lost characters in Publisher to List Builder

[Kooster]

I just tried the List Builder add-in to build an HTML email newsletter. It
was straightforward in the upload, etc. But, I noticed that the test email
from List Builder had dropped simple characters like quotation marks, commas,
dashes, etc. The odd part was that some were in place, and others were not.
In one case, the last three words of sentence were missing. In another case,
the italics was fine is one area and missing in another.

Any idea why this is happening and how I can resolve it?

 

[kimwag]

Kooster:

Did you ever resolve this issue? I'm having the same problem and can't seem
to figure out what I'm doing to cause this to happen.

Thanks!
Kim Wagner

 

[Kooster]

No; and, I don't believe it's anything you are doing. What I do now is change
all the punctuation, e.g., it's becomes it is, and then I drop the quote
marks and highlight the text in color to call attention to it as spoken word.
Although this is a workaround, it makes for numerous times of reviewing the
text and sending test/previews email. Plus, it's a less professional
presentation in appearance and grammar.

One other shortcoming I noticed is trying to embed HTML code fragments in
the email. Once you save it to the ListBuilder format (akin to a Web page),
and then bring it back into Publisher (as HTML) the formatting is 'off' from
the source file (i.e., the layout changes in Publisher). In my example, I
wanted to add some mailto: code for a "Send to a friend" feature, e.g., fills
in everything including the body text in an email. I can make it work in a
single page Web file, but not the ListBuilder add-in file(s) without a bunch
of work.

I do like the add-in for simplicity of Publisher to ListBuilder; but, I
would like to get some of the kinks worked out and see some added features
I've suggested like embedding surveys, and a Send to a Friend that retained
the entire email/newsletter being sent (vs. a mailto: that starts a text
message).

Peter

p.s. One word of warning. Your Publisher file will look one way, and the
email will come through looking different. I have found that I need to send
test mail quite a few times, and make numerous adjustments in design and
text. Now that I have a working template, I don't mess with it. Send me a PM
and I am happy to send you a copy, or I can point you to our Web site to
subscribe.

 

[kimwag]

Peter:

I'd love to see your template. This has been soooo frustrating...you aren't
kidding about having to send the text e-mail/preview several times (often
takes way more than several!!)

Have you also noticed that sometimes your hyperlinks "disappear" when the
e-mail comes through? So weird, and the frustrating thing is that there
seems to be no rhyme or reason to when it does this. My latest "issue" is
text that appears to be spaced perfectly in the preview, but is stacked on
top of other text in the actual e-mail.

Please let me know how to subscribe to your newsletter, if you don't mind.
I really appreciate your help and input on this...just good to know I'm not
the only one experiencing these issues!! (Alleviates some of my user-error
paranoia, ya know?!)

FYI, I ran across a great program that I'm using for some of my web mail
campaigns you might want to check out. (The main difference is that you
create the e-mail from templates and then send directly from Outlook, Outlook
Express, Act!, etc.) But the program offers incredibly professional looking
templates, very simple and quick to work with, and tons to choose from. If
you're interested, go to www.templatezone.com and the program is called High
Impact Email. (I've used Template Zone's OfficeReady program for years -- I
so prefer spending time on things OTHER than reinventing the wheel for simple
documents!! -- and I highly recommend their products. Unlike many 3rd party
MS Office add-in software, their stuff is always well-designed and highly
professional in appearance.)

Good luck, and thanks again for your input.
Kim Wagner

 

[Kooster]

Kim,

The sign-up is on our Web page: www.nvestntech.com; we'd love to have you as
a subscriber. Past issues are available there as well. I don't see any email
address in your profile, so PM me via our Web site and I'll send you the
Publisher file.

I go back to the days of using MS-Word merges in MS-Outlook to create email
newsletters. Today, that's not a practical alternative (for a wide variety of
reasons). In that vein, we have found that server-based services (like
ListBuilder) remove many of the Exchange/Outlook issues of mailing large
lists, SPAM filters, firewalls, etc. Plus, they offer a better subscriber
profile and sign-up process than we could manage on our own. Although we,
too, found many alternatives with great templates and interfaces, we chose
MS-Publisher for the simplicity (skill set...doing other work in the same
application) and the add-in (which we now question) for ListBuilder.

On the missing hyperlinks and graphics, I have found that may be related to
the connection from your email client to the server (where they reside).
Sometimes the email looks great, and when you print it, the graphics and
formatting are gone. Do it again in one minute, and everything is fine. I
have seen timeouts on the hyperlinks, too (I suspect that's a Web hosting
issue on our side; doesn't happen very often).

Tracking is important to us. The ListBuilder tracking is 'ok' (could be
better), and there seems to be no support for "Send to a friend". This is
something our subscribers are asking for. And, we wanted an embedded survey
in an issue of the newsletter; we found that we have to host that with a
hyperlink and separate code on our server. We have suggested (to no avail)
both of these to Microsoft (they acknowledged they were good ideas).

If we could get past these 'dropped' formatting issues, I think we'd be much
happier about the combination of Publisher and ListBuilder. I am convinced
that the issue is in the Add-in, not the service, or Publisher.

Best,

Peter