Creating and using newsletter templates

Newsletter templates help streamline your workflow and keep your branding consistent across every send. beehiiv provides an expanding library of quick start templates, and you can also design your own reusable templates, perfect for publications that use multiple formats, like weekday roundups and weekend deep dives.

This guide covers how to use and preview quick start templates, manage and create your own, set a default audience, and apply best practices for building templates that save you time.

There are several pre-built post templates you can use as a starting point. 

1. From the left panel, click the arrow next to New and select Template post. 
   
   
   
2. The Post template library will open, where you’ll have the option to start from a Blank draft, use a Quick start template, or any of your previously saved newsletter templates. 
   
   
   
3. Scroll down to the Quick start templates section to browse available designs. Clicking a template selects it and immediately opens it in the Post Builder.
   
   For additional options, open the 3 dots menu on any template and choose from:

• Use template: Opens the Post Builder so you can customize and begin writing. 
• Preview: Displays a full-page preview of the template.
• Edit: Opens the Post Builder to adjust the template’s design.
  
  
  

4. The template preview shows how the full newsletter appears, down to the footer.
   
   At the top of the preview, you can click: 

• Back to all templates: Returns to the Post template library. 
• Edit: Opens the template in the Post Builder, where you can make changes. 
• Use this template: Selects the template and opens the Post Builder. 

5. After selecting to use or edit a template, the Post Builder opens on the Compose page.
   
   Refer to this guide for more details on post customization options. All template changes are automatically synced.
   
   To exit the builder, click the back arrow in the upper-left corner.
   
   
   

You can revisit your saved templates at any time.

1. From the left panel dashboard, click the arrow next to New and select Template post.
   
   
   
2. Your Post template library will open, showing your Recently used templates first.
   
   
   
   
   Click the 3 dots menu on any of your templates to:

• Use template: Open the template in the Post Builder to start drafting. 
• Edit template: Open the Newsletter template builder where you can modify it. 
• Preview: View the full template design.
• Rename template: Change the template name.
• Set as default post style: Apply its styling automatically to new posts.
• Duplicate: Make a copy of the template.
• Duplicate to publications: Copy the template to another publication in your workspace. 
• Delete template: Remove the template permanently.

1. From the left panel menu, click the arrow next to New and select Template post.
   
   
   
2. Your Post template library will open. Navigate to the left panel and click My templates. 
   
   
   
3. If you’ve saved post templates before, they will be listed on this page. Click New template to create a new email post design.
   
   
   
4. The Post template builder will open on the Compose page. You can also switch over to the Audience page to specify your email and web audience. To the right of the canvas are tabs for Write and Style.

• Write: Where you add the content structure (copy) of your template. 
• Style: Switch between Basic and Advanced options to customize the look of the template (more on these below). 
  
  
  

5. Switch over to the Write tab to create your post template as desired. Use the Preview options to make sure the template looks good on both desktop and mobile. Refer to this article for guidance on creating a post.
   
   
   
6. All changes save automatically (look for the Synced label). To exit the builder, click the back arrow in the upper-left corner.
   
   
   
7. Upon exiting the Post Builder, you’ll return to My templates where the most recent template will be listed as New template. To avoid confusion, it’s best to rename the newly added template to something more specific. 
   
   Click the 3 dots menu and select Rename template.
   
   
   
8. A popup will appear for you to enter a name (required) and a description (optional). Enter the details and click Save. 
   
   
   

To edit a template’s look, open it up and click on the Style tab on the right. This will display a live preview of your template on the canvas with Basic and Advanced styling on the right. 

• Basic: Click the arrows next to Colors, Typography, Spacing, and Borders to make quick adjustments to the template.
• Advanced: Further customize specific elements by clicking the arrows next to Background, Email Header, Body,Widgets, and Email Footer.   
  
  
  

Basic setting options include:

• Colors: Set different colors for the outside background, post background, text on background, primary, text on primary, secondary, and links. (Colors are expanded in the image above.)
• Typography: Adjust the heading and paragraph text, plus the font family and font weight for each. 
• Spacing: Adjust the margins and padding for the post in pixels. 
• Borders: Set the corner radius and border thickness.
  
  
  

The Advanced tab offers more granular customization, including:

• Background: Adjust the background color for the canvas, post, and post border. Or control the margins, padding, corner radius, and border thickness. 
• Email Header: Set how the email header will look by adjusting the title, subtitle, image, byline, date, padding, and code.
• Body: Control the look of the paragraph text and 6 header options (H1-H6). For the fonts, you can also adjust the family, weight, size, line height, color, and gap.  
• Widgets: Settings for all aspects of the different widgets including: links, images, buttons, breaks, lists, quotes, embeds, and tables. 
• Email Footer: Control how the email footer will look by adjusting the colors, text, border, margin, social links, copyright text, and address. Or select Custom to add additional footer content. 

You can pair any template with a default audience so that each time you create a post from it, the audience is already selected for you. This is useful for recurring sends where the recipient list is always the same, for example, a premium digest that always goes to paid subscribers, or a weekly roundup that always goes to your full list.

To set a default audience on a template:

1. Click on Newsletter in the left panel menu.
2. On your Posts page, click the arrow next to Start writing and select Use template. 
   
   
   
3. The Post template library will open. Click My templates in the left panel to view your saved templates.
   
   
   
4. Navigate to the template you want to update, click the three dots menu, and select Edit template.
5. At the top of the template editor, click the Audience tab.
6. For Publish your post to, select whether posts created from this template should go to Email and web, Email only, or Web only.
7. Under Email audience, check the boxes for the tiers you want to include: All free subscribers, All paid subscribers, or individual paid tiers.
   
   
   
8. To target a specific segment, toggle on Include and exclude segments and select the segments you want to include or exclude.
9. Under Web audience, make the same selections for the web version of the post.
10. Your selections save automatically. There is no separate save button on the Audience tab, and your selections will be retained when you reopen the template. Simply click the arrow in the top-left corner to exit. 

To remove or change a template's audience, return to the Audience tab and update or uncheck your selections.

• Changes to a template's audience only apply to new posts you create from it going forward. Posts already created from the template keep whatever audience was set at the time.
• The audience pre-populates when you create a post from the template but is not locked. You can change it on any individual post without affecting the template.
• If you delete a segment that was set as a template's audience, the audience will be cleared from the template automatically.

You can turn any post (draft or published) into a reusable template. There are two ways to do this, from your Posts list or directly inside the Post Builder.

Option 1: Create a template from your Posts list

1. From the left panel dashboard, click Newsletter to open your saved posts. 
    
2. Navigate to the post you want to save as a template, then click the 3 dots menu, and select Save post as template.
   
   
   
3. In the popup, enter a template name and click Save template.
   
   
   
4. Your new template will now appear under My templates in your Post template library.
   
   
   

Option 2: Create a template from the Post Builder

1. From your account dashboard, go to Newsletter.
    
2. Click the three dots menu next to the post you’d like to use as a template, then select Edit post. 
    
3. The post will open on the Compose page with the Write panel accessed. From the icons at the top, click the Save as template icon.  
   
   
   
4. Enter a template name and click Save template.
   
   
   
5. Your saved template will be available anytime under My templates in your Post template library.
   
   
   

Well-structured templates help you move faster, stay consistent, and reduce repetitive design work. Here are some recommended practices and real-world ways creators use templates to streamline their workflow.

• Keep layout structure simple: Use consistent spacing, header styles, and section formatting so each post feels familiar to your audience.
• Use placeholders thoughtfully: Insert placeholder titles, images, and sections (e.g., ‘Top story here’, ‘CTA goes here’) to speed up drafting.
• Lean on global styling: Set recurring typography, colors, and spacing in the Style panel of a post so you don’t need to update them each time.
• Save reusable components: If you frequently use reuse blocks or elements, like promoting your Top 4 or always featuring an ad, then save them (or placeholders) with your template.
• Name templates clearly: Use descriptive names like ‘Weekend Edition’, ‘Premium Only’, or ‘Sponsor-heavy layout’ so your team can instantly find the right one.
• Set a default post style: Choose the template you use most often as your default to avoid styling inconsistencies.
• Review on mobile: Most readers open emails on mobile, so be sure to use the preview toggle for mobile to ensure everything scales well.