# What is a Template Format Error?

> Source: https://support.associationsphere.com/what-is-a-template-format-error  |  Updated: 2026-01-13T19:48:11Z

One reason you may receive the following error when editing/saving the email template is because text content contains double hyphens/dashes.

The email template is based on HTML, and double hyphens/dashes "--" are not allowed.

If the text can be edited/changed, remove the -- and simply use a single hyphen/dash -.

If the text is a URL, then replace -- with the encoded value %2D%2D.  For example, somewebsite.com/this--is-the-link would become somewebsite.com/this%2D%2Dis-the-link.

<img src="https://api.usebluehill.com/wiki/media/public/37E1A66F6C464712B169251195C7F721/230fd45332ad48c6ac51f3eb2705327a.png" width="407" height="248" />

An en dash or em dash can possibly be substituted in the Text content (not for URLs/Links).

<img src="https://api.usebluehill.com/wiki/media/public/37E1A66F6C464712B169251195C7F721/fff76937d1d24a1cb8059a7066c1a674.png" width="667" height="221" />

For example, in Windows use Alt+0150 for an en dash or Alt+0151 for an em dash.

<img src="https://api.usebluehill.com/wiki/media/public/37E1A66F6C464712B169251195C7F721/c8d03084a0d0461c8b3cf6cb4bab8292.png" width="662" height="642" />