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Message & Reply Templates

Reusable SMS and email copy with merge fields, plus quick-reply snippets for chat.

Manuall has two template families: Message templates (the SMS and email Manuall sends customers) and Reply templates (quick-replies for chat and the portal inbox). Job templates are a separate thing; see Job Templates.

Message templates

Pre-written copy with merge fields. The merge engine is Mustache-flavored: {{dotted.path}} is replaced with the value, whitespace inside the braces is fine, and a missing field renders as a clean blank rather than leaving {{job.eta}} on screen.

The template kinds

Each kind fires on a specific event and supports specific channels:

Kind Fires when Channel
On-my-way A tech presses "On the way" on a scheduled job SMS
Job scheduled A job is created and scheduled SMS + Email
Job completed A tech marks a job complete SMS + Email
Estimate sent An admin marks an estimate Sent Email
Invoice sent An admin marks an invoice Sent Email
Payment received An invoice payment succeeds Email
Refund notice A card payment is refunded (a lost chargeback sends nothing; the bank already told them) Email
Payment failed notice A bank debit bounces, or a saved card is declined on auto-pay Email

Merge fields

The fields available depend on the kind (the editor flags a field that the kind doesn't expose). The common ones:

Field Resolves to
{{customer.name}} The customer's display name.
{{customer.email}} / {{customer.phone}} Their primary email / phone.
{{business.name}} Your business name.
{{business.phone}} / {{business.address}} Your phone / address.
{{job.number}} Job number (for example JOB-00042).
{{job.scheduled_start}} Scheduled start, in your timezone.
{{job.tech_name}} / {{job.eta}} The en-route tech and arrival window (on-my-way).
{{estimate.number}} / {{estimate.portal_url}} Estimate number / portal review link.
{{invoice.number}} / {{invoice.total}} / {{invoice.portal_url}} Invoice details / portal pay link.

Merged values in email are HTML-escaped, so a customer name with an & or a stray tag can't break the layout.

The Message Templates settings tab showing on-my-way, job-completed, job-scheduled, and estimate-sent notifications with SMS and email channel rows
Message templates: one row per event, per channel, each either active or falling back to the default.

Reply templates

Quick-replies for team chat and the portal-message inbox. Click one to drop it in the compose box, tweak, send.

Examples:

  • "On my way, see you in about 15 minutes."
  • "We'll need to reschedule, let me check availability."
  • "Approved, please go ahead with the work."

Editing a template

  1. Settings -> Templates -> the Message or Reply tab.
  2. Click a template to edit, or + New Template.
  3. Body and merge fields. A subject too, for email kinds.
  4. Save. It's active immediately.

SMS tips

  • Keep it short, ideally one 160-character segment.
  • Identify yourself by name; customers ignore unknown numbers.
  • Don't add a "Reply STOP" footer; the carrier handles opt-out.