Is there a way to preview a notification as you design it?

[Austen Harriso1]

Looking for a way to preview notifications as I build them so I can see exactly what our end users see before marking the notification as active.

[JJ1]

There is a preview HTML body button available on records in email log form.I use this to preview,but your   notification has to be active to get it in the log file,It shouldn't be an issue if you do it & test it Dev instance and then move it to live instance.

[Austen Harriso1]

Thanks Jeevan, this works pretty well for viewing notifications that have already been sent. Any idea on how to preview notifications that are not active/currently being designed? I'm hoping to preview notifications as I build CSS or Javascript into them so I know I'm building the notification right. I would also settle for the best way to send the email to my personal inbox without changing the mail settings instance-wide.

[Dub Myers]

A note about using CSS in email notifications.

You'll need to be careful with CSS.   When you use the preview functionality, the notification is being rendered in the browser you are using.

But when a user receives you email, it will be rendered in the email client they are using.   (e.g., gmail, outlook, apple mail, etc.)     Email clients   render HTML, but impose additional restrictions on what they will do with your CSS, or your inlined images.   Some CSS may be ignored.   Images might be displayed only if a user setting in the email client is shown.

Google "css in email" to see a plethora of hits - this will help you avoid some problems.

Bottom line: test your email notifications by sending to various intended email clients (mobile, desktop, and web) used by the intended recipients

[Dub Myers]

Yes this is functionality available on the Notification form in Geneva and later.

See the Helsinki docs on this topic: Preview email notifications

See the Geneva docs on this topic: Preview email notifications

In short, you will:

1. Click the "Preview Notification" link, or the button at the top of the notification form

2. Select an example target record (if 'Record inserted/updated' notification type) or a relevant event that would normally fire this notification (for event notification types)

3. Review the content, as well as the recipient list.   These are based on target record chosen.

One nice aspect of this feature is that if you have users who say they never received a notification (or they don't know why they are getting one), you can diagnose why a user is included or excluded from a notification.   Just hover over the recipient name in the preview dialog after selecting the target record that triggered the notification.