Create a new email in Litmus
You can create an email by sending to a personal Litmus email address, choosing a draft from a connected ESP, importing or pasting HTML, coding from scratch, or using a template in Builder. For most accurate results, we recommend sending your email to Litmus from your ESP.
Send in your email
Your account has a personalized Litmus email address for your Litmus inbox. You can customize your Litmus address in your Account settings.
When you use a folder address to send from your ESP, your email is routed directly to that folder. Navigate to any folder in the sidebar, select Send in your email, and you'll have that specific folder's custom address. Your custom email address gets appended with an identifier for each folder so you'll know exactly where your draft lands!
You can view all emails in the inbox, emails in a specific folder selected in the left side list, or your own emails by using the My emails quick filter above the main inbox pane.
As an alternative, you can choose Send in a draft from the Test your email banner box.
Choose a draft from a connected ESP
Select Create new in your Litmus inbox, enter a name for your email, and choose the Test or Collaborate option. If you’ve connected ESPs with Litmus, choose one and we’ll display a list of your most recent draft emails. Select your draft and we’ll automatically trigger a test send from your ESP into Litmus. You won't have to switch tools or log in to your ESP.
Import or paste your HTML
Select Create new in any of the three options, name your email and continue. To import, select the storage system you’d like to use, connect your account, and then pick the HTML file you want to bring into Litmus. The storage options in Build are at the bottom of the templates window. In Test and Collaborate, select the View more ways to create an email link, then scroll down to paste in your HTML for your import options.
To paste your HTML, in Build select the Blank email template. In Test and Collaborate, select the View more ways to create an email link to find the Paste HTML option. You can also paste a Plain text version of your email code.
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You can create a placeholder in Litmus for any email even before you have the HTML. Select Create new, choose any option and then Next. Close the window and you'll find the Summary populated with your email's title, ready for your HTML when you are!
Code from scratch
Select Create new to start your email. Enter a name for your email, select Build and then Next: pick a template. Select the Blank email option. Your project is ready for you to start coding.
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Start with a template
Select Create new to start your email. Enter a name for your email, select Build and then Next: Pick a Template. Select any template in your library. Your project opens in our Visual editor. You can edit in that view or switch to Code editor view if you'd prefer.
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Duplicate an Existing Email
You can also start a new email by duplicating an existing email. There are two places where you can duplicate an email using a breadcrumb menu.
| Duplicate from your inbox folder | Duplicate from Builder |
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Duplicating an email will create the email copy in the same folder as the original email. You can move it to any desired folder. By default, Litmus will name the duplicate Copy of [Original email]. Use the same breadcrumb menu to find the Rename option.
When you duplicate an email, it will only create the email in Builder and no email previews will generate. Use the Update Previews or Update Proof & Previews tabs button to create the email and previews in Previews & QA and Proof tabs.
Proof your email
NOTE: Litmus Proof is available with Enterprise plans
Litmus Proof simplifies and streamlines the review and approval process. It enables teams to share, give clear feedback, gain visibility and version control, and collaborate directly on an email in a single location, reducing review cycles and production time. Comments and approvals are automatically documented in your Litmus Proof timeline, too!
Best practices for best accuracy
We highly recommend sending in your email directly from your email service provider (ESP) to start an email in Litmus. Many times, ESPs can change or alter your HTML template before your final send. Since Litmus does not alter your HTML code, you may see a difference between an HTML-uploaded copy versus what you see on your ESP’s sent copy. If you use the Update Proof & Previews tabs from Builder, that is also not as accurate as sending the email directly from your ESP.
We recommend that you make edits to your email where you build. If you build your emails in your ESP, it is best to make all edits there and send the new version of the email into Litmus using your unique Litmus address.
If you send in your email directly from your ESP, you will see exactly what your subscribers see when they receive your campaign. You can easily send an email test by using your Litmus email addresses in your ESP's test or preview email send option before sending your campaign to your subscribers.
Sending from your ESP is also best when using our Spam Testing tools, as this will provide the most accurate reputation scoring for your email. When you send from your ESP, you'll automatically get 7 essential spam checks that are not possible to provide with HTML upload emails. The spam checks help you make sure your authentication records are set up properly, including DMARC, DKIM, and more, in addition to making sure you're not on any blocklists. You can find these results in the Spam testing section at the end of your Previews & QA checklist. Read more about starting a spam test using ESP connection.