Customize an email template

Okta sends notifications to users when they reset their password, activate their account, unlock their account, and enroll or authenticate with an email authenticator. These notifications are available as customizable email templates in each Okta-supported language.

If you customize an email template, Okta stops sending the default version in other languages. You are responsible for adding translations of your customized message.

Note

Identity Engine templates are identical to those in Classic Engine orgs. However, the following templates require updates to include variables.

  • LDAP Forgot Password
  • Reset Factor
  • Active Directory Password Reset
  • Unlock Factor
  • Active Directory Password Unlock

Refer to the template descriptions for details.

Before you begin

Configure a custom email address. You can use your brand or the default Okta brand to customize email templates, but you can't send them with the Okta domain.

Edit a default email template

See Use customizable email templates for a complete explanation of all the email templates available to an org.

  1. In the Admin Console, go to CustomizationsBrands.
  2. Select a brand.
  3. Click Emails.
  4. Select an email template.
  5. Click Edit to open the message in HTML. If you see Add Translation instead of Edit, the template has already been customized. You need to make any additional edits in the default language version. Skip to step 4 in Add translations.
  6. Make your edits. Note the following limits:

    • The maximum size of an email template is 64 KB. This is the equivalent of approximately 65,000 single-byte characters (text, HTML, and CSS). UTF-8 characters can be as large as 4 bytes each, so fewer of these characters are accepted.

    • The Subject can't exceed 128 characters.

    • Some styles may be stripped out of templates.

  7. Click Save. The default language version of your edited message appears in the Custom Email table.

Okta doesn't automatically translate the changes you make in one template to the other language templates. To add translations for this customization, proceed to step 4 in Add translations.

Add translations

  1. In the Admin Console, go to CustomizationsBrands.
  2. Select a brand.
  3. Click Emails.
  4. Choose an email template that you've customized. The default language version appears in the Custom Email table.
  5. Click Add Translation, and then select a language from the drop-down box. If the Add Translation button isn't available, this template hasn't been customized. See Edit a default email template.
  6. Make your translated edits, and then click Add Translation.
  7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 for more languages.

To delete all custom translations and revert to the Okta template, click Reset to Default.

Next steps

Velocity Template Language

Test a customized email template