Use email templates to send messages that include information that infrequently changes from message to message. Compose and save a message as a template and then reuse it when you want it. New information can be added before the template is sent as an email message.​​​​​​​
In New Outlook, Classic Outlook, and Outlook on the Web, there are two ways to save templates, depending on the template’s purpose and content type: using the Mail Templates built-in feature or the My Templates add-in.
Mail Templates built-in feature |
My Templates add-in |
|
---|---|---|
Purpose​​​​​​​ |
It saves full emails, including recipients, subject, body, formatting, and attachments. |
It only stores short text snippets for quick insertion into an email. |
Formatting & Media support |
It supports rich formatting, images, tables, and attachments. |
It only supports plain text with basic styling (bold, italics, underline). |
Use Cases |
Ideal for complete, repeatable emails like newsletters or announcements. |
Best for inserting just reusable phrases like standard replies. |
Important: Both the Mail Templates built-in feature and My Templates add-in are available for Microsoft Exchange accounts.
Create a template using the Mail Templates built-in feature
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From the Home ribbon, select New > Mail. In the email draft, add any content you would like to save in a template, including recipients, subject and attachments.
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From the Message ribbon, select Mail template > Save email as template.
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In the Save email as template dialog, type a name for your template, and then select Save.
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To view your saved templates, open the Settings Page,​​​​​​​ select the Mail tab and then select the Templates tab. The templates are listed by account.Â
Notes:Â
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Templates you create in new Outlook on Windows using the Mail Templates built-in feature are saved to the account you are composing the email draft from. These templates can also be accessed from that account mailbox in Outlook on the web.
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For more information on how to send an email message using a template, see Send an email message based on a template.
Create a template with the My Templates add-in
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From the Home ribbon, select New > Mail.
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From the Message tab of the ribbon, select My Templates.​​​​​​ This opens a task pane.
Tip: ​​​​​​​If you don't have My Templates listed, your organization may have add-ins turned off. For further assistance, contact your administrator.
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In the My Templates task pane, select +Template​​​​​​​.
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In the Title field, enter a name for the new template.
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In the succeeding field, enter the template message.
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Select Save. The saved template now appears in the My Templates ​​​​​​​task pane.
Note: Templates you create in new Outlook on Windows using the My Templates add-in are saved to your primary mailbox. You can then access these templates from your primary mailbox in other platforms, such as Outlook on the web, on Windows (classic), or on Mac.
Create a template using built-in controls
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On the Home menu, select New Email.Â
Note:Â To create an email message using a keyboard shortcut, press Ctrl + Shift + M.
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In the message body, enter the content that you want.
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In the message window, select File > Save As.
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In the Save As dialog box, in the Save as type list, select Outlook Template.
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In the File name box, type a name for your template, and then select Save.
By default templates are saved in the following location:
c:\users\username\appdata\roaming\microsoft\templates
Note:Â For more information on how to send an email message using a template, see Send an email message based on a template.
Create a template with the My Templates add-in
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From the ribbon, select New Email.
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From the Message tab of the ribbon, select View Templates. This opens a task pane.
Tip: ​​​​​​​If you don't have My Templates listed, your organization may have add-ins turned off. For further assistance, contact your administrator.
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In the My Templates task pane, select +Template.
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In the Title field, enter a name for the new template.
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In the succeeding field, enter the template message.
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Select Save. The saved template now appears in the My Templates ​​​​​​​task pane.
​​​​​​​Notes:Â
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Templates you create in classic Outlook on Windows are saved to your primary mailbox. You can then access these templates from your primary mailbox in other platforms, such as Outlook on the web, on Windows (new), or on Mac.
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While you're in the context of a shared mailbox in classic Outlook for Windows, templates created with the My Templates add-in from the shared mailbox are only available to your account. Other users with access to the shared mailbox can't view or edit the templates you create. If you want to create a template that can be used and edited by anyone with access to the shared mailbox, see the Template availability in shared mailboxes section of the Outlook on the web tab.
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Important: Both the Mail Templates built-in feature and My Templates add-in are available for Microsoft Exchange accounts.
Create a template using the Mail Templates built-in feature
-
From the Home ribbon, select New > Mail. In the email draft, add any content you would like to save in a template, including recipients, subject and attachments.
-
From the Message ribbon, select Mail template > Save email as template.
-
In the Save email as template dialog, type a name for your template, and then select Save.
-
To view your saved templates, open the Settings Page,​​​​​​​ select the Mail tab and then select the Templates tab. The templates are listed by account.Â
Notes:Â
-
Templates you create in Outlook on the web using the Mail Templates built-in feature are saved to the account you are composing the email draft from. These templates can also be accessed from that account mailbox in new Outlook on Windows.
-
For more information on how to send an email message using a template, see Send an email message based on a template.
Create a template with the My Templates add-in
-
From the ribbon, select New > Mail.
-
From the Message tab of the ribbon, select My Templates.​​​​​​ This opens a task pane.
Tip: ​​​​​​​If you don't have My Templates listed, your organization may have add-ins turned off. For further assistance, contact your administrator.
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In the My Templates task pane, select +Template.
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In the Title field, enter a name for the new template.
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In the succeeding field, enter the template message.
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Select Save. The saved template now appears in the My Templates ​​​​​​​task pane.
Note: Templates you create in Outlook on the web using the My Templates add-in are saved to your primary mailbox. You can then access these templates from your primary mailbox in other platforms, such as Outlook on Windows (new and classic) or on Mac.Â
See also
Can I create email templates in Outlook for Mac?