Email Templates and Languages

Email templates can be stored in more than one language. The language you edit in Global Settings is not the same thing as the language a person receives.

Use this article when you need to customize an email for English (Australia), English (United States), or another enabled language, and when you need to understand why a learner received one language version instead of another.

Two different language settings

UniversitySite also has a separate Language Editor for on-screen wording in the applications. That tool does not edit outgoing email templates.

Before you start

1. Enable every language you need in Language Settings. The Email Templates language list only includes enabled languages.
2. The Template language selector appears only when the tenant has more than one enabled language.
3. Set each user’s Preferred Language in InstructorSite → Users when you open that person’s profile. Learners can also choose it in their own settings.

Edit a language version of an email template

The Template language selector sits above the subject and body. It is only for choosing which saved version you are editing.

A closer view of the control:

1. Go to InstructorSite → your name menu → Global Settings → Email Templates.
2. Select the template type and template, for example Courses → Completion Certificate.
3. In Template language, choose the language you want to view or edit. The help text on that field is: “Select the language version of this template to view or edit. Subject and body changes apply only to the selected language.”
4. Edit the subject and body. Use only the variables listed for that template.
5. Save. You must save before switching to another language, or the page will keep you on the unsaved language.

Preview and test email use the subject and body currently shown for the selected language, including unsaved edits. They do not reload a different language behind the scenes.

How UniversitySite chooses the language when sending

Saving an English (Australia) version does not by itself send every email in English (Australia). The Template language selector only stores that version.

When UniversitySite sends an automated email to a specific user, that send process looks up the template using the recipient’s Preferred Language when the email supports recipient-language selection. Example:

• The learner’s Preferred Language is English (Australia).
• You saved a custom English (Australia) Completion Certificate subject and body.
• The automatic course-completion certificate email uses that Australian version.

If there is no custom text for the requested language, UniversitySite uses this fallback order:

1. The exact language, such as English (Australia).
2. The parent language, such as English.
3. The tenant’s language-neutral saved value.
4. The UniversitySite default text for that template.

So a user whose Preferred Language is English (Australia) can still receive the default subject Completion Certificate and body Here is your certificate. if no Australian (or parent-English) custom version exists.

Course completion certificate emails

All automatically sent course-certificate emails use one global template: Email Templates → Courses → Completion Certificate.

• Courses do not have a language setting.
• A custom Word certificate is the PDF attachment. It is not a separate email template. Different certificates still use the same Completion Certificate email wording.
• One email can include more than one certificate. The email template is chosen independently of those attachments.
• The automatic email selects the Completion Certificate subject and body using the learner’s Preferred Language, then applies the usual course, learner, date, link, and certificate-name variables.

If you need different wording by program, include the course title or certificate name in the global message, or attach a visible course resource. UniversitySite does not currently pick a different email template per course or per certificate.

See also Certificates - Create a Custom Certificate and Email Templates.

Other email templates

The same Template language selector is available for the other global templates on the Email Templates page, including event registration, event cancellation, and manager notifications. That lets you save a language version of each template.

Whether a sent email uses the recipient’s Preferred Language depends on that email’s send process, not on the selector being visible. Many automated emails already look up the recipient’s Preferred Language. If you save an English (Australia) Event Registration template and register an Australian learner, that learner receives the Australian version when that send process uses Preferred Language.

Named invitation, registrant, and attendee presets keep one shared name across languages. Adding, renaming, or deleting a named preset applies in all languages. Only the subject and body are stored per language. Deleting a named preset removes it for every language.

Expected result

• Each enabled language can have its own subject and body for a global email template.
• Administrators can open those versions with Template language without changing what recipients receive in that moment.
• A learner whose Preferred Language is English (Australia) receives the Australian Completion Certificate email when that version exists.
• Sent Items shows the language-specific subject and body that were actually sent, not the language the administrator happened to have selected while editing.

Notes and limitations

• Do not mix variables from one template into another.
• The administrator’s own Preferred Language only affects which language the Email Templates page opens to first. It does not override the recipient’s language when the email is sent.
• Enabling a language and opening the selector does not create custom text. Until you save a version, fallback text is used.
• If an email still arrives in the wrong language, check the recipient’s Preferred Language, whether a custom version exists for that language, and Sent Items. Contact Profiscience Support if a specific email type ignores Preferred Language after those checks.