Localizing Emails

Owned by Phillip Hanegan
Last updated: Oct 15, 2024
7 min read

Localized emails are templates you can add to the email messages collection to be sent automatically in response to predefined policies, such as password expiration notices, or to meet the needs of a linguistically diverse corporate setting. You can tailor these messages within the EmpowerID web application.

By default, the operations associated with email notifications send predefined emails (Email Message IDs 1-21) for different types of operations (Single Resource, Two Resources, and Three Resources). This default setup ensures that emails are automatically sent when approvals are required, without needing developers to create new emails for each operation. However, you are not restricted to using these defaults—developers can specify custom emails in Workflow Studio for any operation activity.

EmpowerID sends automated email notifications to users in several scenarios. (For more information, see Configuring EmpowerID Email Send Options.) You can customize and translate each email from the Localized Emails page so that the version sent to each user matches their preferred language setting.


Customizing an Email Template

Follow these steps to customize an existing email template:

  1. Access the Localized Emails Page

    • On the navbar, expand Admin > Miscellaneous, and click Localized Emails.

  2. Search for the Email to Customize

    1. On the Emails tab, use the search bar to locate the email you want to customize.

    2. Click the Display Name link to navigate to the email template.

       

  3. Open the Email Template for Editing

    • In the Email Template Details page that appears, click the Edit button to open the edit view of the email.

  4. Customize the Email Content

    1. You can modify the Email Body field using HTML, or clear the IsHTML checkbox to write the email in plain text.

    2. Resize the Email Body box if needed using the grab handle in the bottom right corner.

       

  5. Save Changes

    • Once you have made the necessary changes, click Save.

Text inside braces, for example, {BusinessProcessID} and {CurrentOperationName} in our example, represents a placeholder for a value to retrieve from the current record. We call these email wildcard tokens. When the email is sent, the braces and text are replaced with the retrieved values. To preserve these values, do not change the text inside braces.  EmpowerID includes some built-in email wildcard tokens that you can use in creating custom e-mail messages, as shown in the below table.

Wildcard Token

Value

ViewTaskDetailsServerURL

URL of the server for viewing task details

TaskRespondServerURL

URL of the server for task response

TaskRejectServerURL

URL of the server for task rejection

TargetResourceName

Name of the target resource

InitiatorComments

Comments entered by the initiator of the request

WorkflowTitle

Name of the workflow

WorkflowDisplayName

Friendly name of the current business process

ReferringURL

Referring URL for the request

ApprovalURL

URL for the approver

RequestManagerLink

URL for the manager of the requestor

EmpowerIDWebServerName

Name of the EmpowerID Web server

AttributeModificationsSummary

Summary of attribute modifications made

Executor

The actor / approver executing the workflow

  • .FriendlyName — the friendly name (display name ) of the request workflow

RequestWorkflow

the name of the request workflow

  • .FriendlyName — the friendly name of the request workflow

RequestWorkflowID

the ID of the request workflow

Initiator

the Person initiating the workflow

  • .FirstName — the first name of the Person initiating the workflow

  • .LastName — the last name of the Person initiating the workflow

  • .FriendlyName — the friendly name of the Person initiating the workflow

  • .Telephone — the telephone number of the Person initiating the workflow

  • .Email — the email address of the Person initiating the workflow

  • .BusinessPhone — the business telephone number of the initiator

  • .Company — the company of the initiator

  • .Department — the department to which the initiator belongs

  • .Description — the description of the initiator

  • .EmployeeID — the initiator's Employee ID

  • .HomeTelephone — the home telephone number of the initiator

  • .IMAddress — the instant messaging address of the initiator

  • .Login — the login information for the initiator

  • .MobilePhone — the mobile telephone number of the initiator

  • .Office — the office location for the initiator

  • .PersonalTitle — the initiator's personal title

  • .PersonID — the Person ID for the initiator

  • .PrimaryOrgRoleOrgZoneName — the name of the initiator's primary organizational role and organizational zone

  • .Title — the initiator's title

Requestor

the Person requesting the action that initiated the workflow

  • .FriendlyName — the friendly name of the Person requesting the action that initiated the workflow

  • .Email — the email address of the requestor

  • .BusinessPhone — the business telephone number of the requestor

  • .Company — the company of the requestor

  • .Department — the department to which the requestor belongs

  • .Description — the description of the requestor

  • .EmployeeID — the requestor's Employee ID

  • .FirstName — the first name of the requestor

  • .LastName — the last name of the requestor

  • .HomeTelephone — the home telephone number of the requestor

  • .IMAddress — the instant messaging address of the requestor

  • .Login — the login information for the requestor

  • .MobilePhone — the mobile telephone number of the requestor

  • .Office — the office location for the requestor

  • .PersonalTitle — the requestor's personal title

  • .PersonID — the Person ID for the requestor

  • .PrimaryOrgRoleOrgZoneName — the name of the initiator's primary organizational role and organizational zone

  • .Telephone — the telephone number for the requestor

  • .Title — the requestor's title

OperationsPendingApproval

Name of the operations pending approval

BusinessProcessID

ID for the business process

DateTimeInitiated

Date and time the current business process was initiated

IsConfidential

Specifies whether the current business process is confidential

BusinessProcessTask

Name of the business process task

  • .FriendlyName — the friendly name of the business process task

WorkflowMessage1

Content of a specified workflow message

WorkflowMessage2

Content of a specified workflow message

WorkflowMessage3

Content of a specified workflow message

LogonName

Logon name for the Person to whom the email is sent

FriendlyName

Friendly name of the Person to whom the email is sent

PasswordExpires

Date when the password expires for the Person to whom the email is sent

CurrentOperationName

Name of the current operation

Localizing an Email for Specific Languages

To localize an email by adding translated content, follow these steps:

  1. Search for the Email to Localize

    1. On the navbar, expand Admin > Miscellaneous, and click Localized Emails.

    2. On the Emails tab, search for the email you want to localize and click the Display Name link to open it.

       

  2. Add a New Localized Message

    1. On the Email Template Details page, expand the Localized Messages accordion.

    2. Click the Add button.

       

  3. Enter Translation Details

    1. Select the Locale to use.

    2. Check IsHTML if you wish to use HTML formatting for the email.

    3. Enter the translated values for each field (e.g., Subject, Body).

       

  4. Save the Localized Email

    • When you have finished translating, click Save. The localized message appears in the grid.



Adding a New Email Template

To add a new email template, follow these steps:

  1. Access the Localized Emails Page

    • On the navbar, expand Admin > Miscellaneous, and click Localized Emails.

    • Click the Add button above the grid.

       

  2. Enter Email Details

    • In the Email Template Details page, enter values for:

      • Name, Display Name, Description, and Email Subject (e.g., "Terminate Person Workflow Initiated").

      • In the Email Body field, enter the email content (e.g., "The {RequestWorkflow.FriendlyName} has been initiated by {Initiator.FirstName} {Initiator.LastName}.").

         

  3. Save the Email Template

    • Click Save to add the new template to the list of emails.


    The workflow is appended to the list of emails. If you open it for editing and expand the Formatters accordion, you can see that the Wildcard DOT Notation Formatter appears by default. This replaces wildcards with values at runtime.

  4. Link the Email to an Alert

    • You can now link the new email to an Alert that sends the email each time the workflow is initiated.

Best Practices for Localizing Emails

  • Consistent Formatting: Ensure formatting is consistent across all language versions (e.g., HTML vs. plain text).

  • Accurate Placeholders: Verify that placeholders (e.g., {Initiator.FirstName}) are correctly translated and formatted to ensure information appears as intended.

  • Testing: After creating or editing localized emails, test them by triggering the appropriate workflows with test users set to different language preferences.

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