Plain-Text Emails: Why You Still Need Them in 2026
Almost every email you send is technically two emails: an HTML version and a plain-text one, bundled together as multipart/alternative. Most people never think about the text half, which is exactly why it's so often broken, and why fixing it is an easy win.
Every production email should be bundled as a multipart/alternative MIME payload containing both text/html and text/plain. Spam algorithms (including Gmail and SpamAssassin) penalize emails missing a plain-text counterpart or having heavy content mismatches. Furthermore, smartwatches, screen readers, and low-bandwidth clients rely on the plain-text stream to deliver your message legibly.
What multipart/alternative actually is
A well-formed email carries both a text/html part and a text/plain part. The client picks which to show: rich clients render the HTML, while text-only contexts fall back to the plain part. The two are meant to say the same thing: the plain version is a real fallback, not an afterthought.
Why it still matters
- Deliverability. Spam filters are suspicious of emails that ship HTML with no plain-text alternative, or with an auto-generated one that doesn't match the HTML. A clean, matching text part is a small positive signal, and its absence is a negative one.
- Accessibility and reach. Some people read in text-only clients, on smartwatches, or with assistive setups that prefer the plain part (explore our comprehensive email accessibility guidelines). Terminal-based and privacy-focused clients often show it by default.
- Resilience. When an HTML email renders badly (images blocked, styles stripped) a readable text part is the safety net that still gets your message across.
What a bad plain-text part looks like
Most email platforms auto-generate the text part, and the result is often rough:
- Hidden preheader text dumped at the very top, out of context.
- Bare URLs with no context, or link text with the destination stripped out entirely.
- Collapsed structure: headings, lists and sections run together.
- Leftover markup fragments or navigation the reader doesn't need.
None of that is fatal, but it reads as careless, and careless is not the impression a good email wants to make.
How to write a good one
- Keep the links legible. Show the destination:
our pricing (https://acme.com/pricing)beats a naked URL or a "click here" with nowhere to click. - Preserve structure with plain text. Blank lines between sections, simple dashes for lists, and a clear sign-off do the work that HTML formatting did.
- Drop what doesn't translate. Hidden preheaders, tracking pixels and decorative navigation have no place in the text part.
- Keep it in sync. The plain and HTML versions should carry the same message and the same call to action.
Generate it, then tidy it
You don't have to write the text part from scratch. Paste your HTML into the plain-text generator to get a clean starting point (links kept inline, markup stripped) then give it a quick read and trim anything that doesn't belong. While you're preparing to send, it's also worth adding campaign tags with the UTM link builder and confirming your authentication with the SPF, DKIM & DMARC guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is multipart/alternative in email MIME structure?
multipart/alternative is a standard MIME packaging format containing both text/plain and text/html parts. The recipient's email client automatically picks which part to render based on device capabilities and accessibility preferences.
Do spam filters penalize HTML emails that lack a plain-text version?
Yes. Spam filters like SpamAssassin, Barracuda, and Gmail's inbound filters penalize messages that lack a plain-text part or contain extreme content discrepancies between the HTML and text versions.
Who reads plain-text emails in 2026?
Users on smartwatches (Apple Watch, Wear OS), subscribers using assistive screen readers or terminal-based clients, and security-conscious readers with HTML rendering disabled rely on the plain-text part.
How should links and calls to action be formatted in plain-text emails?
Avoid vague phrasing like 'Click here'. State the context of the action clearly, followed by the exact URL on its own line: 'Access your account settings: https://app.example.com/settings'.
Generate a clean plain-text version
Paste your HTML and get a readable text/plain part, links kept inline, ready for your multipart send.
Open the plain-text generator- •IETF RFC Standards: IETF RFC 2046: MIME Part Two - Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions
- •Litmus: Litmus: The Importance of Plain-Text Emails in Email Marketing
- •W3C: W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1
- •Google Support: Google Workspace Admin: Email Deliverability Best Practices
Reviewed by Philippe KAM · Last updated: Jul 18, 2026
Building next-generation email preview and QA infrastructure for developers. Focused on reverse-engineering rendering engines across Outlook (Word MSO & New Outlook), Gmail, and Apple Mail to eliminate email rendering bugs before dispatch.