Apologies if this is a stupid question, but I’m new to FOSS and self-hosted platforms and trying to make a transition.
I use Ghost for my tech nonprofit. We publish three different newsletters with different content. I have successfully created three newsletter templates for each of them. Great.
My queation is - How do I then USE those templates to send out an edition of that newsletter? I can edit the template to my heart’s content. But if sending a post as an email only - that doesn’t use the template I created - is the only option, why have the Mailgun/Newsletter feature at all?
If I’m creating a new newsletter each time, what is the point of even having templates?
To clarify further, I am looking for a function analogous to Mailchimp or Constant contact’s “replicate campaign” or “Use this template” in which an editable copy of of the template is created when you send a new newsletter. Thus the template itself remains but that newsletter has that edition’s content. This is a really basic, fundamental newsletter feature - literally the point, really - so I’m nonplussed as to what I’m missing here. Probably user error on my part.
And yes, I know how to create a post and email it instead of publish it. That’s not what I want to do here. I want to send out a newsletter using template x with different content every month.
It somewhat depends on what you mean when you say “created three templates.”
If you created a custom template file using code and handlebars, with a name beginning with “custom-,” then it will show up when you create a new post in the Template drop-down under Settings.
I suspect, though, that what you did was create a post that looked like what you wanted, then saved it without publishing it. If that is the case, then there is not a way to have a new post “use” that post directly as its content.
What you need to do, if you did indeed create a post that had the look and sections you want, is to select the content of that entire post and save it as a snippet. Then, when you start a new post, you just insert that snippet and away you go.
I have multiple full-post snippets I use in this way, complete with headings, boilerplate text, placeholder text, and so on. I use these for the multiple newsletters I produce at Forward Kentucky.
One gotcha to note: If the first thing in your selected body is itself a snippet, you won’t be able to create a new snippet from the selection. What I did was put a line about that opening snippet that said “Delete this,” and then was able to select all and get the snippet popup toolbar.
Hope this is helpful. And if I completely misread what you are trying to do, my apologies.
To clarify this - making a custom post template inside the theme does not affect the appearance of what goes out by email. It only affects how it looks on the website.
There is modest ability to customize the newsletter that gets emailed out, and you’ll find it inside /ghost > settings (the gear icon), under newsletters:
(when you hover, an ‘edit’ link appears for each newsletter)
Then within the Design tab (see image below), there are some options you can select, like whether to show the post excerpt, whether to show the blog/newsletter title or the post title, etc.
More changes would require editing the core of Ghost, which would mean needing to merge code whenever Ghost releases an update (i.e. weekly, if you want to stay up to date). There’s some discussion of how to do so here:
(The start is likely outdated, but the last post should get you to the right part of the file structure, I think.)
And this is what I’m looking for (for comparative purposes); I click “Replicate” it creates a copy of the template, I fill that in and send it, and the template is still there ready for the next use/send. I’m not adjusting the template itself, which here in Ghost seems to be what you have to do?
Again, I guess the snippet is the workaround here.
It’s a shame something like this isn’t an option. I’m trying really hard to support alternate, more privacy-respecting platforms and for the most part I love the UX and ease of use of ghost (the collaborative editing is amazing – no more tedious doc sharing and back-and-forth). But the absence of basic functions like these are a bit frustrating. Still, I’m willing to see what evolves.
