As most of you are probably aware of by now, Mail Designer 365 version 1.2 has officially arrived! Our biggest update so far brings an array of brand new design tools, but the main focus has to be the all new Teamwork feature for collaborative workflow. This huge new tool for email teams was designed to make your newsletter workflow easier, quicker, and more productive than ever before. Our guide will take you through exactly how to get started and the steps you need to take to become the ultimate team.

To get started with the Teamwork feature, you first need to set up a Mail Designer 365 team for yourself and your colleagues. To do this, log in to my.maildesigner365 where you can purchase Mail Designer 365 Business or Premium Business plans to assign to your team members. Learn more. Once you've created your team, start the Mail Designer 365 app and make sure you are logged in. Open a new design and go to the Teamwork tab, along the top panel you will see your team.

You can use the comments feed to write down your feedback and ideas about a design. To be more specific, you can also use the pinpoint tool to attach a comment to a particular design element (i.e. an image area, text block, or even an entire layout block.) To do this, click and drag the marker and then release it to attach it to the design element your comment relates to. Once you're happy with your comment, hit enter to send it into the comment feed.

If you have a comment or question relating specifically to one of your team members, you can use the mention tool to tag them. Write your comment as explained in the previous step, then click on "Mention", where you will see a list of your team members. Select the appropriate team member from the list and hit enter to tag them in your comment.

You can use the Todos tool to assign tasks to your team members. Simply go to the Todos tab, click on the drop down "Todo" list, and as before, choose a team member from the list. You can then write out a task, attach it to a specific layout block if necessary, and hit enter to send.

Go to the "All" tab to view all of the comments, feedback, and changes you or your colleagues have made on a design. If you want to make any changes to a comment or todo, click on the three dots in the top right hand corner to edit. Alternatively, you can click on the cross to delete a comment or todo.

When you are satisfied with your comments and feedback, it's time to lend your design. Your colleagues can only see your feedback and carry out todos once you have lent your design to them. To do this, click on the "Lend document" button at the bottom of the Teamwork tab. Make sure you have configured your email address for sending (under "Mail Designer 365" > "Preferences"), then, enter the email address of the colleague you want to share with, as well as an optional personalised message. Finally, hit send to lend them your design.
 
Important: Once you have lent your design, you cannot make any further changes until you have received it back from your team member. You can also only lend to one person at once. This is to make the process as efficient as possible and ensure you don't end up with multiple versions of the same design document.

After your team member has completed their todos and added their own comments and feedback, they will return the design to you. You will then receive an email. Double click on the attached file in the email to open it in Mail Designer 365, where you will see any new changes and feedback. For a more precise overview of what has changed, go to the "All" tab, where all changes, comments, and todos are documented.

From here on, you can continue to exchange the document back and forth with other team members until you are satisfied and ready to send - the ultimate feedback loop with Mail Designer 365.