6.1 Visual Fragments vs Expression Fragments

6.1 Visual and Expression Fragments

Content fragments let authors create once and reuse consistently. The two core types solve different problems.

Visual fragments

A visual fragment is a reusable designed content block for email, such as a header, legal footer, loyalty panel, or branded call-to-action. It contains layout and components authored through the Email Designer.

Use a visual fragment when appearance and structure should be standardized across messages. The fragment can be locked so downstream authors cannot break inheritance. It can also expose approved customizable fields so a marketer changes specific text, image, or button values while retaining the rest of the centrally managed block.

Expression fragments

An expression fragment stores reusable personalization logic or text expression. Examples include a governed greeting, loyalty-tier wording, or a localized legal phrase. It is created with the personalization editor and can be inserted where that fragment type is supported.

Expression fragments should remain focused. A long, highly contextual expression can be harder to test and may not be reusable. Contextual attributes are restricted in fragment workflows, so verify the attributes the editor makes available rather than assuming an event field can be saved into a reusable fragment.

Draft and Live

A new fragment begins in Draft. Publish it to make it Live and usable in production content. Publication requires the relevant permission.

When editing a live fragment, Journey Optimizer creates an editable draft version while the current live version remains active. The existing version continues to render until the updated fragment is published. After publication, changes are synchronized to content that still inherits from the fragment, including referenced draft or live journeys and campaigns.

This is controlled propagation—not an unsaved edit instantly changing production. Review references before publication so the team understands the impact.

Inheritance

When a visual fragment is inserted, it normally remains linked to its source. A published source update is propagated to linked uses. An author can break inheritance where allowed, turning that block into local standalone content. Later fragment updates no longer affect that copy.

A fragment author can lock the fragment to prevent consumers from detaching it. Locking is useful for brand, legal, or regulatory content. Customizable fragments provide a more controlled compromise: specified fields can vary without severing the source relationship.

Adding personalization fields

After publication, the set of personalized or contextual attributes in a live fragment is locked. You cannot simply add a new personalization field to that live fragment. The supported approach is to duplicate the fragment, add the required attribute to the duplicate, publish it, and update journeys, campaigns, or templates to reference the new fragment.

Removing an existing personalization field during an edit follows the documented workflow, but new dependencies need the duplicate-and-replace process. This protects live content from an incompatible attribute change.

Content fragments versus Journey Fragments

Do not confuse content fragments with Journey Fragments.

• Content fragments reuse email design or personalization expressions and remain linked unless inheritance is broken.
• Journey Fragments reuse a selected set of journey nodes. Inserting one creates a static copy of those nodes; later changes to the source Journey Fragment are not propagated into journeys that already used it.

The word “fragment” alone is therefore insufficient. Ask whether the scenario is reusing content or canvas activities.

Governance workflow

1. Choose visual or expression type.
2. Name, tag, and place the fragment in an appropriate folder.
3. Author and preview with representative data.
4. Decide whether it should be locked or offer customizable fields.
5. Publish and inspect references.
6. When modifying, review every dependent journey, campaign, and template.
7. Publish the new fragment version and verify representative live content.
8. For new attributes, duplicate and deliberately migrate references.

Example

A legal footer contains mandatory company text and an unsubscribe link. Create a locked visual fragment, test it in supported email layouts, publish it, and use it across templates. A later wording update is drafted and approved; the old version remains live until the update is published, after which linked content receives the change. A locally detached footer would not receive it, which is why locking may be appropriate.