The Visual editor is a drag-and-drop email builder inside Campaigns. It lets you design richer, more polished emails — adding images, headings, styled sections, and a Book Now button by dragging content onto the page — without touching any code. It sits alongside the Simple editor, the quick rich-text composer you may already be using
What the Visual editor is (and isn't)
Visual editor — a drag-and-drop canvas for building designed, branded emails (newsletters, seasonal updates, engagement content). Best for emails where layout and visuals matter.
Simple editor — a fast, text-first composer for short, personal messages. Best for quick, timely, 1:1-feeling emails.
You choose which one to use for each email, and you can switch between them (with one important caveat — see Switching back to the Simple editor)
For help deciding which to use, see Campaigns: Simple Editor vs. Visual Editor - Which Should You Use?
How to access the Visual Editor
Go to Marketing Center → Campaigns and create or edit an email campaign.
Choose your audience and continue to the next step. You'll land on the “Compose” email view.
From here, click on the “Visual editor” button above the email composer. This is to the right of “change design.” You can now build in two ways with the Visual editor:
Drag and drop from a blank screen. Start right away by dragging blocks from the left-hand builder panel.
Pick a design by going to “Change design.” Here you can select a designed email template from the Quick designs show, or from your own saved designs via the Your designs toggle.
Click Build from scratch to get back to the Simple editor with a blank email.
The "Choose an email design" screen
This is your starting point for designed email templates:
Quick designs — ready-made, professionally designed templates provided by Housecall Pro. When you pick one, your business logo is added automatically so it's on-brand from the start.
Your designs — templates you've saved yourself
Build from scratch — starts a blank email
Continue editing — appears when you have unsaved work in progress, so you can jump back in.
Change design — inside the editor, this takes you back to this screen to pick a different starting point.
Using the Visual editor
Once you're in the Visual editor, you can:
Drag content onto the canvas — text, images, dividers, quotes, layout columns/sections, and lists.
Add a Book Now button — use the Add button option to drop in a Book Now button. It links to your online booking page automatically, so customers can book straight from the email.
Click any element to style it — fonts, sizes, colors, spacing, and image settings in the styles panel.
Add and replace images — upload your own or swap out images in a template.
Insert variables — drop in personalization like the customer's first name from the merge-tags list.
Preview your email before sending to see exactly what customers will receive.
Switching back to the Simple editor
To leave the Visual editor and return to the Simple editor, click the Simple editor button in the toolbar.
⚠️ Switching editors clears your content. Because the Simple editor and Visual editor work differently under the hood, your current email content cannot be carried over between them. When you switch, you'll see a "Discard changes" warning: "Switching editor modes will delete your content. Are you sure?" Choose Yes, discard content to switch (your email is cleared), or No, keep it to stay put.
Pro Tip: Decide which editor fits your email before you invest time building it, so you don't lose work switching later. If you think you'll want the Visual editor, start there by picking a design.
Save a design to reuse it
When you've built an email you like in the Visual editor, click Save as template. You'll see "Template saved successfully," and the design will appear under the Your designs tab on the "Choose an email design" screen — ready to reuse for future campaigns.
What's kept between uses (and what starts fresh)
The Visual editor is designed to give you a clean start every time:
Each campaign starts fresh. A new email begins from the design you pick (Quick or Your designs) or from a blank canvas — styling and content from a previous campaign do not carry over.
Your editor choice isn't remembered as a setting. Which editor opens is determined each time by the email you're working on — pick a design, and you're in the Visual editor; build from scratch, and you start in the Simple editor.
Your work is saved to the campaign, not your browser. Content is stored on the campaign itself, so a saved draft is available when you come back — look for the "Draft available" indicator to pick up where you left off.
Saved templates persist under Your designs until you remove them.
Switching editors clears the current email (see the warning above).
Starting from scratch vs. starting from a design
Start from a design (recommended for most engagement emails) when you want a polished, branded layout quickly — you'll open straight into the Visual editor with your logo in place.
Build from scratch when you want full control from a blank slate. You'll begin in the Simple editor; switch to the Visual editor to design freely.
Need help or have questions?
We're here for you! Chat with Support using the Blue Chat Bubble in your Housecall Pro account, or give us a call at 858-842-5746.