What is a Placeholder?

A placeholder is a special code you can insert into an email template — like [VolunteerFirstName] or [OrgName].

• When the email is sent, the placeholder is automatically replaced with the real information from the volunteer’s profile or your organisation’s details.
• This means you can write one template and the system will personalise it for each person — without you having to edit anything manually.

You can personalise any email template by adding placeholders - dynamic fields that automatically fill in with volunteer, referee or organisation details when the email is sent.

You can paste the personalised content to appear — in the

• subject line
• the message body
• or both

This makes your communication feel more personal, without needing to manually update each message.

Why Use Placeholders? The Key Benefits

Using placeholders in your email templates helps you save time, reduce manual work, and deliver a more professional and personalised experience to your volunteers. Here’s how:

✅ 1. Personalised Emails at Scale

Insert a placeholder like [VolunteerFirstName], and the system will automatically replace it with each volunteer’s real name when the email is sent. You write one template — and every volunteer feels like you wrote just to them.

Example:
"Hi [VolunteerFirstName]" becomes
"Hi Sarah", "Hi John", "Hi Aisling" — depending on the recipient.

✅ 2. No More Manual Editing

Instead of copying and pasting individual names, roles, or locations into dozens of emails, you set it up once using placeholders — and the system handles the rest.

✅ 3. Fewer Errors and More Consistency

Manual edits increase the chance of typos, missed names, or sending the wrong info. Placeholders pull directly from the volunteer’s profile or organisation data, so your emails are always accurate and consistent.

✅ 4. Easier Template Maintenance

Need to update a message? Just edit the template once — with placeholders in place, you don’t need to rewrite or customise it for each new batch of volunteers.

✅ 5. Professionalism and Trust

Personalised, accurate emails show volunteers that you know who they are and what role they play. It helps build stronger relationships and encourages engagement.

Where to find your Placeholders

Under Email Templates > [Template Name] you will see a Placeholder button above the email editor.

Clicking this button opens a full list of available placeholders, grouped for ease (e.g. Volunteer, Referee, Organisation).

Watch this 60 second GIF to see how to access and use the Placeholder functionality:

How to Use Placeholders

• Navigate to the Settings Gearwheel (top right of your screen)
• Click Email Templates for your Org
• Select the Email Template you want to edit

Click the Placeholder button:

This is the pop-up box that you will now see. Decide which group of Placeholders you want to view:

When you click the Volunteer Details tab (identified by the person icon) you will see the Volunteer Placeholders:

Under the Volunteer Details tab you can find these placeholders:

When you click the Referee Details tab (identified by the person icon with a tick) you will see the Referee Placeholders:

Under the Referee Details tab you can find these placeholders:

When you click the Organisation Details tab (identified by the building icon) you will see the Organisation Placeholders:

Under the Organisation Details tab you can find these placeholders:

Changing the words displayed for a link

Click the T (for Text) icon to choose the words you want people to click to open their application form.

Select the Placeholder Text tab (T icon) to change the words recipients click to open a link in your email. 

• Type your preferred wording in the box beside the relevant placeholder.
• Only the wording in this email template will change. The link itself and where it takes the recipient will stay the same.
• Click Update to save your changes.
• To return to the original wording, delete all the text from the box and click Update.
• Click Close when you are finished.

How to update the Placeholder Link Text

Watch this GIF to see how to update the clickable link.

You can then return to the email template editor and add ordinary text before or after the placeholder to create a complete sentence, with only your chosen words forming the clickable link. This allows you to ensure the wording flows naturally and matches the conversational, formal or other tone you want to achieve in your email.

How to copy the Placeholder Code

Move your cursor to the right-hand side of the screen and click on any Placeholder to copy its code to your clipboard.

This GIF shows how to click and copy a Placeholder (the text in square brackets) for your email.

Navigate back to the email template you want to update, and paste the Placeholder code exactly where you'd like it to appear. Make sure the formatting looks right — including spaces or punctuation before and after the placeholder.

Measure twice, cut once

Before saving any changes to your email template, use the Preview feature to check how your email will look. You’ll find the Preview and Placeholders buttons in the top-right corner of the email template editor, just above the formatting toolbar.

Click Preview to see how your email will look, or Placeholders to insert placeholders or customise the wording of clickable links.

You can preview changes as you make them, without having to save them to the template first.

The preview shows the wording you have entered, including any customised placeholder text. The words used for links are displayed, but the links themselves will not work in the preview. Attachments are not included, and previewing does not send an email. The appearance of the email may also vary depending on the recipient's email provider.

• Always send yourself a test email before using an updated template. Complyfile will automatically replace each placeholder with the correct information from the volunteer's profile, including any unique links, so you can check how the email actually appears and that everything works as expected.
• If you're updating a Referee email, make sure you test the relevant stage of the process:
• Reference Request Email: Trigger a reference request for a test applicant and check the email received by the referee.
• Reference Complete Email: Complete a reference as a test referee to trigger the email and check that your changes appear correctly.

This is particularly important when changing the wording around placeholders, as it allows you to check that the complete sentence reads naturally, the clickable links work correctly and the overall tone is as intended.