During the ETO exercises and some of the weekly Winlink Nets, operators have been introduced to using Winlink Templates. You can make your own templates for messages that you repeatedly send out.
The basic format is simple text that you can create using any text editor such as Notepad in windows. Here’s one I created for the Greene County Tuesday Winlink net:
Type: Winlink
To: W8LRJ; KA5RUC;
Cc: ka0azs@arrl.net
Subj: GCARES Tuesday Winlink Net Check-in
Msg: KA0AZS, Randy, Moraine, Montgomery, D3, OH VARA FM
To create the template, in your Winlink Express main screen, go to Message, then Templates…
This opens up the Template Manager
Click on Add
You have a choice to save the template into the global folder, accessible to any user, or to the folder with your callsign, accessible only when using your callsign. This might be helpful when working in an area such as an EOC where you might have multiple operators using the software.
Enter whatever name for the template that you like and press Create.
At this point you can paste in the data you created in the text editor, or enter the data directly. Pressing the Help menu item will bring up a window with a Help file showing your options.
When done, click on Save, and close the Template Manager.
You can now use your templates the same way as you use the standard templates provide with Winlink Express: Open a New Message; click on Select Template; and then open up the folder you saved your templates (Global or your Callsign), and double click on the desired template. Edit as necessary post to the Outbox and then send.