A look at plain-text messages

There is an abundance of information on the web about the pros and cons (and necessity) of "plain-text" messages. While that is beyond the scope of this article, Higher Logic believes that you should at least consider the following points about having a plain-text version of your message content.

Plain-text messages:

• are supported by all email programs, but
• they do not support:
  • text formatting (bold, italic, colored fonts);
  • displaying pictures in the message

Additionally, plain-text messages are:

• better suited to assistive technologies (e.g., screen readers);
• required by some government agencies; and
• less likely to have issues with many spam filters.

Overall, plain-text messages can improve your deliverability.

Text version and HTML version notes

By design, the Text version is supposed to be a simplified version of the HTML version (i.e., Email Designer version) of the same message. Therefore:

• The two versions are independent of one another and they do not have to "match"; their matching is optional.
• Changes (i.e., text edits) that you make to the Text version are exclusive to that version; they are not adopted by, nor can they be imported into, the HTML version.
• Similarly, changes made in the HTML version are not automatically adopted by the Text version. However, you can select to view the Text version and click the Refresh button to import them in. The general workflow is to finalize the HTML version and then import that text content into the Text version.

Create a Text Version of a message

When creating or editing a message in Message Editor, you have access to the Message Version menu, which is how you switch between the message's various versions, including the Text version.

NOTE: Updates made to your message in the Email Designer and Email Code views are not automatically transferred to the Text and Mobile versions, and vice-versa. This is by intention, so you can optimize these versions for mobile and text-only recipients. However, as you're managing your messages over time, remember to keep your Text and Mobile versions up-to-date as well. You must do this by manually clicking the Refresh button to pull in the latest changes.

Text Version

This is the text-only version (all HTML is removed) of your message, which you can see and edit by selecting this view.

NOTE: This version is shown to recipients who opt to receive text-only emails (i.e., they use a text-based email client). While you're not required to create a text-only version, and can send your messages without one, these recipients will see a blank message if you don't. 

Refer to the Set a contact to receive only the text version of your messages section below to learn more.

While the text-only version of a message is not automatically created for you, any content you've added in the Email Designer or Email Code view can be added to the Text Version with the click of a button. Once your message is finalized, the best practice is to verify and reformat this version to fix any possible spacing, bullets, style issues that may not convert properly from the Email Designer and Email Code views.

To copy your content from the Email Designer/Email Code views:

1. Select the Text Version view.

2. Click the Refresh button at the top-right to copy in the content/latest changes.

Generally, you will:

1. Create and finalize your message in the Email Designer.
2. Refresh your Text and Mobile versions to copy all the content over.
3. Make any necessary changes to those versions to optimize them.

Set a contact to receive only the text version of your messages

By default, all contacts are sent messages in HTML format. However, you can manually update a contact record to receive only the text version of your messages, if needed. When sending a message, then, all contacts configured in this way will be sent the text version of your messages.

To update a contact record to be a text-only recipient:

1. Navigate to Contacts > List.
2. Click to select the contact that you want to manage, and then click Edit.

3. On the Standard Fields tab, check the Text only emails box.
4. At the bottom of the dialog, click Save.

This contact will only receive the text version of your messages from now on. Repeat the steps above for any additional contacts you want to only receive text-only messages.

External resource

Below are a few "plain-text email messages" articles with information that you might find useful.

Why You Shouldn’t Dismiss Plain Text Emails (And How to Make Them Engaging)

• https://www.litmus.com/blog/best-practices-for-plain-text-emails-a-look-at-why-theyre-important