Plain text and html text versions in universal email

11/03/2014 10:21 am | #1 Nathan69474

Hi

I'm using universal email to send out a newsletter.

I'm sending using pearl mail using a 3rd party authenticated account, everything works perfectly except ...

I recently ran it through a spam score service and one of the results said ...

MIME_HTML_ONLY Message only has text/html MIME parts
You should also include a text version of your message (text/plain)

I have read through the forum and it says the plain text version is automatically added.

I've created a php page template, where the content is populated from a mysql database.
I populate the email using 2 separate db tables, table 1 for the article content and table 2 for the subscriber list.

I copy the source code below, and then in the WA wizard click the pencil icon and paste it into the wizard
(For simplicity, I've abbreviated the full html coding, but basically it's a html table structured, with db content)
... this then generated file stored in ../webassist/email/WAUE_filename.php

I think I need to include a different / additional meta content to output as both plain & html formats

Can you please advise what plain text elements need to be added to my output template. I'm happy to manually add them to my template, it's a case of know the correct format and where to place them.

Thanks
Nathan

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
<title>Site Name</title>
</head>
<body>
<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="20" bgcolor="#F2F0F0">
<tr>
<td><table width="640" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<tr>
<td valign="top"><img src="http://www.domain.com/images/logo.jpg" alt="Co. name" width="650" height="110"/></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<p>line 1 database content title</p>
<p>line 2 Dear database userlist name</p>
<p>line 3 database content db field1</p>
<p>line 4 database content db image field</p>
<p>line 5 database content db field2</p>
<p>line 6 closing disclaimer/unsubscribe link</p>
</td>
</tr>
</table></td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>

11/04/2014 7:36 am | #4 Jason ByrnesWebAssist

In your message you say:

- I click into the WA wizard, and click the pencil icon

This is the heart of the problem.

The pencil icon is intended for creating the text version of the message, this would be used if you wanted to have a different email message for the plain text version.

to set the HTML version of the message, use DW edit icon instead.

if you set only an HTML message, and don't use the pencil icon to set the plain text message, the HTML will be stripped and the rest used as the plain text message.

If you are using Data Bridge, there is the option to use a template file for the message, this may work better for you. Using the template file for the message, you won't need to edit the message through the UE GUI, you can change the message directly in the template

11/04/2014 11:29 am | #5 Nathan69474

No Plain Text (only html text) in universal email when sending with PEAR Mail

Hi Jason,

it's been while since I first looked into this. I have only recently figured out what the problem is.

I have converted to using the template method in the wizard as you suggested, however I have spotted what's been happening..

html text and plain text versions of an email do not get sent if sending email using pear mail, (only the html version)
whereas both html & plain text are sent if using php mail

Unfortunately for my newsletter I need to send it using pear mail (web hosting spam prevention reasons).
.. and best practice newsletter sending (to avoid being classed as spam) requires both plain & html outputs.

I've tested my script using both mail sending formats and.. php mail does, pear mail doesn't ..output both html & plain txt

Thanks
Nathan

4/06/2015 11:38 am | #6 Ray BorduinWebAssist

It looks like it should always be sending a plain text version. If you post contact information in a reply to this thread I'll do screen sharing with you and help you debug it.

Did this help? Tips are appreciated...

4/06/2015 2:38 pm | #8 Ray BorduinWebAssist

Please set up a free Skype account. That is how we like to communicate with international customers. Post your Skype contact information in the private area in a reply to this thread and I will contact you.

Did this help? Tips are appreciated...

4/09/2015 8:15 am | #10 Nathan69474

mime package NOW installed and Pear Mail emails now send as both plain & html text.

Note to others: double check with hosting company that MIME and PEAR mail are installed on server.

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Plain text and html text versions in universal email

11/03/2014 10:21 am | #1 Nathan69474