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Creative Defaults & Sharing

Every creative card has a three-dot menu for managing it. This page covers the actions that go beyond editing: setting a default, duplicating, sharing, downloading, hiding, and deleting.

Make a creative the default​

Each mail piece (4x6 postcard, 6x9 postcard, 6x11 postcard, windowed letter, windowless letter, notecard, Magnacard, gift card) can have one default creative.

  1. Go to Creatives in the sidebar.
  2. Click the three-dot button on the creative's card.
  3. Click Make default.

The card shows a Default badge, and making another creative of the same mail piece the default moves the badge to it.

What the default does:

  • In the dashboard, the default creative is listed first when you pick a creative in Send Mail or in a campaign's What step.
  • For API and integration sends, making a creative the default also makes its front and message the account's default image template and default message template for that mail piece. A send through the API, Zapier, or email-to-postcard that names no creative and no template uses those defaults.

A few details:

  • A Street View (dynamic) front isn't used as the default front for API sends. The creative still becomes the default creative, and its message still becomes the default message.
  • Make default stays in the menu until the creative and both its sides are the defaults, so you can use it again after changing a default template some other way.

To send a specific creative through the API or an integration instead of relying on defaults, send it by its creative ID. See Finding Creative & Template IDs.

Duplicate a creative​

Duplicate makes a copy of the creative with its own copies of the front and the message. Editing the copy never changes the original, and editing the original never changes the copy.

  1. Click the three-dot button on the creative's card.
  2. Click Duplicate.
  3. In the confirmation that appears, click Edit it to open the copy, or find it at the top of the library.

Duplicating is how you reuse a design: the creative wizard edits a creative's own front and message rather than picking from other designs, so to start a new creative from an existing one, duplicate it and change the copy. Common uses:

  • A seasonal or A/B variation of a creative that's working.
  • A safe place to experiment before changing a creative a campaign is already mailing.

Share a creative with another account​

Share gives you a link another thanks.io account can use to add its own copy of the creative, front and message both.

  1. Click the three-dot button on the creative's card.
  2. Click Share.
  3. Copy the Share link and send it to the person you're sharing with.

When they open the link (signed in to thanks.io), they see a Shared creative page with the creative's name, mail piece, and front design:

  • Add to my creatives copies the creative, with its own front and message, into their library under the sub-account they have selected, and opens it for editing.
  • Cancel returns them to their own Creatives without copying anything.

Opening the link on its own never copies anything; only Add to my creatives does. Some things stay with you and aren't copied: the message's Email me when it's scanned addresses and any Cloud CMA settings.

Changes either of you make afterward never affect the other's copy. If you open your own share link, it takes you to your creative instead. If the shared creative has been deleted, the link says it no longer leads to a creative.

note

Share links for a single message template or Street View design also work: opening one copies the design and lands on the creative that holds the copy.

Download the front​

Download the front (Download the background for a letter) downloads the front image file, for example to use in other marketing or to send to a print vendor. It isn't offered for a Street View front, which is drawn separately for each recipient.

Hide a creative​

Hide from library takes a creative out of the main library view without deleting it, which is useful for designs you're done with but want to keep. It also stops the creative being offered in the Send Mail and campaign pickers.

To find a hidden creative, turn on Show hidden at the top of the library. Its card says Hidden. Click Show in library in its menu to bring it back.

Creatives saved automatically from elsewhere in the dashboard are hidden the same way. See Creatives.

See which campaigns use a creative​

Campaign actions lists every campaign action that mails the creative's front or message, active or paused. Each entry links to the action and to its campaign.

Check this before you edit a creative a campaign is using: campaign actions send the creative as it is at send time, so your edits reach them on their next send. To experiment without affecting them, duplicate the creative first.

Delete a creative​

  1. Click the three-dot button on the creative's card.
  2. Click Delete.
  3. Click Delete creative to confirm, or Keep it to cancel.

Deleting a creative deletes its front and message along with it, with one exception: a front or message that another creative also uses is kept, and the confirmation says which. Past orders aren't affected.

A creative a campaign is mailing can't be deleted. If any campaign action uses its front or message, including a paused action, the dialog lists those campaign actions instead, each linking to its campaign. Change those actions to mail something else, or delete them, then delete the creative.

If you only want it out of the way, hide it instead.