{"id":3025,"date":"2026-09-18T18:03:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T12:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/?post_type=docs&#038;p=3025"},"modified":"2026-09-18T18:03:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T12:33:18","password":"","slug":"how-do-i-update-my-existing-dlt-templates-to-use-variable-tags","status":"publish","type":"docs","link":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/kb\/how-do-i-update-my-existing-dlt-templates-to-use-variable-tags\/","title":{"rendered":"How do I update my existing DLT templates to use variable tags?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Templates registered with the old generic <code>{#var#}<\/code> must be moved to the new typed tags. Operators are phasing in enforcement, first logging mismatches and then rejecting them, so update your templates before your messages start failing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 1: List your templates that have variables<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Export or list your templates from your DLT portal and mark every template that contains <code>{#var#}<\/code>. Prioritise the ones you send most, such as OTPs and order updates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 2: Map each variable to a tag<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For every <code>{#var#}<\/code>, decide what it actually carries and choose the tag: <code>{#numeric#}<\/code>, <code>{#alphanumeric#}<\/code>, <code>{#url#}<\/code>, <code>{#urlott#}<\/code>, <code>{#cbn#}<\/code> or <code>{#email#}<\/code>. See <em>What are DLT variable tags, and which one should I use?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 3: Whitelist the CTAs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For any variable tagged <code>{#url#}<\/code>, <code>{#urlott#}<\/code> or <code>{#cbn#}<\/code>, make sure the links or numbers are whitelisted on your DLT portal first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 4: Update the template on the DLT portal<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Submit the tagged version and wait for approval. Some portals issue a <strong>new Template ID<\/strong> for the updated template. Note it down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 5: Update the template in your SMS Gateway Center account<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Add or update the template under your message templates with the new tagged text and the correct <strong>DLT Template ID<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If you send through the <strong>API<\/strong> or <strong>SMPP<\/strong>, update the Template ID in your application too.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 6: Check your data<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Send a test to your own number, then check that live values match their tags. The most common failures are an OTP field with a space in it, a customer name containing a link, and a callback number that includes &#8220;+91&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Official source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.trai.gov.in\/sites\/default\/files\/2025-11\/Directions_18112025_0.PDF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">TRAI Direction on variable tagging, 18 Nov 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Templates registered with the old generic {#var#} must be moved to the new typed tags. Operators are phasing in enforcement, first logging mismatches and then rejecting them, so update your templates before your messages start failing. Step 1: List your templates that have variables Export or list your templates from your DLT portal and mark [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"doc_category":[2271],"doc_tag":[],"class_list":["post-3025","docs","type-docs","status-publish","hentry","doc_category-variable-tagging"],"year_month":"2026-09","word_count":262,"total_views":"3","reactions":{"happy":"0","normal":"0","sad":"0"},"author_info":{"name":"admin","author_nicename":"admin","author_url":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/"},"doc_category_info":[{"term_name":"Variable Tagging","term_url":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/kb-cat\/variable-tagging\/"}],"doc_tag_info":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/3025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/docs"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/118"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/3025\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"doc_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/doc_category?post=3025"},{"taxonomy":"doc_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smsgatewaycenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/doc_tag?post=3025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}