# Creating your Apteco Email channel

Before using [Apteco Email](<https://help.apteco.com/en/orbit/campaigns/apteco-email/index.md>) in Orbit, you must first set up your channel in the channel editor.

> [!NOTE]
>
> You need to set up two channels for Apteco Email - one for your promotional sub account and one for your contractual one.

To create your Apteco Email channel:

1. Log in to Orbit.
2. Click your **avatar** icon in the top-right corner, then click **Application Settings**.
3. Click **Campaigning Channel Editor**.
4. Click **\+ Item**.
5. Under **Create A New**, select **Email Channel**.
6. Enter a **Name** for your channel.
7. Select a **Parent Folder** to organise your channel.
8. Click **Create**.

You've now created your Apteco Email channel. The next step is configuring your channel.

## Basic details

To configure the **Basic Details** tab:

1. Set the **Broadcaster** to **Apteco Email**.
2. Enter your **API Key** as the **Username** and **Client Secret** as the **Password** for your Apteco Email sub-account.

   > **Note**
   >
   > Clicking **Test Login** before saving may show an Unknown Error message. Once saved, the test works correctly.
3. Select the **Email Address** variable from your FastStats system under **Email Variable**.

You've now configured the **Basic Details**.

## Parameters

To configure the **Parameters** tab:

1. Click **Parameters**.
2. Set **Email Field Name** to `Email` and **Urn Field Name** to `Urn`.
3. Under **Communication Basis**, select either:

   - **Promotional**: You can choose both marketing and transactional templates through promotional channels.
   - **Contractual**: You access only transactional templates through these channels.

   For more detail on template types, see [Email templates: Marketing vs. Transactional](<https://help.apteco.com/en/orbit/campaigns/apteco-email/marketing-and-transactional-email-templates/index.md>).
4. Under **Template Type**:

   - Select **ALL** to view both marketing and transactional templates
   - Select **Transactional** to view only transactional templates
   - Select **Marketing** to view only marketing templates
5. Enter your **From Email** address and **From Name**.
6. Enter your **Reply Email**.

   > **Note**
   >
   > This field is case sensitive. Use lowercase to prevent API errors.
7. If you want to use FastStats fields as contact properties in your email templates, list them in the **File Mappings** box as a pipe (`|`)-delimited list.

   These will then populate the content property dropdown menus when editing your email templates.

   For more detail, see [Adding new contact property variables](<https://help.apteco.com/en/orbit/campaigns/apteco-email/personalisation/adding-new-contact-property-variables/index.md>).

   > **Note**
   >
   > Use underscores instead of spaces in field names.

   > **Example**
   >
   > Use a selector variable in FastStats with a variable description of `Photography_Interests` under File Mapping (instead of `Photography Interests`).

You've now configured the **Parameters**.

## Output settings and additional variables

To configure the **Output Settings** and **Additional Variables** tabs:

1. Click **Output Settings**.
2. Set **Message Content Type** to **Broadcaster Template**.
3. Click **Additional Variables**.
4. Click **\+ Add Variable** to add any additional FastStats contact variables.

   > **Note**
   >
   > You can set these at the channel level or per campaign.
5. Click **Save All Changes**.

   A confirmation message appears when the channel details are saved. Another message confirms the login test.

You've now successfully set up your Apteco Email channel.

## Verifying your channel configuration

To verify your channel configuration:

1. Go back to the **Basic Details** tab and click **Test Login** to confirm authentication.
2. Click the **Campaigns** tab to check available credits in the top-right corner of your screen.
3. If you have multiple Apteco Email channels, then open the email builder to select the correct channel and check your available credits.

   - Click **Template Builder**.
   - Click **Create** under **Email Builder**.

   - Use the channel dropdown in the top-right corner.

You've now set up and verified your Apteco Email channel configuration.