If you’ve ever received a plain text email, you know that the message format stays the same whether you reply to it or forward it. Because of this, you cannot add hyperlinks, formatting, and images to your email. What’s more, instead of your carefully crafted HTML email signature, the recipient only sees its plain text version. Luckily, with a few minor settings, you can reply to plain text emails with HTML formatted messages in Outlook or any other email client. In addition, you can enforce HTML formatting in every email sent from your organization.
plaintext messages
At first, you might be wondering why you’re getting plain text emails in the first place. After all, we live in the 21st century and email clients should be able to handle HTML format by now. As it turns out, there are a few reasons you might be receiving plain text emails:
- Some mobile email clients still don’t support HTML emails.
- Various mechanisms used by websites (e.g. contact forms) tend to use the plain text format.
- Some organizations convert all their outbound messages and even their inbound emails to plain text for security reasons.
- Most e-mail clients offer the possibility to use different formats. Some people prefer to keep it simple and use the lightweight versions of email.
By default, Outlook always uses the format of the original message when replying. There is reasonable logic behind this. If someone sent you a plain text message, it may mean their email client doesn’t support the more advanced formats. While this logic is perfectly valid in some cases, it starts to fail when you think about it Reply All and Forward Options, as it is very unlikely that multiple recipients will not be able to view emails in HTML format. So, let’s see what you can do to change email format to HTML.
Change email format to HTML in Outlook
First of all, there is always the option of switching the e-mail format manually. If you reply or forward a message, you can leave format text on the Outlook ribbon and click HTML.
Mind you, this option isn’t available if you’re composing your reply in the message preview window. You must open your reply or forward in a new window by clicking jump out Button.
If you haven’t manually changed the format and used formatting that’s not supported in plain text messages (like emojis), Outlook gives you the option to convert the message to HTML. When you click Sendthat Microsoft Outlook Compatibility Checker will open and make the available to you Switch to HTML Possibility:
While changing the format in HTML isn’t rocket science, it’s another thing to remember when replying to a message. And since the additional prompt won’t appear if you haven’t added formatted text, it can’t serve as a reminder. In addition, you may spend a lot of time trying to figure out why, for example, the ctrl + K The keyboard shortcut doesn’t add hyperlinks before you realize the message is in plain text. I know I’ve spent a good chunk of my time in Outlook doing this.
The truth is that even if you always want to reply with HTML messages, relying on the manual method still results in some emails being missed. Sometimes you won’t even realize you’ve just sent a simple text message. Because of this, it’s best to automatically convert emails to HTML to reduce the number of repetitive tasks and be as productive as possible.
How to force HTML in all replies and forwards sent from Outlook
That HowTo Outlook article introduces a macro that allows you to automatically change the email format in all replies and forwards. If you only send messages with Outlook and need a solution for your personal use, this can help.
The problem is that using macros might be against your company policy. Also, they don’t work for email clients other than Outlook. That’s why you should look at another solution that works for everyone in your organization, regardless of the email clients or devices they use to send their email.
How to enforce HTML in every message
Luckily, there is a method to convert every single email that is sent in your company to HTML format. Even if someone sends their emails in plain text format (e.g. from a mobile device), they are automatically converted to HTML this way. In addition, these emails have a personalized email signature with your branding.
Enforcing HTML formatting is one of the additional options available in our email signature management tools. The solutions that allow you to do this are CodeTwo Exchange Rules Pro for any on-premises Exchange Server and CodeTwo Email Signatures for Office 365 for Microsoft 365. These tools allow you to centrally manage email signatures and ensure that every message you send, helps you build your brand and creates new marketing opportunities.
Learn how email signature management tools can make your job easier:
