From Heinz Tschabitscher,
Your Guide to Email.
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Richly Formatted Messages Are Nice, But Not for Everybody

Sure, using fancy formatting in emails is nice, and all these stationery (for Outlook Express) and letter (for IncrediMail) creations are fascinating.

But not everybody can or wants to receive rich text messages.

Some email programs are not capable of rendering the HTML used for rich formatting in email messages. Others try, but fail miserably (or crash), rendering your message unaccessible to the recipient.

Other recipients have email clients that can properly render HTML messages, but despise rich formatting in email for various reasons (purity of the medium, bandwidth issues, security and privacy among others).

When in Doubt, Send Plain Text Email, Not Fancy HTML

So, whenever you are not sure a recipient appreciates email communication using rich and fancy HTML formatting,

• send plain text emails by default, especially
• if you have not previously talked to the recipient.

How to Send Emails in Plain Text

Here's how to send plain text only messages using various email programs:

• Windows:
• Outlook Express: Send a Message in Plain Text
• Outlook: Send a Plain Text Message
• Eudora: Send a Message in Plain Text
• Mozilla Thunderbird: Send a Plain Text Message
• IncrediMail: Write a Plain Text Message
• Pegasus Mail: Force a Message to be Sent in Plain Text

• Mac OS X:
• Mac OS X Mail: Send a Message in Plain Text
• Eudora: Send a Message in Plain Text

• Web-Based
• Hotmail: Send a Message in Plain Text
• Gmail: Send a Message in Plain Text
• Yahoo! Mail: Send a Message in Plain Text
• AIM Mail: Send a Message in Plain Text
• FastMail: Send a Message in Plain Text

• Linux and Unix:
• Evolution: Send a Plain Text Only Email

Send HTML to Users of Web-Based Email Services?

It's usually safe to send HTML-formatted emails to users of web-based email services like Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo! Mail.