# iContact MessageBuilder for Salesforce

by [iContact](https://www.icontact.com/blog/author/icontact-admin/)

_By Chris Dejuneas, iContact for Salesforce Strategic Advisor_

As an iContact for Salesforce Customer Success manager, I am often asked the best way to build email templates in Salesforce. The goal of today’s blog is to teach you about an excellent tool that you can add to Salesforce as a custom Web tab — it makes creating custom email templates in Salesforce a breeze using iContact’s [MessageBuilder](http://www.screencast.com/t/05pzbuFRvr) or [MessageCoder](http://www.screencast.com/t/ku6BWpxXrs) email WYSIWYG editors.

**Step 1:**

Create a [trial account](https://www.icontact.com/signup/) so that you can use our MessageBuilder to generate your HTML for Salesforce — or, if you already use iContact for Salesforce, you can simply use your existing iContact username and password.

**Step 2:** (system admin permission needed)

Create a new custom Web tab and name it iContact MessageBuilder. Just follow the steps below, or [watch this video](http://screencast.com/t/T1Fj2qY4K3U).

01. Navigate to **Name > Setup** in the upper right.  
02. In the left navigation bar, navigate to **App Setup** and expand **Create**.  
03. Select **Tabs**.  
04. Select **Web Tabs** and then **New**.  
05. Choose **Full Page Width** and click **Next**.  
06. For **Tab Type**, choose **URL**.  
07. For **Tab Label**, enter **“iContact MessageBuilder.”**  
08. Select **Tab Name** window. The name should auto-populate.  
09. Under **Tab Style**, select the **magnifying glass** and choose a tab style (I recommend Chalkboard).  
10. Navigate to **Content Frame Height**. I recommend changing to **800**, but what is best for you will depend on your screen resolution. If you have a low resolution (800×600), then the default **600** may be ideal.  
11. You can skip the **Flash Page Custom Link** section.  
12. For description, I recommend **“Access to iContact Templates, and HTML WYSIWYG editors for building Custom Email Templates in Salesforce.”**  
13. Skip down to **Button or Link URL** and change **http://** to **[https://app.icontact.com/icp/core/create/message](https://app.icontact.com/icp/core/create/message?)**.  
14. For **Encoding**, select **Unicode (UTF-8)**.  
15. Click **Next**.  
16. Choose which profiles will have access to this new tab (enterprise only).  
17. Click **Next**.  
18. Choose the apps for which the new custom tab will be available.  
19. Click **Save**.  
20. You will need your username and password from install email or use a trial account.

**Step 3:**

Watch these four detailed video tutorials about using iContact Message Builder:

[Create a Message](https://www.icontactimg.com/content/resources/videos/Create_MBworkflow_v05.fvd2596d8.htm)

[Edit Blocks and Text](https://www.icontactimg.com/content/resources/videos/MessageBuilder_EditBlockText_v04a.fv99b34d0.htm)

[Formatting Message Elements](https://www.icontactimg.com/content/resources/videos/MessageBuilder_BlockSectionMessage_v04c.fvc7fb285.htm)

[The Message Builder Toolbar](https://www.icontactimg.com/content/resources/videos/MB_Controls_Full_v04.fv8e1400b.htm)

**Step 4:**

Follow the Export instructions below to place your iContact MessageBuilder HTML into Salesforce (or [watch this video tutorial](https://www.icontactimg.com/content/resources/videos/ic4sf-02b_v03.fv22c0ff1.html)):

- Click the **Messages** button on the MessageBuilder toolbar.  
- Click **Advanced**.  
- Click **Source**.  
- Click **Continue** (and click **Don’t Ask Again**).  
- **Copy** the HTML.  
- **Paste** the HTML as instructed in the Custom Template tutorial [iContact for Salesforce Custom Template Video Tutorial](https://www.icontactimg.com/content/resources/videos/ic4sf-02b_v03.fv22c0ff1.html).

I hope you enjoy building branded templates using iContact MessageBuilder and MessageCoder.