While writing emails, use the insert Snippet button to inject a section of html at the cursor position. In the Pro version of SmartTemplates this menu has no restrictions and can be subdivided in as many categories as you like:

SmartTempaltes Pro only: You can use the placeholder text *selection* to insert the currently highlighted text in the Email. This can be used to wrap / decorate text or build other HTML containers around information you have already inserted in the Email.

• %deleteText("text")% = Remove some text from the Quote Header, such as deleteText("via Paypal")- "John via Paypal wrote" => "John wrote"
• %replaceText("find","replace")% = Replace some text with something else (similar to deleteText).
• %replaceText(regularExpression,clipboard)% = (new in v3.12) overwrite placeholder text in template from clipboard
• %matchTextFromBody("Regular Expression",MatchGroup)% = Finds a pattern in quoted Email and insert at function location.
  E.g. %matchTextFromBody("Delivery from ([-'a-zA-Z\u00C0-\u024F]*\s[-'a-zA-Z\u00C0-\u024F]*)",1)% will retrieve 'John Doe' from the line 'Delivery from John Doe' - (included unicode characters for diacritics)
• %matchTextFromSubject("Regular Expression",MatchGroup)% = Finds a pattern in subject and insert at function location.
  E.g. %matchTextFromSubject("\b[a-zA-Z0-9._+-]+@[a-z0-9.-]+\.[a-z]{2,4}\b",0)% will retrieve an Email address from the Subject line

Note: the new %matchTextFromBody% and %matchTextFromSubject% functions use regular expressions - these are powerful keys for finding text patterns. The first parameter must be the regular expression within double quotes. The second parameter is a number which denotes the "match group". Match groups are usually designated with round parentheses (). Use 0 to match the complete expression, 1 for the first group etc.

To learn about regular expressions, please visit: www.regular-expressions.info. For testing your patterns, I recommend this online tester: regex101.com

[issue 31] From SmartTemplates 2.8: New variables to remove text / tags from quoted parts and save space.

• %deleteQuotedText("searchText",quoteLevel)% Deletes quoted Text
  %replaceQuotedText("searchText","replacementHTML",quoteLevel)% Replaces quoted text
  %replaceQuotedText(regularExpression,clipboard)% (new in v3.12) replace text patterns in the quoted part with clipboard contents.
  %deleteQuotedTags("selector",quoteLevel,minSize)% Deletes tags from the quote.
  %replaceQuotedTags("selector","replacementHTML",quoteLevel,minSize)% Deletes tags from the quote
  searchText - must be in double quotes - the searchText argument must be a regular expression. Note that whitespace can be best represented as \s because it can also contain line breaks. Double quote characters cannot be used.
  replacementHTML - must be in double quotes - text or a html tag which will be inserted in page. To use a Comma within the string parameter, prefix it with a backslash like this: \, - see [issue 280]
  quoteLevel - optional, (number) which minimal quote level to start from
  selector - what you would use to address the tag in css. simplest case "img", or "p" but attribute selectors can be added as long as double quotes can be avoided.
  minSize - (optional, numeric) - number of kByte, minimum size for removing the tag. This way you can keep smaller images like icons / emojis while discarding large images.

A note on quoteLevel, for images I would recommend 2 if you want to remove images to retain some context in your replies. This will dramatically decrease email sizes in long threads which contain a lot of images (e.g. screenshots).

Update - from version 3.11 of SmartTemplates the above commands can also be used to remove text from the forwarded email (as long as it is forwarded inline). Use quoteLevel = 0 for this to work: %deleteQuotedText("searchText",0)%.

The command %deleteForwardedBody% removes the content of the original email when forwarding it inline (not as attachment). This feature can be used to first process information from automated mails (with text manipulation and header functions of the type %header.*.matchFromBody% ) while removing the original information. [issue 236]

%dateformat% function for inserting / updating current time. [Bug 26588]

The format variables are taken from the regular formats such as %Y% for 4-digit Years, with the % symbols stripped. Use as follows:
%dateformat(formatString)%

Supported Formats: Y, y, n, m, e, d, k, H, l, I, M, S, tz_name, B, b, A, a, p1, p2, p

Examples:
%dateformat(A, e/n/Y, H:M)% creates: Wednesday, 23/02/2018, 14:23

%X:=calculated(d,h:mm)% where d = is the number of days to add. h = number of hours and mm number of minutes. Note this needs to be reset using %X:=calculated(0)% to reset it for the rest of the Email.

Wrap the format strings in double quotes, and add the parameter toclipboard to force copying the date to clipboard instead of inserting it into the email. Use the additional parameter current to always enforce current time (without that, it will interpret it as the timestamp of the replied to / forwarded original mail) - easier than having to insert the cumbersome %x:=today% at the start of the line.

  %dateformat("A, e/n/Y H:M",toclipboard)%
  %dateformat("A, e/n/Y H:M",current,toclipboard)%

Copy Text Data to Clipboard

%toclipboard("some text")% Copies the literal text within the quotation marks to clipboard. You can use the clipboard as a placeholder variable to hold data for the commands following below. Imporant - to include commas, they need to be escaped with a backslash like this: \,.

Insert Data from Clipboard

%clipboard% Use this simple command to insert clipboard contents directly into the template.

If the clipboard contains multiple formats, the variable will return in order of preference the formats: "text/html", "text/unicode", "text/plain". To force a different behavior you can add the preferred flavors as parameters, in order of preference:

SmartTemplates Pro now supports using "clipboard" as argument for text and header manipulation functions:

header manipulation - examples

• %header.set(to,clipboard)% - set the final recipient from the clipboard
• %header.append(to,clipboard)% - add a recipient from clipboard
• %header.prefix(subject,clipboard)% - add some subject prefix from clipboard

Template text and Quote replacements

• %replaceText(regularExpression,clipboard)% - overwrite placeholder text in template from clipboard
• %replaceQuotedText(regularExpression,clipboard)% - replace text in the quoted part

Copy Variable Results to Clipboard

[issue 187] SmartTemplates Pro: Support transferring headers / variable results to clipboard

Use the parameter toclipboard to transfer header contents such as email addresses to the clipboard: %from(mail,toclipboard)%

Use it when replying or forwarding messages to extract text from the original message body or subject to the clipboard, for example:

  %matchTextFromBody("Please reply until (.*)",1,toclipboard)%
  %matchTextFromSubject("\[Support\] (.*)",1,toclipboard)%

You can use it for copying the date with dateformat as well: Wrap the format strings in double quotes, and add the parameter toclipboard to force copying the date to clipboard instead of inserting it into the email. Use the additional parameter current to always enforce current time (without that, it will interpret it as the timestamp of the replied to / forwarded original mail) - easier than having to insert the cumbersome %x:=today% at the start of the line.
Examples:

  %dateformat("A, e/n/Y H:M",toclipboard)%
  %dateformat("A, e/n/Y H:M",current,toclipboard)%

A valid SmartTemplates Pro License is required for this feature to work.

This uses data from the CardBook address book for all address fields. You need to install Cardbook 84.6 or higher to retrieve the addresses from it. Enable this feature on the advanced settings page:

I also added platform switches to chatname, which select a specific chat name based on the what it is for, such as %from(chatname.skype)% You can find all currently supported switches on the variables page under the section 'Address Book Fields' and can be combined with all address-related variables such as %to%, %from%, %cc%, %recipient% or %identity%.

• %header.set(hdr,"text")% = Set the header hdr (eg. to, from, subject) with the text.
• %header.set(subject,"text")% = Replace complete subject with the text
• %header.set(to,clipboard)% = (new in v3.12) set the final recipient from the clipboard.
• %header.prefix(subject,"text")% = Prefix subject with the text
• %header.append(subject,"text")% = Append text to subject
• %header.delete(subject,"text")% = Delete text from subject

The following functions are using Regular Expressions (search patterns) - these are for advanced users only but can give you great rewards in automating emails. More info below.

• %header.set.matchFromSubject(hdr,regex,group)% = Set the header if a matching regular expression is found in subject line.
• %header.append.matchFromSubject(hdr,regex,group)% = Append text to header / recipient if a matching regular expression is found in subject line.
• %header.prefix.matchFromSubject(hdr,regex,group)% = Prefix text to header if a matching regular expression is found in subject line.
• %header.set.matchFromBody(hdr,regex,group)% = Set the header if a matching regular expression is found in quoted email.
• %header.append.matchFromBody(hdr,regex,group)% = Append text to header / recipient if a matching regular expression is found in quoted email.
• %header.prefix.matchFromBody(hdr,regex,group)% = Prefix text to header if a matching regular expression is found in quoted email.

The hdr parameter represents a mail header that has textual content, such as (to, from, subject). This cannot be used for headers containing dates such as the sent time.

The regex parameter is a search pattern in the form of a regular expression; for more documentation, please check the site Regular-expressions.info. There is also a useful regular expressions tester for trying out your search patterns. For best results, make sure to switch the "Flavor" field to ECMAScript (JavaScript).

The group parameter is the number of the matched expression, for an explanation see here. Usually setting this to 1 will do what is needed most of the time (replaces first found expression with first match).

Additionally, you can now use the matchFromSubject and matchFromBody functions in the following way:

The main difference is that match group is a number - which will insert / set / append The matched text found during the search, whereas replacement text is a text that is used instead if the search pattern is found. For usage simply add the double quotation marks around the 3rd parameter.

• %header.set(to,"abc@de.com")% = Replace recipient with email address
• %header.append(to,"abc@de.com")% = Add email to recipient list
• %header.set.matchFromSubject(to,"Donation from .* \((\b[a-zA-Z0-9._+-]+@[a-z0-9.-]+\.[a-z]{2,4}\b)\)",1)%
  Looks for a pattern "Donation from Name (email)" and extracts email address to set the recipient (to) header.
  .* is a group of any arbitrary character(s) in order to omit the Name portion of the email address
  \( and \) match the parentheses,
  \b means the result of the match group (...) starts at the beginning of the email address and ends before the closing parenthesis.
  [a-zA-Z0-9._+-]+@[a-z0-9.-]+\.[a-z]{2,4} is a standard email matching expression.
  1 - means the result from the first match group (...) is used for setting the header.

• %file(filePath,encoding)% = Include HTML or plain text file. When omitting the encoding parameter, SmartTemplates will assume UTF-8. If the file contains more SmartTemplates variables such as %from%, these will be resolved.
• %file(imagePath,altText)% = Inserts an image file (png,jpg,gif,bmp,svg). The optional altText is displayed if the image can't be found.

For the correct file path syntax, click the %file% label in the Variables tab in the SmartTemplates settings window. This will open a standard file prompt and then insert the correct code into the template.

Auto-Forward / Auto-Replying Emails with smart template - this requires the Add-on FiltaQuilla version 3.4 or later.

To enable this feature, you must first open FiltaQuilla settings on the Actions tab:

Next you can create new message filters, activate either Forward or Reply with Smart Template. Then create a new message filter from the tools menu; in action select "Forward with SmartTemplate" and push the open file button to select an external template file:

When forwarding files, you can use %header.set(to)% and %header.append(to)% to populate the recipients (address book groups should also work) or %header.set(bcc)% for undisclosed recipients.

The command %suppressQuoteHeaders% will now remove all quote headers - the ones inserted by Thunderbird automatically and the ones that may be configured in SmartTemplates account settings.
You can also use %sig(none)% to suppress inserting any signatures.

This feature was added in SmartTemplates Pro 4.4.

Added %preheader()% variable for injecting preview text for mobile email clients. See also [issue 274]

You can add a short text only sentence that describes the content of your email. If you need to add commas within the "text", you have to escape them with a preceding backwards slash, like this:

You can also insert the contents of the clipboard within the text

Usage:

%preheader("text content")%
%preheader("text content",className)%
%preheader("text content","inline rules")%
%preheader("text content",className,"inline rules")%    
%preheader("Some text - *clipboard*")%
%preheader(clipboard)%
  

The SmartTemplates Pro variable %tags% can insert the mail tags of the replied / forwarded mail into the email text. Please note that tags are specific to the mail client and cannot be "sent" to another recipient. To try out, get the Latest version: [issue 320]

Usage

%tags%
%tags(optional parameters)%

Optional parameters

A comma delimited list of parameters can be added to change the behavior:

color - a preset with a colorful label (using the color of the label for font and border)
color-filled - another preset with a colored label (using the color of the label for background, with white font)
filled - tags with white font, filled with dark color
dark-filled - tags with black font, filled with white color - useful for dark backgrounds.
size=fontSizeValue - font size, fontSizeValue is either a simple decimal numeric value such as 0.8, 1.0, 1.2 etc. and will be multiplied with the standard size unit of 1em, or a full value of number+unit, eg 100px, 0.6em, 14pt etc.
delimiter="delimitString" - delimitString = what to put in between the tags. Commas within here need to be prefixed with a backslash like this: \,. If this is not given as parameters it defaults to , (a single comma followed by a single space)
format="formatString" custom html snippet to format every tag.
toclipboard copies the result to the clipboard instead of inserting it
uppercase - converts label texts to uppercase
lowercase - convert label texts to lowercase
capitalize - capitalizes all label texts to (first letter of each word in uppercase, the rest in lowercase)
camelcase - only converts the first letter to lowercase, leaves any internal mixed case intact.

Examples

Similar to address fields, %tags% also supports using the double square bracket Syntax: This will hide the contents of the complete contents of the line if no tags are retrieved from the email.

[[ %tags% <br>]]
[[ %tags(color)% <br>]]
[[ %tags(color-filled,uppercase,delimiter=" ",size=1.1)% <br>]]
[[ %tags(filled,lowercase,delimiter=" - ")% <br>]]  

formatString This is designed as either plain text or html snippet and can contain single or multiple instances of the placeholders $label$ and $color$. Make sure to enclose it in double quotes and prefix any commas within with a backslash: \,:

$label$ placeholder for the tag text
$color$ 6 digit hex value of the mail tag's color

Running "sandboxed" JavaScript

%{%  
(function() {
  var date = new Date();
  const hours = date.getHours();
  if (hours < 12) { return "Good morning"; }
  if (hours < 17) { return "Good afternoon"; }
  return "Good evening"; 
} )()
%}%

(function() {
  return from("name,capitalize,bracketMail"); 
} )()

%{%  
(async () => {
  let mysender = await from("mail");
  switch(mysender) {
    case "thunderbirddaily@gmail.com":
      return "<p>Special text for thunderbirddaily.</p>"
        + "<p>Another paragraph!</p>";
    case "axel@gmail.com":
      return await file("W:\\User\\axel\\stationery\\QuickFolders - Links (English).html");
    default:
      return "<p>default case!</p>";
  }
})()
%}%

%{% 
( () => {
var date = new Date();
if (date.getHours() < 12) {return "Good morning";}
else { return "Good afternoon"; }
} )() %}%

%{% 
  (async () => {
  var val = await clipboard("text");
  if (val && val.includes("@")) {
    console.log("Clipboard has email address")
    return "";
  }
  console.log("no email in Clipboard:", val);
  await from("mail,toclipboard");
  console.log(`Copied from address to clipboard`);
  return "";
})()
%}%

%{% 
  (async () => {
  var val = await clipboard("text");
  switch(val) {
    case 'joe@domain.com':
      return "<p>Hello Joe!</p>";
    case 'customer@somedomain.com':
      return await file('N:\\stationery\\Support_Template.html');
    default:
      return `<p>Dear ${val}</p>`;
  }
})()
%}%

Other Benefits of having a Yearly License

You know that you support the project and that the development and support will be continue. There is a huge amount of work involved not just programming and keeping SmartTemplates up to date but also supporting users, coming up with better ways of doing things, fixing bugs, and keeping SmartTemplates usable across various platforms and host programs (at the moment I support Thunderbird, SeaMonkey and Postbox). I am constantly helping people with using SmartTemplates and their mail program and how to get the most out of email on the desktop.

All notification messages that indicate Pro features are omitted.

The donation screen (which is normally shown after every Update) is hidden.

Alternative Monetisation Models

There are quite a few software developers (and also some users) who believe that software should generally financed by advertisement or even by selling information about their users. I am firmly opposed to this way of making money as it impacts both productivity and privacy rights; also in the world of Email I would find this way of generating value deeply problematic - even if it was strictly opt-in. There is a lot of personal information in our daily mail and a lot of knowledge that is being stored and retrieved with this powerful tool.

One of the reasons for a personal Email Client on the desktop is the fact that we can store our data on our personal hardware and use it any way we like. On the other hand, if we use a web mail client (like gmail) we can never be sure whether the information is used otherwise and whether we get targeted with distracting information (be it by injecting advertisements or via targeted advertisement emails) - it is one of the goals of any mail desktop client to eliminiate these distractions as much as possible, and focus on one thing only: managing communication.

SmartTemplates is an especially powerful set of tools to harness this information and it will evolve and keep saving time and make your experience of mail more meaningful and intuitive.

You have questions / comments about SmartTemplates? Please feel free to

Attributions:
Flagset by Matthias Slovig under CC, see: http://flags.blogpotato.de/
Fugue Icons (or based on) by Yusuke Kamiyamane under CC, see: http://p.yusukekamiyamane.com/
Noia Icons (or based on) by Carles Carbonell Bernado under LGPL, see: http://carlitus.deviantart.com/