Choose Built-In HTML or Custom HTML for QCDS Email Templates

Every personal QCDS email template keeps a required plain-text message and can use either Built-in HTML from Plain Text or Custom HTML. Both choices are available on all current QCDS plans; the difference is who controls the final HTML layout.

Built-In HTML from Plain Text

Choose Built-in HTML from Plain Text when you want QCDS to provide the styled email shell. You edit the plain-text message, and QCDS generates the branded HTML layout at render time.

This mode is especially useful with recipient-language translation. The Request freezes the creator's authoritative plain-text source, and after QCDS resolves the recipient language it generates the built-in HTML chrome in that same language. This avoids maintaining a separate HTML copy for every supported language.

Custom HTML

Choose Custom HTML when you need direct control over the email markup. The plain-text message is still required, and the Custom HTML body must contain visible content.

QCDS sanitizes Custom HTML when it is saved. It keeps a bounded set of ordinary email-layout tags and removes active event-handler attributes plus unsafe JavaScript/data-HTML URL patterns. Custom HTML is also treated as creator content during recipient translation, with the markup protected while the translatable text is processed.

What Gets Frozen into a Request

When a Request is sent, QCDS freezes one authoritative email-template source set. For Built-in HTML mode, the snapshot keeps the source plain text and marks the HTML as generated from that source. For Custom HTML mode, the sanitized creator HTML is frozen with the source.

Later edits to your personal Email Templates do not rewrite a Request that has already been sent.

How Tokens Are Rendered

Template tokens remain placeholders until the message is rendered for a real event. Plain-text token values are inserted as text. In HTML rendering, token values are HTML-escaped before substitution so recipient names, titles, and other runtime values cannot become active markup.

Which Mode Should You Use?

Use Built-in HTML when consistent QCDS styling, simpler maintenance, and language-safe rendering matter most. Use Custom HTML when the message needs a deliberately customized email layout. In either case, use Preview HTML and Send Test before relying on the template in production.

Community Discussion

Want to compare workflows, share practical tips, or discuss how you use this QCDS feature? Visit the QC Digital Signature Community. For private support, bug reports, account-specific issues, or feature requests, use the QuantaCade support system.