Editing Email (section)

===Message body===

====Content encoding====
Internet email was designed for 7-bit ASCII.<ref>{{cite book|title=TCP/IP Network Administration|year=2002|isbn=978-0-596-00297-8|author=Craig Hunt|publisher=[[O'Reilly Media]]|page=70}}</ref> Most email software is [[8-bit clean]], but must assume it will communicate with 7-bit servers and mail readers. The [[MIME]] standard introduced character set specifiers and two content transfer encodings to enable transmission of non-ASCII data: [[quoted printable]] for mostly 7-bit content with a few characters outside that range and [[base64]] for arbitrary binary data. The [[8BITMIME]] and [[BINARY]] extensions were introduced to allow transmission of mail without the need for these encodings, but many [[mail transport agent]]s may not support them. In some countries, e-mail software violates {{IETF RFC|5322}} by sending raw<ref group=nb>Not using Internationalized Email or MIME</ref> non-ASCII text and several encoding schemes co-exist; as a result, by default, the message in a non-Latin alphabet language appears in non-readable form (the only exception is a coincidence if the sender and receiver use the same encoding scheme). Therefore, for international [[character set]]s, [[Unicode]] is growing in popularity.<ref>{{Cite web|title=What is unicode? |url=https://www.konfinity.com/what-is-unicode|access-date=2022-01-31|website=Konfinity |archive-date=January 31, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131083432/https://www.konfinity.com/what-is-unicode|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Plain text and HTML====
Most modern graphic [[email client]]s allow the use of either [[plain text]] or [[HTML email|HTML]] for the message body at the option of the user. HTML email messages often include an automatic-generated plain text copy for compatibility.

Advantages of HTML include the ability to include in-line links and images, set apart previous messages in [[block quote]]s, wrap naturally on any display, use emphasis such as [[underline]]s and [[italics]], and change [[font]] styles. Disadvantages include the increased size of the email, privacy concerns about [[web bug]]s, abuse of HTML email as a vector for [[phishing]] attacks and the spread of [[malware|malicious software]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://advosys.ca/papers/mail-policies.html|title=Email policies that prevent viruses|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070512053927/https://advosys.ca/papers/mail-policies.html |website=Advosys Consulting | archive-date=2007-05-12|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Some e-mail clients interpret the body as HTML even in the absence of a <code>Content-Type: html</code> header field; this may cause various problems.

Some web-based [[mailing list]]s recommend all posts be made in plain text, with 72 or 80 [[characters per line]] for all the above reasons,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/listadmins/plaintext.html |quote=When posting to a RootsWeb mailing list, your message should be sent as "plain  text." |publisher=RootsWeb HelpDesk |title=Problem Solving: Sending Messages in Plain Text |access-date=2014-01-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140219024856/https://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/listadmins/plaintext.html |archive-date=2014-02-19 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.openbsd.org/mail.html |title= ''Open''BSD Mailing Lists |quote=Plain text, 72 characters per line |publisher=OpenBSD |access-date=2014-01-09 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140208005706/https://openbsd.org/mail.html |archive-date=2014-02-08 }}</ref> and because they have a significant number of readers using [[Comparison of email clients#Text-based|text-based email clients]] such as [[Mutt (email client)|Mutt]].
Various informal conventions evolved for marking up plain text in email and [[usenet]] posts, which later led to the development of formal languages like [[setext]] ''(c. 1992)'' and [[Lightweight markup language|many others]], the most popular of them being [[markdown]].

Some [[Microsoft]] email clients may allow rich formatting using their proprietary [[Rich Text Format]] (RTF), but this should be avoided unless the recipient is guaranteed to have a compatible email client.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://support.microsoft.com/kb/138053 |title=Verhindern, dass die Datei "Winmail.dat" an Internetbenutzer gesendet wird |trans-title=How to Prevent the Winmail.dat File from Being Sent to Internet Users |publisher=Microsoft Support |date=2010-07-02 |access-date=2014-01-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140109193922/https://support.microsoft.com/kb/138053 |archive-date=2014-01-09 }}</ref>