The text version of a message
Every email you create in Flexmail can have a text-only version alongside it, regardless of which tool you chose to create it in. Most email clients display the HTML version, but a text version improves your deliverability by helping your message pass spam filters more cleanly. It also ensures your message is readable on devices and tools that don't support HTML, such as some smartwatches and certain accessibility tools
Generate the text version
Flexmail can generate a text version automatically from your message. From your message list, click the gear icon next to your message and select "Edit text version" > Generate. Flexmail converts your message to plain text, titles and body text are preserved, images are replaced by their alt text, and button URLs appear at the end.
After generating, you can edit the text version manually to improve readability or remove elements that don't translate well to plain text.
What the text version includes and excludes
The text version includes all plain text content from your message, alt texts in place of images, and URLs listed at the end for each button or link. It does not include images, HTML formatting, columns, or styled elements.
Keeping the text version in sync
If you make significant changes to your message after generating the text version, regenerate it to keep the two versions consistent. A significantly out-of-date text version can trigger spam filters that look for discrepancies between the HTML and text content.
Pro tips
- The campaign overview page (step 3 of campaign creation) shows a warning if your message has no text version. The warning won't prevent sending, but it's a clear signal that adding one is worth doing.
- After auto-generating the text version, review it manually. Auto-generation handles most content well, but complex layouts with tables or multi-column structures sometimes produce awkward plain text output that benefits from a light edit.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Generating the text version once and forgetting it. If you update your message, the text version becomes stale. Regenerate it whenever you make substantial changes.
- Skipping the text version entirely. It takes less than a minute to generate and meaningfully improves your deliverability profile.
Next steps
- See "Alt texts" for how to write descriptive alt texts that will appear in place of images in the text version.
- See "Benefits of a text version" in Best practices for a fuller explanation of why the text version matters.