This page walks you through everything you need to send emails to your subscribers: drafting, previewing, scheduling, and troubleshooting common delivery issues.
The "Emails" page is the command center for your newsletter. When you write, schedule, and publish newsletters, they'll appear here.
To write a newsletter, click New in the upper right corner of the Emails page:
Buttondown saves your work automatically as you write.
Before publishing to your subscribers, you can send a draft to yourself:
The draft will appear in the recipient's inbox with [PREVIEW] in the subject line.
When you're ready to send, review this checklist:
To publish:
After sending, a pop-up appears with social sharing buttons and a URL to copy. You'll also see an Undo option if you change your mind.
You don't have to send an email immediately. To schedule it for later:
Timezones matter! Scheduling an email at 9am Pacific sends it at 12pm Eastern. Make sure your timezone setting reflects when you want the email delivered.
Sometimes Buttondown blocks an email due to a processing error or billing tier issue.
If you're confused about why an email was blocked or errored, please contact our support team with the URL of your email!
To re-send a blocked email:
The Gmail "Promotions" tab filters low-value or sales-focused emails. While it's not the enemy—it helps your subscribers manage their inbox—you want your newsletter in Primary.
Best practices to improve inbox placement:
There's no guaranteed method for landing in Primary—Gmail's categorization is deliberately opaque. The best strategy is great content.
More tips on avoiding the Promotions tab
Buttondown automatically appends an unsubscribe link to all emails, but you can place one manually using the {{ unsubscribe_url }} variable:
This link renders in drafts but won't function until the email is sent. See Templating for more variables.
Tags create subgroups of subscribers. Subscribers can have multiple tags, letting you tailor content to specific audiences.
Ways to apply tags:
To manually tag a subscriber:
Learn more in Tags.
Mail merges personalize emails using subscriber metadata. For example:
Set metadata via the API or in a subscriber's "Metadata" section, then reference it with {{ subscriber.metadata.first_name }}.
You can also use conditionals:
Our support team is always here to help. Just send us a message and we'll take a look!