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Preview Emails with Test Data

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Last updated on Sep 19, 2026

The email editor renders your templates against a set of sample subscriber data, so you can see exactly how a message resolves before it reaches anyone real. You can edit that sample data to match the scenarios you actually care about, and send yourself a preview of the result.

What the editor gives you

Four capabilities sit behind the preview pane.

A live preview of any subscriber email.
Editable sample data behind that preview.
The ability to send a preview to the email address on file for your account.
A WYSIWYG editor for changing the email as you go.

Preview a subscriber email

Opening the editor for any of your subscriber emails gives you a starting template. Use it as a base and customize it to carry whatever your subscribers need to know.

The screen has two panes: the email body editor on the left, and the preview on the right.

An example edit

The example below adds a mailing address and a link to a fictitious account update URL, using variables from the Customize Email Templates help article.

An email template edited to include the subscriber's mailing address — A template edited to include the subscriber's mailing address

We see that your current mailing address is:<br>
{{customer.address}}<br>
{{customer.city}}, {{customer.state}} {{customer.zip}}

Important: A plain <br> is fine here, because template bodies aren't validated as XML. In a layout it isn't, and a bare <br> will be rejected. See the Build HTML Email Layouts help article.

Change the test data

Advanced Billing pre-populates the test data with a full set of sample values. When those values don't fit the scenario you're testing, edit them.

WARNING: Once you change a test data value, there's no way to restore the original. Note the default before you overwrite it if you might want it back.

To change a test data value

Select Test Data in the upper right of the editor window.
Change the field contents to your new value.
Select Save, then Back.

In the example below, the email field changes from sue.smith@example.com to joe.smith@example.com.

The preview updates to match.

The preview pane reflecting the changed test data — The preview reflecting the changed value

Send yourself a preview

Once the email looks right, send a copy to the address on file for your user. Select Send Preview.

The preview email as received — The preview email as it arrives

Test Liquid conditions

Because the sample data is editable, you can use it to exercise Liquid conditionals rather than just check wording. Set a value that makes a branch true, preview it, then set one that makes it false. See the Customize Emails with Liquid Examples help article for the conditionals worth testing this way.

Things to know

Keep the following in mind while testing:

Test data values are used only for previewing. They're never used in a real email.
You can produce scenarios in test data that Advanced Billing would never generate in practice, so a preview that renders isn't proof the same combination can occur.
Not every editable field appears in email templates. Some exist only to populate other fields. See the Customize Email Templates help article for the variables you can actually use.

Test data reference

Every value you can configure in the email editor, with its default.

To edit the template you are previewing, see Customize Email Templates.

For Liquid snippets whose output is worth previewing carefully, see Customize Emails with Liquid Examples.

To see what was actually delivered once an email goes out for real, see Review Email Archives.

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