Lock an email template

Enable content locking

You can enable content locking for an email template directly in the Email Designer, whether you are creating a new template or editing an existing one.

  1. Open or create an email template and access the content editing screen in the Email Designer.

  2. In the Body pane on the right, enable the Governance option.

  3. From the Mode drop-down list, select the desired locking mode for the template:

    • Content locking: Lock specific sections of content within the template. By default, all structures and components become editable. You can then selectively lock individual elements.
    • Read only: Lock the entire content of the template, preventing any modifications.

  4. If you selected the Content locking mode, you can further define how users can interact with the template. Enable the Enable content edition option and choose one of the following:

    • Allow structure & content addition: Users can add structures between existing ones and add content components or fragments within editable structures.

    • Allow content addition only: Users can add content components or fragments within editable structures but cannot add or duplicate structures.

  5. After selecting the locking mode, you can define which structures and/or components to lock if you selected the Content locking mode:

    If you chose the Read only mode, you can proceed with finalizing and saving your template.

You can adjust the Governance settings at any time when designing your template by selecting the template body. To do so, click the Body link in the navigation rail located at the top of the right hand-side pane.

Lock structures

To lock a structure within your template:

  1. Select the structure you want to lock.

  2. In the Lock type drop-down list, choose Locked.

    NOTE
    By default, users cannot delete locked structures. You can override this restriction by enabling the Allow delete option.

After locking a structure, no further content components or fragments can be duplicated or added inside it. All components within a locked structure are also locked by default. To make a component editable within a locked structure:

  1. Select the component you want to unlock.

  2. Enable the Use specific locking option.

  3. In the Lock type drop-down list, choose Editable. To allow content editing while locking styles, select Editable content only. Learn how to lock components

Lock components

To lock a specific component within a structure:

  1. Select the component and enable the Use specific locking option in the right pane.

  2. From the Lock type drop-down list, select your preferred locking option:

    • Editable content lock only: Lock the component’s styles but allows content editing.
    • Locked: Fully lock both the content and styles of the component.
    NOTE
    The Editable lock type allows users to edit a component, even within a locked structure. Learn how to lock structures
  3. By default, users cannot delete locked components. You can enable deletion by activating the Allow delete option.

Identify locked content

To easily identify locked structures and components within your template, use the Navigation tree located in the left hand side menu. This menu provides a visual overview of all template elements, highlighting locked items with a lock icon and editable items with a pencil icon.

In the example below, governance is enabled for the template body. Structure 2 is locked with Component 1 editable, while Structure 3 is entirely locked.

Use templates with locked content

When using a template with locked content, the Governance enabled message displays in the right pane.

Depending on the type of locking applied to the template, you can perform different actions on the template’s structures and components. To quickly identify all editable areas within the template, enable the Highlight editable areas option.

For example, in the template below, all areas are editable, except for the top image that has been locked, meaning that you cannot edit or remove it.

Here are some examples of emails edition and the associated content locking configuration that has been set up:

Content locking typeTemplate configurationEmail edition
Read-only content template
Full content is editable but users cannot add any structure or component
Locked structure that cannot be deleted
Component with locked styles and that cannot be deleted. Users can only modify the content.
Editable component within a locked structure.
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