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Flowforth makes it easy to design and send customized, on-brand emails to the right people using your Planning Center lists and individual recipients. Here’s how to create and manage an email from start to finish.

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How to Create an Email

You can start a new email in two ways:
  • Go to Emails and click New Email
  • Or click Create New in the sidebar and select Email
Enter a subject (you can change it later), and you’ll be taken to the email editor with the New Email popup open.

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Choosing a Starting Point

You’ll have four options:
  1. Use the Email Generator
    • Choose an email type:
      • Updates (image blocks + text blocks + buttons)
      • Article (image, author block, and text content)
    • Select a color scheme, font family, and toggle Card Style if desired
  2. My Templates
    • Apply a saved template
    • Choose to apply the full layout or just the style
  3. Recently Sent Emails
    • Copy the content or style of a recently sent email
  4. Start From Scratch
    • Begin with a blank email and build it from the ground up

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Designing Your Email

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Adding and Editing Blocks

  • Drag blocks from the left sidebar into the email canvas
  • Reorder blocks by dragging them within the canvas
  • Click a block to edit it in the sidebar (or edit directly in the text block)
  • Use the formatting toolbar above the canvas for text formatting

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Duplicate or Delete a Block

  • Click the block, then use the duplicate or trash icons to the right of the block or use the same options at the bottom of the sidebar.
  • Click on the footer or select Footer in the sidebar
  • Edit the content, social links, and layout
  • Click the refresh icon to reset to your default footer
  • Click the save icon to save this version as your new default footer

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Editing Email Style

Click on Styles in the sidebar to customize general appearance, text defaults, button defaults, divider defaults, image defaults, and more. For a full guide on all style options, see Email Styles.

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Setting Email Details

Go to the email’s detail page by clicking “Save and Exit” if you’re in the editor or by clicking on the email in the Emails table.

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TO

  • Lists: One or more Planning Center lists to send this email to. You can select multiple lists to reach a broader audience in a single send.
  • People: You can also add individual people as recipients. Search by name to find and add specific people alongside (or instead of) your lists.
    The displayed count on each list is the count in PCO. Actual recipients may be fewer due to unsubscribes, missing emails, or duplicates.
  • Category: The type of email (e.g. General, Students, Kids)
    Helps recipients manage their preferences.

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How Filtering and De-Duplication Works

When you send to multiple lists and/or individual people, Flowforth automatically handles filtering and de-duplication so no one receives the email more than once:
  1. People are collected from all selected lists and any individually added people.
  2. Duplicate people are removed — if the same person appears on multiple lists, or is on a list and also added individually, they are identified by their Planning Center profile and only included once.
  3. Subscription filters are applied — people who are unsubscribed from your organization’s emails, unsubscribed from the email’s category, or have no email address on file are excluded.
  4. No-reply addresses are removed — email addresses containing “no-reply” or “noreply” are filtered out.
  5. Final email de-duplication — as a last step, any remaining duplicate email addresses (e.g. two different people sharing the same email) are caught and de-duplicated so only one copy is delivered per address.

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FROM

  • From Email: The part before the @ of your sending address
  • From Name: The sender name shown in the inbox
  • Reply-to Address: Where replies to this email will go

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SUBJECT

  • Subject: What appears as the subject line in the inbox
  • Preview Text: The summary text shown in inboxes (not visible in the email)

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SEND TIME

  • Send Now: The email will send when you click Send Now in the top right and then confirm
  • Schedule: Pick a date and time at least 10 minutes in the future (time shown in your local timezone)
    The email is not officially scheduled until you click Schedule and confirm.

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Testing Your Email

  • Send a test email to up to 5 addresses at a time, separated by commas
  • Click Send Test in the editor or on the details page
  • Test emails do not count against your send limit

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Other Notes

  • Email appearance may vary slightly across email clients (Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, etc.)
  • We follow modern HTML email standards and work to minimize rendering differences
  • If you notice display issues, let us know at support@flowforth.co and we’ll help resolve it
Ready to design and send your first email? Head to Flowforth Emails to get started.