Email, Messaging, & Video Calls > Email How to Display Plain Text Email Messages in Mozilla Thunderbird Receive emails without HTML formatting By Heinz Tschabitscher Heinz Tschabitscher Writer University of Vienna A former freelance contributor who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on February 18, 2020 Email Yahoo! Mail Gmail Trending Videos Close this video player What to Know To display messages in plain text, go to View > Message Body As > Plain Text.To send in plain text, go to Tools > Account Options > Composition and Addressing, and clear Compose messages in HTML format. This article explains how to set up Mozilla Thunderbird to display incoming emails as plain text on all current versions of Thunderbird. Display Messages in Plain Text Only To configure Mozilla Thunderbird to display emails as plain text: Open Thunderbird. Select View. Select Message Body As. Select Plain Text. You'll now see all incoming emails displayed in plain text format. Thunderbird may enhance plain text messages with certain text formatting features such as bold, italic, and underlined text. Send Messages in Plain Text You may also want to send your email messages in plain text for security reasons, to be considerate of recipients' preferences, or because some users can't receive HTML messages. To compose emails in plain text: Open Thunderbird. Select Tools on the top menu. Select Account Options. Select Composition and Addressing. Select OK. Now, all messages you compose and send will be in plain text format. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit