list of options.
• A new window will appear.
• Type or paste the desired address into the field labeled URL.
  Below this field, you will immediately see whether the entered address is reachable—this reduces the risk of dead links in your mailing.

• Leave the Track clicks toggle switched on.
• Adding a tag is unnecessary.
• Finally, press the Add link button.

You can move, duplicate, and delete a block in your design using the designated buttons. These appear in a toolbar when you select a block.

It is important to select the entire block and not just one of its components. If you click on the block and see that one of its components has a blue border with a larger gold-colored border around it, you have not yet selected the complete block. Press the button with the icon of two overlapping rectangles in the toolbar (hovering over it displays the tooltip ‘Select parent element’) to select the entire block. The complete block will now have a blue border. For some blocks (e.g., list blocks with an icon), you may need to press the button more than once to select the entire block.

Change block composition

Each block consists of individual elements that you can remove after dragging the block into your design if necessary.

For example:

• Use a headline in a newsletter intro but no subheading.
• Create a newsletter intro without an image.
• Use a text box without the accompanying call-to-action button.

Removing an element

• Click on the element you want to remove.
• Press the trash can icon in the toolbar.

Viewing a preview 

While editing your mailing, you may want to see how the final display will appear. Use the Preview button at the top of the screen for this purpose.

You can adjust the preview display in several ways:

• As plain text.
• On a smaller screen size.
• With dark mode enabled.
• Without images.

Test mailing

The preview feature provides a good impression of your newsletter or mailing, but it’s also advisable to send a test version to your own address and/or a colleague’s. Click the Send test button at the top of the screen and enter the address(es) to which you want to send the test.

If you frequently need to send test mailings to multiple addresses, it’s inefficient to re-enter them each time. In that case, you can:

1. Save the relevant email addresses in a plain text document and copy-paste them from there.
2. Request that your faculty or department’s Maileon data manager creates a test mailing list. You can then select this list under the Quality Assurance tab by clicking Test Mailing.