Hyperlink Manager

Email Designer

Accessing the Hyperlink Manager

To add a Website URL, Email, File or Telephone hyperlink click the "Insert/edit link" button on the toolbar. This will open the hyperlink manager. If any text was highlighted that will be populated in the "Text to display" field.

To edit a Website URL, Email, File or Telephone hyperlink after it has been inserted, highlight the link and click "Insert/edit link" again on the toolbar.

Hyperlink Manager:

In the "Link Type" field, select the type of link you wish to include:

- Website URL

- Email

- Phone

- File

To add an Unsubscribe, Web Content or View in Browser hyperlink click the "Special Links" button on the toolbar. This will open the special links hyperlink manager.

Special Links Hyperlink Manager:

In the "Select Link Type" field, select the type of link you wish to include:

- Unsubscribe

- Web Content

- View in Browser

To remove any hyperlink after it has been inserted, highlight the link and click the "Remove link" button on the toolbar.

Now we will go through the details of each link type:

Website URL

You may include parameters within your links. Be sure that the Text to display is the text your recipient will click on to take them to that URL.

CAUTION: When using the # symbol, it must be the last element in the URL and must be included after any manually-added query string parameters. Using a URL with a # symbol that is not the last element may cause your links to break. The following are a few examples of correct and incorrect # symbol placement:

Works: https://www.test.com?utm_source=a&utm_medium=b#anchor
Does not work: https://app.test.com/public/#/2021/?utm_source=dynamics

Email

Include an email address here, so if the recipient of your email clicks on this link, an email draft will be created to be sent to the email address you designated in the Email field

NOTE: The clicks on this type of link are not tracked by ClickDimensions.

Telephone

If the recipient clicks this link when the email is accessed from a mobile phone, then the number will automatically be dialed. If the recipient clicks this link when the email is accessed from a computer, then  some other accessible phone app will be used to dial the number. A country code is not required, but if a country code is included, a plus sign is required to be appended at the beginning of the phone number. It does not matter if dashes are, or are not included.

NOTE: The clicks on this type of link are not tracked by ClickDimensions.

File

The File tab houses the Document Manager, which is how ClickDimensions handles attachments. Select any uploaded file that should be linked within the Email Template, then click Insert Link to include your link to the file within your Email Template. Click here to learn more about the Document Manager.

Unsubscribe

Within this tab you can set the link for the global unsubscribe (which is included within the Email Designer and Drag and Drop editors as a default) or select Subscription Management to include a link to your ClickDimensions Subscription Management Page. For more on Subscription Management, click here.

Web Content

Within this tab, you can link to Web Content records for Forms (listed as Profile Management), Surveys, and Landing Pages. Read more details about this here.

View in Browser

This link is already populated by default within the Email Designer and the Drag and Drop editor.  By clicking this link, the recipient of your email can view the content of the message within a webpage. Please note that the View in Browser links are not intended for archival purposes and will expire after 90 days to help protect the recipient's privacy. If email archives are needed, then we would suggest including an internal email address to get a copy of the email that could then be put onto a web page or using an archiving solution that may be available on the market.

URL Encoding

Some characters, like + signs, are what is called "reserved characters". A reserved character is one that sometimes has special meaning within a URL, and it is best practice to encode reserved characters in all URLs as their unicode values if they are being used for some purpose other than their intended use as a reserved character.

For instance, + signs are encoded as %2B and spaces are encoded as %20.

When an email is sent via the Send button, ClickDimensions automatically encodes the URLs when when we add the CNAME and our tracking parameters onto the URL.

You can learn more about URL encoding in this World Wide Web Consortium URI syntax article.

URL Encoding with Freemarker

If you use Freemarker to add parameters to your URLs, then any symbols pulled in by the Freemarker will NOT be automatically encoded and may cause links to not work properly. To have the symbols within your Freemarker encoded properly, you can use the "?replace" function at the end of your Freemarker by specifying the symbol to replace and its appropriate encoding. For example:

${Recipient.contact.emailaddress1[0]?replace('@','%40')}

NOTE: You cannot specify a replacement string when using the ?replace function, so you will need to remove the ' !"" ' portion at the end of your Freemarker in order for it to work correctly.

URL Encoding with Test Emails

For emails sent via the Test button, ClickDimensions does not add the CNAME and tracking parameters so a + or other reserved characters in the URL won't be by automatically encoded.

This means that if your URL includes any reserved characters, it would work normally when sent to your recipients, but may not work when you send it to yourself as a test email unless you manually update those characters for the test.

Drag and Drop & Freestyle Editors

Accessing the Hyperlink Manager

To add hyperlinks to your text, select the word(s) you want to link and click the Link button:

The process for hyperlinking images is a bit different between the two editors. In the Freestyle Editor, the process is the same as linking text; click on the image in your email that should be linked, then click the Link button. In the Drag and Drop Editor, select a block of the template that contains an image, the click the Link button in the image tool bar.

Clicking the Link button will open the Hyperlink Manager. Click the tab of the type of link you wish to include:

- Website URL

- Email

- Anchor within the Email

- File

- Unsubscribe Link (global unsubscribe or Subscription Management Page)

- View in Browser Link

- Web Content (Forms, Surveys, Landing Pages).

In the New Drag and Drop Editor, the Hyperlink Manager will look a little different. This article here references it under the Hyperlink Manager heading.

Website URL

Enter the Website's URL within the top field.  You may include parameters and/or anchors within your links. Be sure that the Link Text is the text your recipient will click on to take them to that URL.

CAUTION: When using the # symbol, it must be the last element in the URL and must be included after any manually-added query string parameters. Using a URL with a # symbol that is not the last element may cause your links to break. The following are a few examples of correct and incorrect # symbol placement:

Works: https://www.test.com#anchor
Works: https://www.test.com?utm_source=a&utm_medium=b#anchor
Does not work: https://app.test.com/public/#/2021/?utm_source=dynamics

Email

Include an email address here, so if the recipient of your email clicks on this link, an email draft will be created to be sent to the email address you designated in the Link Manager.

NOTE: The clicks on this type of link are not tracked by ClickDimensions.

Phone

If the recipient clicks this link when the email is accessed from a mobile phone, then the number will automatically be dialed. If the recipient clicks this link when the email is accessed from a computer, then an accessible phone app will be used to dial the number. A country code is not required, but if a country code is included, a plus sign is required to be appended at the beginning of the phone number. It does not matter if dashes are, or are not included.

NOTE: The clicks on this type of link are not tracked by ClickDimensions.

Anchor

You can set anchors to navigate recipients to various places within your email template. Read more on how to set up Anchor links here.

File

The File tab houses the Document Manager, which is how ClickDimensions handles attachments. Select any uploaded file that should be linked within the Email Template, set a value for the Link Text, then click Insert Link to include your link to the file within your Email Template. Click here to learn more about the Document Manager.

Unsubscribe

Within this tab you can set the link for the global unsubscribe (which is included within the Drag and Drop editor as a default) or select Subscription Management to include a link to your ClickDimensions Subscription Management Page. For more on Subscription Management, click here.

View in Browser

This link is already populated by default within the Drag and Drop editor.  By clicking this link, the recipient of your email can view the content of the message within a webpage. Read more about microsite links here. Please note that the View in Browser links are not intended for archival purposes and will expire after 90 days to help protect the recipient's privacy. If email archives are needed, then we would suggest including an internal email address to get a copy of the email that could then be put onto a web page or using an archiving solution that may be available on the market.

NOTE: The Microsite is not currently available in the CAN Data Center.

Web Content

Within this tab, you can link to ClickDimensions-made Web Content records for Forms (listed as Profile Management), Surveys, and Landing Pages. Read more details about this here.

URL Encoding

Some characters, like + signs, are what is called "reserved characters". A reserved character is one that sometimes has special meaning within a URL, and it is best practice to encode reserved characters in all URLs as their unicode values if they are being used for some purpose other than their intended use as a reserved character.

For instance, + signs are encoded as %2B and spaces are encoded as %20.

When an email is sent via the Send button, ClickDimensions automatically encodes the URLs when when we add the CNAME and our tracking parameters onto the URL.

You can learn more about URL encoding in this World Wide Web Consortium URI syntax article.

URL Encoding with Freemarker

If you use Freemarker to add parameters to your URLs, then any symbols pulled in by the Freemarker will NOT be automatically encoded and may cause links to not work properly. To have the symbols within your Freemarker encoded properly, you can use the "?replace" function at the end of your Freemarker by specifying the symbol to replace and its appropriate encoding. For example:

${Recipient.contact.emailaddress1[0]?replace('@','%40')}

NOTE: You cannot specify a replacement string when using the ?replace function, so you will need to remove the ' !"" ' portion at the end of your Freemarker in order for it to work correctly.

URL Encoding with Test Emails

For emails sent via the Test button, ClickDimensions does not add the CNAME and tracking parameters so a + or other reserved characters in the URL won't be by automatically encoded.

This means that if your URL includes any reserved characters, it would work normally when sent to your recipients, but may not work when you send it to yourself as a test email unless you manually update those characters for the test.