Introduction
When you configure a notification, in the Message composition area you have to enter a Subject and Body for your message. For some notification events, you may find these fields prefilled with a template, that you can modify if required.
This article covers the various ways in which you can edit and customize the content and appearance of a notification message, by adding formatting, images, links, and html tags, as well as using the available shortcodes.
For a general overview of how to set up a notification, see instead the main article: Configuring notifications.
Access the message composition area
To get started:
- Select Navigation menu > Configuration (spanner icon) > Automation > Notifications and click the name of the notification that you want to edit.
- Next, in the Properties tab, under Composition, select the delivery channel (for example Platform, or Email) for which you want to enter or customize the message.
If the channel is already enabled, its message composition area will appear on the right.
Otherwise, you need to enable the channel first. For more information see the article Configuring notifications > Compose the notification message.
Tip: Remember that the message composition area is specific to each delivery channel. If you want to enable more than one delivery channel, you will need to fill in or customize the message subject and body separately for each one.
Once you access the composition area for your chosen delivery channel, you will see the Message area, with fields for the Subject and Body:
- These are marked (required) because, if you enable the channel, you must fill them in for at least one language.
- You can optionally add translations in other languages as well. For more on this see the article: Notifications in different languages.
- For some notification events you will see these fields already populated with a predefined template.
Whether you enter the message from scratch, or edit the provided template, you can customize and format your message in various ways, as discussed in the rest of this article.
Formatting
For in-platform and email notifications, the text in the message Body can be formatted using the toolbar buttons at the top.
You can apply standard formatting such as heading levels, text color, bold, italic, paragraph alignment, bulleted and numbered lists.
In addition to the standard text formatting options you can insert links, images and tables. You can also click < > to enter source-code mode and edit the html of the message directly.
For slack notifications there is no toolbar, but you can use markdown (opens in a new tab) to format the text.
Note that for mobile push notifications, the message body is plain text, so there are no formatting options.
Shortcodes
You can incorporate into your message the shortcodes listed underneath the message body.
These are tags such as {{course_name}} or {{first_name}} that will be replaced with the relevant data–from the notification event and recipient–when the notification is sent out. For more information see also the article Shortcodes in notifications.
- Click on a shortcode chip to insert it into the current cursor position in the message subject or body.
- You can also remove unwanted shortcodes by simply deleting them from the message body.
Please note: The available shortcodes depend on the chosen notification event, and you can only use the ones that are listed. Do not manually insert other shortcodes into your message body.
Tables
If the notification body includes a table, you can click on the table directly to access a toolbar of standard table formatting options. These include border styling, adding, removing or merging rows and columns, cell alignment, background colors, and more.
Images
You can add images to your message body, or edit and format the existing ones.
To add an image: in the toolbar at the top click the Insert image button, then either:
- Click the Upload image icon and then drop, upload, or browse for the desired image
- Click the By URL icon and enter the web address of the desired image
To edit an existing image:
- Click on the image in the message body. This will open an image toolbar.
- Here you can apply various options, including: image alignment, set how text flows around the image, add a caption, add alt-text for accessibility, add a link for when the image is clicked.
You can also click the trash icon to remove the image.
To replace an image: You need to first click on the image and remove it (trash icon), then insert the new image using the toolbar at the top.
Links and link boxes
You can use toolbars to insert links into your notification message, and also to edit existing ones.
To insert a link: in the toolbar at the top click the Insert link button, then enter the link Text, the targeted URL, and whether it should open in a new tab.
To edit a link: Click on the link in the message body, then click the pencil icon (edit link). This will open a window similar to the insert one, where you can edit the link Text, URL, and whether it opens in a new tab.
To edit link boxes: Some notification templates include “link boxes”, meaning buttons such as “Access course” or “Log in now”, which users can click to reach the targeted resource or page. You can edit these in the same way as ordinary links:
- Click the button in the message editor and then click the pencil icon (edit link).
Note: The functionality of links in notifications may depend on the user's visibility settings for courses, learning plans, or resources. For example, if a link directs to a course the user is not enrolled in, or to a channel they haven’t been assigned, it may lead to a “404 – Page Not Found” error
Use HTML to customize layout
You can also edit the notification’s source code directly using HTML.
Access the HTML editor
- Click the </> Source icon in the toolbar to switch to HTML view.
Example HTML
<p><strong>Welcome,{{user_name}}!</strong></p>
<a href="https://yourdomain.com" target="_blank">Start Your Course</a>Supported HTML tags
Docebo supports basic HTML:
- Paragraphs and formatting: <p>, <br>, <strong>, <em>
- Lists: <ul>, <ol>, <li>
- Links: <a href=""> with target="_blank"
- Images: <img src="..." alt="..."> (hosted externally or uploaded)
- Inline styles: e.g., style="color: blue;", style="font-size: 16px;"
Not supported
- <script>, <iframe>, or embedded third-party code
- Full <style> blocks or JavaScript
Calendar attachments
In Attachments area at the bottom, you can include a calendar attachment in the notification. This option is available only for certain event types (those relating to ILT sessions and courses) and only for the email or Slack delivery channels.