Create a template

Before you start

The window that creates a template follows Meta’s own form, step by step: Set up template, Edit template, Submit for review. Nothing is saved until the last step, or until you save a draft.

• You need access to Campaigns and templates.
• To send the template to Meta you need a connected WhatsApp number. Without one you can still write it and keep it as a draft.
• Decide the category first. Meta reviews a template against its category, and may file it under another one: see Template categories and review.

Step 1: Set up template

1. Open Templates and click Create template.

   

2. Choose the category: Marketing, Utility or Authentication.

   On the right, Template preview shows an example of that category, what it is good for, and which parts of it you can write yourself.

3. Leave the type as it is, then click Next.

   Each category has one type you can use here. Discard closes the window without saving anything.

The grey types are Meta’s, and cannot be chosen here yet. Catalogue needs a Meta product catalogue connected to your WhatsApp account, and Calling permissions request needs WhatsApp calling switched on for your number. The window says so under each.

Step 2: Edit template

This step is the message itself. As you type, the phone on the right shows it the way a customer receives it. What follows is for the Marketing and Utility categories; an Authentication template has its own, shorter page, described further down.

1. Under Template name and language, type a name and choose the language.

   

2. Under Content, write the message: what is at the top, the body, the footer.

   Variables and their samples are explained in Template variables and buttons.

   

3. Under Buttons, add buttons if the message needs some.

   See Buttons.

4. Click Next.

   The window checks that the name and the body are filled in, that every variable has a sample and that every button is complete, and shows you the box that is not. Save as draft keeps the template without those checks. Previous goes back to the category.

The media sample

When the top of the message is a picture, a video or a document, Meta reviews the template with an example of it. Drop the file on the box that reads Drag and drop to upload, or click it to choose one.

• The box itself states the kind of file and the size it takes. A file of another kind, or one that is too large, is refused the moment you choose it, with the reason under the box.
• The sample is for Meta’s review only. The picture, video or document your customers receive is chosen later, in the campaign or the workflow that sends the template, and can be different each time.
• Meta approves a template together with what is at its top. Once the template is approved, the kind of media sample and the header cannot be changed.
• A template with a media sample cannot be submitted without its file. It can be saved as a draft without it.

An Authentication template

Meta writes every word of an authentication template, in the template’s language. The preview shows the sentence, 123456 is your verification code., and the page has three short parts instead of the content and the buttons.

Step 3: Submit for review

The last step checks the template once more and asks what to do with it.

1. Read the list under Before Meta looks at it.

   Each line is ticked, or says what is missing with a Fix it button that takes you back to it: the name, the message, a sample for every variable, the media sample, the buttons. The last line says whether a WhatsApp number is connected; if none is, Connect number opens Channels.

   

2. Under What to do now, choose Submit for review now or Save as draft.

   Without a connected number the first choice is greyed out and the template can only be kept as a draft.

3. Click the button at the bottom: Submit for review, or Save as draft.

   The window closes and the template opens, with a green line saying what became of it: Sent to Meta. They usually answer within minutes. or Draft saved.

A submitted template is Pending until Meta answers, usually within minutes, sometimes a day. You see the answer on its card and on the bell: Approved, or Rejected with Meta’s reason. What each status allows is in Template statuses.

If the app refuses to save or to submit

The app checks what Meta would reject, so that you learn it now and not a day later.

When Meta itself refuses to take the template, its own reason is shown the same way, and the template stays a draft.

Good to know

• A draft needs at least a name and a body that pass the checks. The samples and the media file can wait.
• Closing the window with the cross, Discard or the Escape key saves nothing.
• An approved template can be changed, at a cost: see Edit a template.

Questions