Blog

News and tips from Briskine.

Easy image uploads

You can now upload images directly in the template editor. This will save you time and effort by eliminating the need to upload images separately before adding them to your templates.

To upload an image, press the Insert/Edit Image button in the toolbar and select the Upload tab. You’ll then be able to select the images from your computer or drag and drop them into the editor. You can also copy and paste images from other sources, such as your clipboard or a web page, and they will be uploaded automatically.

Once you upload an image, you can resize it, align it, or add an alternative description.

The new image upload feature is available only to our Premium subscribers. Users on the free plan can still add images to their templates like they did before, by first uploading them to an image hosting service, such as Imgur, and using that link in the template editor.

Changes to attachments

We’ve also improved the way we handle template attachments. You now get better, prettier urls, and when someone downloads the file, they’ll get the original file name. For example, instead of seeing something like https://briskine.com/attachments/123abc.pdf, you’ll now see https://briskine.com/attachments/my-resume.pdf.

After implementing these enhancements, we've had to restrict attachment access to Premium subscribers exclusively. This is necessary to ensure that emails you send containing Briskine attachments won't be regarded as spam. Users on the free plan will no longer be able to add new attachments, but they will still be able to access the ones they have previously added.

You can find more assistance with formatting template content and instructions for adding images to templates on the new Template Editor page in the Briskine Help Center.

Introducing template helpers

Automatically manipulate and transform variables or any other content in your templates, with template helpers.

Template helpers are special expressions that you can use in your templates to manipulate and transform variables or any other text. For example, you can extract a part of an email address, capitalize the first letter of a name, or insert different content depending on the day of the week.

Template helpers have a similar syntax to variables, using curly braces, but they also have a name and optional parameters.

For example, {{capitalize to.first_name}} will capitalize the first name variable, and {{lookup (text to.email "split" "@") 0}} will split the email variable by the @ character and return the first part.

We have four categories of template helpers that you can use:

  • Text helpers: These are useful for transforming text, such as changing the case, replacing characters, or splitting it into parts.
  • Date and Time helpers: These are the same ones you were already using, but they are now grouped under the helpers category. You can use them to insert dates and times in different ways.
  • Conditional helpers: These allow you to use if/else/and/or conditions and compare values. You can use them to insert different content based on certain criteria.
  • List helpers: These let you sort, reverse, or loop over a list of values. You can use them to create tables, lists, or menus in your templates.

To learn more about how to use template helpers, please visit our Help Center. There you will find detailed explanations and interactive examples for each helper. You can edit and preview the examples in real-time to see how they work.

We hope you find this feature useful and enjoy creating more personalized templates with it.

Attachments now work everywhere

We're excited to announce that Briskine attachments can now be used on all websites and web apps.

Attachments are a great way to share documents, images, videos, and more with your contacts, using templates.

Previously, Briskine attachments were available only on Gmail. But we know that many of you use other platforms to communicate online, such as Outlook, LinkedIn, and more. That's why we've made them compatible with any website where you can insert templates.

On websites where Briskine supports rich text formatting (such as Gmail and Outlook.com), your attachments will be added with their name and the file type icon. On websites where Briskine doesn't support rich text (such as LinkedIn), your attachments will show up as a file name and a link to the file in square brackets. For example: resume.pdf [https://briskine.com/attachments/123456]

Either way, your recipients will be able to view and download your attachments with a single click.

If you want to learn more about how Briskine attachments work, and about their security and privacy considerations, visit the template attachments page on our help center.

This feature has been highly requested by our users, so we're glad to finally deliver it.

Swipe right to insert templates

Briskine is now available for mobile browsers on iPhone, iPad, and Android devices. This means you can use the same powerful templates that you use on your computer, on your mobile device as well.

Insert Briskine templates by swiping right.

To use Briskine on your mobile device, you have two options: swipe right to insert templates with shortcuts, or use the Briskine Dialog to browse and insert templates.

Insert templates with shortcuts

If you already know the shortcut for the template you want to use, you can type it and swipe right instead of using the Tab key. For example, with the default templates, type nic and swipe right to insert the It was nice talking to you template. This works in any text field, on any website.

Use the Briskine Dialog to browse and insert templates

If you don't remember the shortcut for the template you want to use, or if you want to see all the templates available, you can use the Briskine Dialog. To open the dialog, press the Briskine Bubble that appears on Gmail, Outlook.com, or LinkedIn when you compose an email or a message. You can then browse and search for templates, and insert them with a tap.

How to install Briskine on mobile browsers

Depending on your device and browser, there are different ways to install Briskine on mobile browsers.

On iPhones and iPads, install Briskine from the App Store and you’ll be able to use it in Safari. Make sure you enable Briskine in Safari settings → Extensions.

On Android devices, you’ll need to use a browser that supports extensions (such as Firefox Beta or Kiwi Browser), since Google Chrome for Android doesn’t support extensions at this time. Install Briskine from our website and follow the instructions to enable it in your browser.

Find detailed instructions on how to install and use Briskine on mobile browsers in our Help Center.

All the features available when using Briskine on your computer are also available on mobile browsers. You can sync your templates across devices, use variables, edit your templates, and more.

We hope you enjoy this update and find it useful for writing faster and better emails, replies, and messages on your mobile device.

Tags and new sorting options in the Briskine Dialog

The Briskine Dialog has received a big update, with a new look and some new features.

The Dialog, which is opened by default with Ctrl+Space or by pressing the Briskine Bubble, is used by the majority of Briskine users to insert templates, so we're constantly working to make it quicker and more user-friendly.

The Briskine Dialog with a new design and new features.

First, we've added tags to the template list. Templates will now be easier to spot when browsing, especially if you’ve set colors on tags. Remember that you can search by tag with advanced search operators like tag:en.

If you don’t want tags to take up space, you can turn them off in the new Settings panel. Open the Settings panel by pressing the cog icon.

Also in the Settings panel, you’ll see that we’ve added more sorting options. You can now sort templates by recently used, recently modified, by title, or shortcut.

We’re replaced the New template button with the new Actions panel. In it, you’ll find links to some essential Briskine actions, including New template. You’ll also find the Briskine version there, in case you need to check if you’re running the latest version.

The new design should feel a bit more lightweight and integrate better with the rest of the page. Finally, we've made some performance improvements that will make browsing and searching for templates faster.

Stay tuned for more updates and improvements coming your way soon!