On this page: Learn how to insert reusable visual fragments into your emails, customize their editable fields, and break or keep their inheritance with the original fragment.
A fragment is a reusable component that can be referenced in one or more emails across Journey Optimizer campaigns, journeys or content template. This functionality allows to prebuilt multiple custom content blocks that can be used by marketing users to quickly assemble email contents in an improved design process. Learn how to create and manage fragments.
➡️ Learn how to manage, author and use fragments in this video
Use a fragment use-fragment
To use a fragment into an email, follow the steps below.
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Open any email or template content using the Email Designer.
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Select the Fragments icon from the left rail.
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The list of all visual fragments created on the current sandbox is displayed. They are sorted by creation date: recently added visual fragments are shown first in the list. You can:
- Search for a specific fragment by starting typing its label.
- Sort fragments in ascending or descending order.
- Change the way the fragments are displayed (cards or list view).
- Refresh the list.
note NOTE If some fragments were modified or added while you are editing your content, the list will be updated with the latest changes. -
Drag and drop any fragment from the list into the area where you want to insert it.
note caution CAUTION You can add any Draft or Live fragment to your content. However, you won’t be able to activate your journey or campaign if a fragment with the Draft status is being used in it. At journey or campaign publication, draft fragments will show an error and you’ll need to approve them to be able to publish. -
Like any other component, you can move the fragment around in your content.
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Select the fragment to display the corresponding pane on the right. From there, you can delete the fragment from your content, or duplicate it. You can also perform these actions directly from the contextual menu that displays on top of the fragment.
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From the Settings tab, you can:
- Choose the devices you want the fragment to be displayed on.
- Open the fragment in a new tab and edit it if needed. Learn more
- Explore references. Learn more
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If needed, you can break the inheritance with the original fragment. Learn more
Once unlocked, you can further customize your fragment as any other component and use the Styles tab.
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Add as many fragments as you want and Save your changes.
Manage conditional content in fragments fragment-dynamic-content
When working with visual fragments that contain conditional content, follow these guidelines. Learn more about dynamic content
- Loss of conditional content variant mappings
- Compatibility mode warnings in the Email Designer
- Inconsistent email rendering
Structure your email properly: When using multiple fragments with conditional content, add each fragment directly into its own structure block at the email level. Avoid nesting fragments with conditional content inside other unlocked fragments that also contain conditional content.
Plan ahead: Before adding fragments to your email, identify which ones contain conditional content and plan your layout accordingly. This helps prevent configuration issues and ensures a clean structure from the start.
Design reusable fragments carefully: When creating fragments that will include conditional content, consider how they will be used. If a fragment needs to be nested within other fragments, avoid adding conditional content to both the parent and child fragments.
Troubleshooting: If you experience lost conditional content variant mappings or compatibility mode warnings, follow the steps below.
- Check your email structure for nested fragments containing conditional content
- Restructure by moving each fragment with conditional content into its own structure block at the email level
- Save and verify that conditional content variants are properly restored
Use implicit variables implicit-variables-in-fragments
The implicit variables enhance the existing fragment functionality to improve efficiency for content reusability & scripting use cases. Fragments can use input variables and create output variables usable in campaign and journey content.
Learn how to use implicit variables in this section.
Customize editable fields customize-fields
If certain portions of the selected fragment have been made editable, you can override their default value after adding the fragment into your content. Learn how to make a fragment customizable
To customize editable fields in a fragment used in an email, follow these steps.
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Add a customizable fragment to your email content, and select it to open the Fragment pane on the right-hand side.
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All editable fields in the fragment are displayed in the Settings tab, under the fragment properties.
In the example below, the image source and alt text can be edited, as well as the “Title”/“Subtitle” fields and the “More info” button URL.
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Hover over any editable field in the central canvas. The field highlights in green and a pencil icon appears when clicking on the text it contains.
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Edit the field text inline directly on the central Email Designer canvas.
note NOTE To easily locate the editable fields in your content, you can also select them from the right-hand pane, but you can only edit these fields in the central canvas. -
For Text, Button, and Html components, the Email Designer toolbar also gives access to rich-text formatting options — bold, italic, hyperlinks, and more.
note tip TIP Fragments created before the rich-text editing capability was introduced have editable fields set to text-only mode by default. To enable full formatting options, go to the fragment editor using the Open fragment button, click Enable to unlock rich-text mode and Save the fragment. Learn more 
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You can click Simulate content to see how the editable content and styling render. Learn more on previewing content
Break inheritance break-inheritance
When you edit a visual fragment, the changes are synchronized. They are automatically propagated to all draft or live journeys/campaigns and content templates containing that fragment.
When added to an email or a content template, fragments are synchronized by default. However, you can break the inheritance from the original fragment. In that case, the content of the fragment is copied into the current design, and the changes are not synchronized anymore.
To break inheritance, follow the steps below:
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Select the fragment.
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Click the unlock icon from the contextual toolbar.
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That fragment becomes a standalone element that is not linked anymore to the original fragment. Edit it as any other content component in your content. Learn more
Locked fragments locked-fragments
If the fragment was locked by its author, the unlock icon is greyed out and cannot be used to break inheritance.
Locked fragments remain synchronized everywhere they appear, preventing local edits that could break brand standards or compliance requirements.
Learn how to lock a fragment in this section.
This section contains structured knowledge intended to support interpretation, retrieval, and question answering related to this topic.
For complete understanding, this information should be combined with the documentation on this page. Neither source is intended to stand alone; the page describes the feature, while this section provides additional context that helps disambiguate terminology, intent, applicability, and constraints.
- TL;DR: This page explains how to insert reusable visual fragments into emails, customize their editable fields, manage conditional content in fragments, and break or keep their inheritance with the original fragment.
Intents:
- Insert a reusable visual fragment into an email or content template using the Email Designer
- Search, sort, and display the visual fragments available on the current sandbox
- Customize the editable fields of a customizable fragment
- Manage conditional (dynamic) content when using visual fragments
- Break or keep the inheritance between a fragment instance and the original fragment
- Use implicit input and output variables in fragments
Glossary:
- Visual fragment: A reusable component that can be referenced in one or more emails across Journey Optimizer campaigns, journeys, or content templates (product-specific)
- Break inheritance: Copying the fragment content into the current design so changes are no longer synchronized with the original fragment (product-specific)
- Locked fragment: A fragment locked by its author whose unlock icon is greyed out, so inheritance cannot be broken and it remains synchronized everywhere it appears (product-specific)
- Editable fields: Portions of a fragment made editable, whose default value can be overridden after adding the fragment to content (product-specific)
- Implicit variables: Input variables fragments can use and output variables they can create, usable in campaign and journey content (product-specific)
- Simulate content: Action to see how the editable content and styling render; also used to preview a fragment’s actual dynamic content with a profile that meets its conditions (product-specific)
Guardrails:
- You can add up to 30 fragments in a given delivery.
- Fragments can only be nested up to 1 level.
- Nesting fragments with conditional content is not supported: you cannot place a fragment containing conditional content inside an unlocked fragment that also contains conditional content (can cause loss of conditional content variant mappings, compatibility mode warnings, and inconsistent email rendering).
- You can add any Draft or Live fragment to your content, but you cannot activate the journey or campaign if a fragment with Draft status is used in it; at publication, draft fragments show an error and must be approved.
- If a fragment uses dynamic content and its default state is empty, it may appear blank in the Email Designer; the system uses the default variant as a fallback.
- When both the label and URL of a button component are made editable in a fragment, tracking reports show the URL instead of the button label.
- Locked fragments cannot have their inheritance broken (unlock icon greyed out) and remain synchronized everywhere they appear.
- Fragments created before the rich-text editing capability was introduced have editable fields set to text-only mode by default until rich-text mode is enabled.
Terminology:
- Canonical name: visual fragment — Acronym: n/a — variants: fragment, customizable fragment, locked fragment
- Synonyms: “break the inheritance” = “break inheritance”
- Do not confuse: “Draft” fragment status ≠ “Live” fragment status
- Do not confuse: synchronized fragment (inheritance kept, changes propagated) ≠ fragment with broken inheritance (content copied, changes not synchronized)
- Do not confuse: “Allow inheritance to be broken” (author setting to permit breaking) ≠ locked fragment (inheritance cannot be broken)
FAQ:
- Q: How many fragments can I add to a delivery? — Up to 30 fragments in a given delivery.
- Q: How deeply can fragments be nested? — Fragments can only be nested up to 1 level.
- Q: Can I use a Draft fragment in my content? — Yes, you can add any Draft or Live fragment, but you cannot activate the journey or campaign while a Draft fragment is used; draft fragments show an error at publication and must be approved.
- Q: Can I nest fragments that contain conditional content? — No. Nesting fragments with conditional content is not supported and can cause loss of variant mappings, compatibility mode warnings, and inconsistent email rendering.
- Q: Why does my fragment appear blank in the Email Designer? — If the fragment uses dynamic content and its default state is empty, it may appear blank because the system uses the default variant as a fallback; simulate the email with a profile that meets the fragment’s dynamic content conditions to preview the actual content.
- Q: What happens when I break inheritance? — The fragment content is copied into the current design, it becomes a standalone element no longer linked to the original fragment, and changes are no longer synchronized.
- Q: Why can’t I break the inheritance of a fragment? — It may be a locked fragment, whose unlock icon is greyed out; the author can later reset its behavior to Allow inheritance to be broken.