Message templates

Insert reusable message snippets in the composer, and manage the practice's template library.

Templates save you retyping the same answers — opening hours, directions, deposit reminders. This page shows you how to insert one while replying and how to manage the practice's template library.

Insert a template while replying

Open the conversation and click the template icon (the leftmost button under the composer, titled Insert template).

Pick a template from the popover. It only lists templates that fit the reply's channel, plus channel-agnostic ones.

The template body is inserted into the composer with its merge tags already filled in — the patient's name, your practice details and so on. What you see is exactly what will send.

Edit the text if you like, then send. On an email reply that is Cmd/Ctrl + Enter or the Send button; on every other channel Enter sends.

The template picker open above the composer

For email replies, a template with a subject also fills the subject field if it's still empty.

Merge tags

Template bodies can contain merge tags that resolve when the template is inserted:

Tag	Resolves to
`{{patient.firstName}}`	The patient's first name (their preferred name when set)
`{{patient.lastName}}`	The patient's last name
`{{practice.name}}`	Your practice name
`{{practice.website}}`	Your practice website
`{{practice.signature}}`	The email signature from Settings → Practice
`{{practice.logo}}`	The email logo from Settings → Practice, as a picture
`{{location.name}}`	The location's name
`{{location.phone}}`	The location's phone number
`{{location.email}}`	The location's email address
`{{location.address}}`	The location's full address
`{{location.openingHours}}`	The location's opening hours, formatted

Location tags resolve against the site set as the automation location in Settings → Practice, falling back to your first location.

A tag that can't be resolved — for example a patient tag in an unlinked conversation — is inserted as blank text, never as raw braces.

WhatsApp only allows free-text messages within 24 hours of the patient's last message. Outside that window — and when starting a new WhatsApp conversation — you must send a template that Meta has approved for your account (an "HSM" template).

In SmileLine, an approved template is a WhatsApp-channel template with the Approved template name field filled in. When the 24-hour window is closed, the composer offers exactly these templates as one-click sends; their body is sent as approved and is not editable.

The Approved template name must match the template name in your Meta account exactly. SmileLine sends it by reference — a typo means the send fails.

Manage the template library

Templates live in Settings → Templates. Owners and managers can create and edit them; everyone else can use them in the composer.

Go to Settings → Templates and click New template.

Give it a Name and choose a Channel — Any channel makes it available everywhere, or pick WhatsApp, SMS or Email to scope it.

Write the message. Email templates get the visual editor and a Subject; SMS, WhatsApp and Any channel templates get a plain text box. WhatsApp templates can also carry the Approved template name and Language code.

Add merge tags where you want them. In an email, type { and pick a field from the list that appears. On any channel, the merge-tag buttons under the editor insert one at the cursor.

Click Save. The template appears in every composer straight away.

It is the same editor everywhere a template is edited, including the Edit template button inside an automation step — so an email keeps its design no matter where you change it.

To retire a template, click Archive on its row — it disappears from the composer but stays in the list, and Restore brings it back.

The email visual editor

Email templates are written in a visual editor rather than a plain text box.

Plain paragraphs read like a personal email — that is the default, and usually the right one for a follow-up.
Type / for layout blocks: headings, lists, quotes, buttons, dividers, sections and columns.
Type { to search the merge tags and insert one. Keep typing to filter the list, then press Enter, or click the one you want.
Select text to get formatting options.
Click Image to add a picture, or paste and drag one straight into the body.
Press Escape once to close an open menu, and again to close the dialog.

Images

Click Image below the editor to upload a picture or reuse one you have already uploaded. Anything you upload joins your practice's image library and stays available in every template, campaign and reply, so a logo only needs uploading once.

Use JPEG, PNG or GIF, up to 2 MB each. Images are hosted for you and load from a link in the email, so keep them small enough to appear quickly on a phone.

Deleting an image from the library breaks it in emails you have already sent, because those emails load it from that same link. Leave it in place unless you want it gone everywhere.

WebP images are rejected. Outlook cannot display them, and a picture that silently fails to load in a patient's inbox is worse than one you could not upload.

Many people read email with images switched off, so never put words that matter, such as an appointment time or a cancellation link, inside a picture.

The editor writes the email at 600px wide, which is the standard for email clients. On a narrow screen it shrinks to fit — what recipients see on a phone.