Email templates help your team work efficiently while still creating an excellent candidate experience. Have your application confirmation and rejection email copy ready to add to Ashby!

Using this guide, you set up email templates to streamline candidate communication. When a candidate reflects on your interview process, they likely think about two things:

Training your team is up to you, but with Ashby, you can create high-quality templates your team can use to create consistently excellent candidate experiences.

See the chart below for information on the permissions needed to create and edit email templates. Elevated Access users have access to these for the roles and departments they have been given the access role for.

Watch the video below, or follow the written steps below, to understand how to set up email templates.

To access the email templates admin area, navigate to Admin > Organization Setup > Email Templates. From here, click the + New Template button on the right side.

The email editor is used both to create email templates in Admin and a similar editor is used to send one-off emails from the candidate profile. You can write or copy and paste the content of your email template directly into the editor. The email editor supports the following features:

Substitution tokens allow you to pull information from the candidate's profile or the job they're being considered for into the emails you send from Ashby. They can be added to both the email's subject and body.

When adding substitution tokens into your email template, it looks something like this:

When the template is used to send an email to a candidate, the substitution tokens populate the associated details, like this:

To add substitution tokens, click the T icon in the toolbar either by the subject line or in the toolbar under the body of the email. From here, you can search for the specific token you need.

Adding placeholders to an email causes Ashby to refuse to send the email until the placeholder has been deleted or replaced with the relevant text. This helps ensure that all information is included before the email is sent.

To add a placeholder, click the brackets at the bottom of the email editor. The screenshot below shows an Offer Template with an offer details placeholder added between the brackets.

Enter text for your placeholder. The placeholder text is shown in the template and needs to be removed or replaced when an email is generated using this template. Click Insert to add your placeholder to the email template.

When generating an email with a placeholder on a candidate's profile, Ashby highlights the placeholder in yellow to signify that it needs to be deleted or replaced with suitable text before sending the email.

If you try to send the email without deleting or replacing the placeholder, you receive an error message.

If your email template should have someone CC'd or BCC'd by default, you can add them to these fields.

If this template is relevant to specific departments or teams, you can click Edit Group Assignment near the top right of the editor and select the specific departments, teams, or groups the template applies to. This helps organize templates effectively, but all shared templates are visible to anyone who can email the candidate.

Once all details have been filled in, your template is ready for use!

You can create email templates from any email template selector, including the following areas:

When using the email template selector dropdown to choose a template, click the Create button to create a new email template.

If you need to change an email template after creating it, click into the template and make your updates. Ashby saves changes automatically and applies them to any future uses of the template.

If the template is no longer needed, select More in the upper right corner of the template and choose Archive.

You can also duplicate templates to make multiple versions or tweaks by selecting More and then Duplicate.

There are a handful of template types we most commonly see created:

We have examples of each type you can use as a starting point when creating templates. Once you have created these templates, you can use them in different areas of Ashby.

Set up an application confirmation email as the first message your inbound candidates receive upon applying via your job board.

Once the template is created:

You can create additional application confirmation templates and link them to specific job postings. Within your job, navigate to the job posting in question, then go to the Automation tab to set an alternative application confirmation email.

If you would like referred candidates to receive a confirmation email at the point they were submitted:

When archiving a candidate, you are prompted with the option to send an email. Create one or more templates to streamline that process. To set up, navigate to Email Templates, then click New... Configure the email using custom text and tokens as described above (saves automatically).

Once the template is created, it can be used when archiving a candidate.

When it's time to make an offer, you have the option to create an offer email within the candidate profile. You can set up templates to streamline that process. To set up, navigate to Admin > Organization Setup > Email Templates, then click New... Configure the email using custom text and tokens as described above (saves automatically).

Once the template is created, it can be used when extending an offer.

After generating an offer letter, you can draft an email and select an existing offer template that includes any standard language and attachments.

This error shows if the value cannot be found. This is particularly common when:

Email signatures can be added to Ashby via two routes:

Within Email Settings, you have the following options:

When creating your custom signature, you can embolden, italicize, or underline text. You can also insert bulleted or numbered lists, links, or images.

If you have made changes to your Gmail signature and do not see the correct signature when previewing it in Ashby, click Refresh to import the new signature immediately. The Refresh button is grayed out if you have not authorized your Gmail account from the Google Workspace Settings page in Personal Settings.

You can archive an email template by clicking More when in the edit screen for your chosen template and selecting Archive. It is not currently possible to delete email templates completely.

If you do not want to send an email to a candidate right away, you can schedule an email. Click Email on the candidate's profile to create a draft. While drafting the email, click the Send dropdown to determine when the email should be sent. You can choose from three options:

Click Schedule to confirm. The email activity under Current Activities on the candidate's profile shows Scheduled Email.

To amend or reschedule a scheduled email you have drafted, click View on the Scheduled Email activity. You can then make any adjustments and click Reschedule to confirm your changes.

You can only view and reschedule a scheduled email if you are the user who originally drafted and scheduled the email. Users with access to email the candidate have the option to delete the scheduled email activity by clicking the three dots on the activity and selecting Delete.

If you have the Google Workspace integration in place, the signature default you have set in the For New Emails Use dropdown is added to emails you send via Ashby. You can find this dropdown within the General settings of your Gmail inbox.

If you make changes to your signature (or switch to another signature within your Signature Defaults), save your settings in Gmail, then log out and log back in to your Ashby account. This ensures these updates are synced before the next email sync, so you can use your updated email signature without having to wait.

When drafting your email, ensure the Include Email Signature from Gmail option is enabled in the email toolbar. You can also enable this option when creating email templates.

Yes. On the toolbar for your email templates, there are arrow icons pointing up (Insert HTML Header) and pointing down (Insert HTML Footer).

When you click either option to add a header or a footer, a field opens that allows you to enter your HTML. Click Save to apply your changes.

For header and footer graphics, use a minimum resolution of 1000px on the largest dimension of the image (for example 1024px x 256px for an image with a 4:1 ratio, or 512px x 1024px for an image with a 1:2 ratio).

Ashby allows for dynamic resizing in the email template editor for images between 200px and 830px using the handles on images.

Yes. Font and font color controls can be found in the editor toolbar when configuring your email templates.

To add a font, click the A icon in the toolbar, then add the name of your chosen font. If you would like to add multiple fonts, you can separate font names using a comma. Fonts are applied in the order they are listed.

When adding a different font color to your email template, you can either select the color using the paint brush icon in the editor toolbar before typing, or highlight the text in your finished template and adjust the color via the option at the end.

Yes! For more information, check out Candidate SearchTaking Bulk Actions on Candidates.

You can amend your display name for emails sent from the Ashby no-reply email address in the No-Reply Address Display Name field in the Messaging section of Admin > Job Boards > Theme (Job Board).

The display name cannot be empty and has a maximum length of 30 characters.

No. The sender is determined at the time of drafting the email, or when setting up automation for emails.

Yes! More on this at Shared Email Aliases .

Yes. Click the three dots underneath the template name, then click + Add to Group. Select your chosen group from the list to link your email template to it.

Tracking data like the open rate and click rate can only be viewed for sequences. Navigate to your chosen sequence within Sourcing > Sequences to view the sequence tracking data as needed. If you need to make amendments to your email tracking settings, you can do this within Personal Settings > Email Settings.

Yes.

GIFs need to be uploaded via the Insert Image option on the email or email template toolbar. The file limit is 24MB. If a GIF is dragged and dropped into the email or email template, it does not render properly in the email.

While there is no in-app emoji keyboard, emojis are supported in emails and email templates.

You can set custom text for a URL pulled into an email via a substitution token (like a direct booking link or candidate availability link). At the point of drafting the email, select the email template using your URL substitution token. Click the three dots to the right of the URL generated and added to your email, then select Set Text to Display. You can then type in your custom text and click Continue to update the display text accordingly.

This footer gives candidates a direct way to report concerns about emails sent through Ashby. These reports help us protect candidates and maintain the security and reliability of Ashby’s email infrastructure.

Ashby includes the footer on all emails sent via the [email protected] address. It cannot be edited or removed. This footer's presence does not indicate a problem with your organization or a specific message.

Recipients can learn more on our webpage: Report Abuse