One of the most frequent questions asked about videos used in the drag-and-drop editor in Messages XR Enterprise is how to embed a video into a message.
Don't yet see the drag-and-drop editor option?
We are slowly rolling out the drag-and-drop editor to Messages XR Enterprise clients. There are two areas where you may already be able to access this option:
- the Additional Email templates button in the Email channel
- the Templates tab in the Messages area
Embed not supported
Videos don't play directly inside the email itself. Most email clients do not support embedded or autoplay video due to security and compatibility limitations.
Instead, when a recipient clicks the video preview, it will open and play in a separate browser window. While embedding isn’t supported, linking to a video with a clickable preview offers a smooth, branded experience that feels integrated to your users.
This article will show you how it works.
This article exists to provide All users with everything they need to understand how to perform essential tasks and manage the Messages XR Enterprise platform for communicating with district and school families.
Why can't I embed videos?
- Embedded video works in only a handful of email clients, leaving the majority of recipients unable to view the video.
- Even for those email clients that can play video, each one will only play videos saved in a certain format - and the format that works for one client will not work for others.
- Many spam filters automatically filter emails with embedded objects, because they could be used to deliver viruses or other malware.
Supported video formats
This feature does not work with videos from Resources or any of our internal software. Supported formats are:
- Youtube: Apply Public and Unlisted privacy settings
- Vimeo: Apply Public and Unlisted privacy settings
Supported aspect ratios for videos
- 4:3 and 16:9 (standard video formats)
- 9:16 (YouTube shorts format)
- 21:9 and 9:21 (CinemaScope formats)
Link video at a specific timestamp
If you're using a YouTube video, you can also link the video starting at a specific timestamp. If you need information on how to generate this type of link, please see this Lifewire article.
How to link to a video
The best way to deliver video via email is to link to your video with the Video content block.
- Add a Video content block into your message.
- Once inserted, click on the Video block to open up the Content tab in the side panel where you can configure your Video Properties in the right side panel. For a deeper dive, learn more in the section, "Configure your Video Properties."
- Paste the URL of the video into the URL field in Video Properties and click Enter on your keyboard so that the editor can search for your URL.
- You'll see your video's thumbnail (that was set in YouTube or Vimeo) automatically pulled in to the message area with a Play icon displaying on top of the video thumbnail.
- Change the Title of the video that will appear upon hover.
- Customize the Play icon options available to display on top of your video thumbnail and preview your selection in real-time:
- Play icon type: Round Solid, Round Outline, Rectangle Solid, Rectangle Outline, Square Solid, Square Outline, or Arrow Only.
- Play icon color: Light or Dark, depending on the background of the video thumbnail.
- Play icon size: Choose the size that you prefer.
Now your finalized message will include a way for your recipients to know that a video is available to be watched by clicking on the play button in the video box.