Overview
The Advanced HTML Editor is for when you need full control over the code behind your email. Instead of working in the drag-and-drop builder, you can write raw HTML and C# directly, giving you the flexibility to build pixel-perfect layouts, drop in existing markup, and handle conditional content that goes beyond standard merge fields.
It's the right choice when you've got HTML you want to bring across from another tool, when your design needs go beyond what the visual editor can do, or when you want to layer in C# logic for personalised content. If you're putting together a straightforward email and don't need to touch the code, the visual builder is usually the quicker path.
To open the Advanced HTML Editor, you'll create a new draft and choose its type during setup. Here's how.
Create a new draft and open the editor
- Open your Application and click the Templates tab.
- Click + Add new in the upper-left of the Templates page.
- The Add new draft dialog will open. Enter a Name for your draft — pick something descriptive so you can find it again easily later.
- From the Type dropdown, select Advanced - Raw HTML/C# code. This is the setting that tells CX Platform to open the Advanced HTML Editor rather than the visual builder.
- Under Channels, tick Email. SMS won't apply here since you're building an HTML email.
- Click Add to create the draft. You'll be taken to the Templates tab for the Application, where your new template will be listed.
- Open the new template. You'll land on the Settings tab first, where you'll need to configure the Sender settings before the editor will let you in.
- Fill in the Sender settings. Placeholder values are fine here if you're just getting started — you can come back and tidy them up later.
- Click the Content tab to open the Advanced HTML Editor.
That's it — you're in. The editor is ready for you to paste in existing HTML, write code from scratch, or layer in C# for any conditional content you need.
Heads up
Once a draft is created, its type is locked in. If you start with the Advanced editor and later decide you'd rather use the visual builder, you'll need to create a new draft and choose a different type from the start.
What's next
With your template open in the editor, you're ready to start building. From here you can paste in your HTML, set up personalisation tokens, add C# logic for conditional content, and preview how the email will render before saving.