In this video we will explore the two ways of handling HTML links in plain text newsletters.

Plain text emails with HTML links

Display hyperlinks inline with the text

The first thing I am going to do is show you what a plain text email will look like if there is HTML in the body of the newsletter. Let's take a look at our current settings.

  • Go to "Configuration => Web services => Newsletters"
  • Next to "Easy News", click on "edit newsletter category"
  • Email format should be "Plain"
  • And "Hyperlink conversion" should be set to "Display hyperlinks inline with the text"

I'll edit the newsletter "Amazing Newsletter" and enter a little more content, including an html link.

This is some awesome information for our great subscribers!

Visit us on the web at http://ModulesUnraveled.com, or on <a href="http://twitter.com/ModsUnraveled">Twitter</a>.
See you soon!

     -Brian Lewis-
     @ModsUnraveled

Now, I'll send this as a test newsletter. Let's go ahead and take a look at it.
You'll notice the link to twitter shows inline, right after the "linked" text. And since "http://ModulesUnraveled.com" did not include the <a> tag, it is unchanged.

Append hyperlinks as a numbered reference list

Now, let's see what it would look like with the links appended as a numbered list.

  • Go to "Configuration => Web services => Newsletters"
  • Next to "Easy News", click on "edit newsletter category"
  • change "Hyperlink conversion" to "Append hyperlinks as a numbered reference list"

Let's go back and send another test copy of this newsletter. Now, we'll see the links are all followed by numbers (i.e.: [1]) and the corresponding link is listed at the bottom of the newsletter. You'll notice that all links, even links without the <a> tag are included in this list.