Previewing and Test Sending Emails
You will learn
- How to preview an email before it goes out
- How to switch between light and dark mode in preview
- How to check your email across desktop, tablet, and mobile views
- How to send a test email to yourself or your team
- How to personalize a test send
- How to add a note to a test email for reviewers
Previewing your email
Before you publish or schedule an email, you can preview exactly how it will look to recipients — without leaving the editor.
To preview an email:
- While editing your email, select Actions in the top-right corner.
- Choose Preview from the dropdown menu.
Your email will open in a dedicated preview screen, rendered exactly as it will appear to recipients.
Note: Select Exit preview in the top-left corner at any time to return to editing.
Switching between light and dark mode
In the top-right corner of the preview screen, use the sun/moon toggle to see how your email renders in both light and dark mode. This is a helpful way to catch any color or contrast issues before your email goes out to recipients who use dark mode in their email client.
Checking desktop, tablet, and mobile views
Next to the light/dark toggle, you’ll find three icons representing desktop, tablet, and mobile views. Select each one to confirm your layout, images, and text hold up across screen sizes.
Tip: Since a large portion of recipients open email on their phones, it's worth reviewing the mobile view any time you make significant layout changes.
Sending a test email
Previewing shows you how an email looks, but sending a test email lets you confirm it actually sends and functions correctly — links work, personalization populates, and formatting holds up in a real inbox.
To send a test email:
- Select Actions in the top-right corner of the editor.
- Choose Send a test email.
This opens the Send a test email window.
Choosing recipients
In the Choose one or more recipients field, search for and select the lists or people you’d like the test to go to. You can add multiple recipients, such as a list (e.g., your Workshop Team) and specific individuals.
You can also select Allow reply-all if you want everyone on the test send to see each other’s replies — useful when you want feedback to happen in one shared thread.
Personalizing the test
Under How should the email be personalized?, choose:
- As myself (default) — the test email will populate with your own personalization fields.
- As a specific person — choose someone else to preview how the email will look with their data merged in.
This is especially useful for catching issues with merge fields, like a name or department that doesn’t populate correctly.
Adding a note to your test email
Check Add a note to the test email if you’d like to include a message along with the test — for example, asking a reviewer to check the header or share feedback on the copy.
Tip: A quick note like "Please check the header and let me know if the CTA button stands out enough" gives reviewers helpful context and speeds up feedback.
Sending and confirming
Once you’ve selected recipients and any additional options, select Send test email. You’ll see a confirmation once it’s on its way.
Select Ok, got it! to close the confirmation and return to your email editor. Your test send will not affect any scheduling, publishing, or analytics for the live email.