Articles on: Rooms

Using variables in text

Variables let you inject dynamic values directly into your room copy — the room name, the room owner, custom field values, anything that should adapt to each specific room.

Write it once in a template, and every room created from it automatically shows the right values. It's how you personalize at scale without personalizing manually.

Where variables work

Variables are available inside Text widgets.

They don't work in block titles, CTAs, banners, or other widgets — just body text in a Text block.

How to insert a variable

Start editing a Text block.
Type $.
A dropdown appears with all available variables (built-in and custom, flat-listed).
Pick one — it's inserted as a chip in the text.
When the room renders, the chip is replaced with the variable's current value.

Editing a variable inline

Once a variable is inserted, it sits in the text as a clickable chip. Click it and an inline mini-editor opens directly beneath the text widget, with two controls:

Variable picker — a dropdown with the flat list of available variables. Pick a different one to swap which variable this chip references — useful when you've inserted the wrong one or want to repoint it without retyping.
Value field — a textarea showing the variable's current value, editable on the spot. Updating the value here updates the underlying field — exactly as if you'd edited it from the Data tab or a Field widget elsewhere in the room. The change shows up everywhere that variable / field is referenced.

Same edits, three places. A custom field's value can be edited from inside a Text variable chip, from a Field widget on a page, or from the Data tab in the left side panel. They're all writing to the same field — pick whichever surface you're closest to.

What variables are available

Two categories:

Built-in fields

Katalyz ships with a set of standard fields that every room has. The full list:

Room-level (same value for everyone):

Account — the buyer account/company linked to the room
Creation date — when the room was created
Executive summary — the room's executive summary
Room name — the room's title
Room owner — the room's Owner name

Viewer-level (dynamic — resolves to whoever is currently viewing the room):

Calendar link — the viewer's booking link
Email — the viewer's email
First name — the viewer's first name
Last name — the viewer's last name
Position — the viewer's job title
LinkedIn — the viewer's LinkedIn URL
Phone — the viewer's phone number

Why viewer-level matters: a single template with Hi $firstName shows each participant their own first name when they open the room. No need to write a different greeting per buyer — the same text personalizes itself for whoever is reading.

Custom fields

Any custom property an Admin has defined in your workspace's Data settings is available. These cover:

Room-level fields (deal amount, close date, prospect score, industry, etc.)
Contact fields (if the room has a linked primary contact)
Participant fields

Admins create and map these — see Creating custom properties.

Example

Template text (with variables):

Hi there! Welcome to the $roomName space.

Your Katalyz account owner is $roomOwner. Looking forward to working together on the $contractValue deal — target kickoff: $kickoffDate.

What the buyer sees in a specific room:

Hi there! Welcome to the Acme × Katalyz Partnership space.

Your Katalyz account owner is Charles Merlet. Looking forward to working together on the €120,000 deal — target kickoff: May 15, 2026.

When values are missing

If a variable refers to a field that hasn't been filled in for this specific room, the variable shows as empty (or a placeholder, depending on display).

Best practice: fill custom fields at room creation so variables resolve cleanly when a buyer opens the room.

Custom fields used as variables show up in the Data tab

Whenever you reference a custom field as a $ variable in a Text widget, that field is automatically surfaced in the room's Data tab in the left sidebar — alongside any custom fields used in Field widgets. From the Data tab you can:

See every custom field currently in use in this room (via Field widget or via variable)
Edit any of those values directly — changes propagate everywhere the field is referenced

This means you don't need to hunt for the right Text block to update a value: just open the Data tab and edit it once.

Best use case: templates

Variables are a template superpower.

Build a template with variables woven into every paragraph
When a rep creates a new room from the template, they fill in the custom fields
Every room reads like it was written for that specific buyer

What used to take 20 minutes of manual edit work per room now takes 30 seconds.

See Saving a room as a template.

Updated on: 18/06/2026

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