Windows 10: Received certain emails are arriving in HTML code, please let us know how to solve this...

As received certain emails are arriving in HTML code, I can't read in my desktop. please let us know how to solve this problem.

:)

 

Why does some, not all, of my email in Windows 11 Mail arrive as HTML code instead of text?

Some of my emails arrive as what looks like to me as HTML code with no text. This is true for all emails I received in reply to another question I submitted to the Community. I know the emails contain text because when I look at the same email on my phone and on my tablet the text is there.

 

Businesses complain I can't receive HTML email

I turned off HTML for exactly that reason - to stop the web beacons and stop receiving HTML emails that could be full of malicious code and advertising and images that I have no interest in.

I'm getting a lot of businesses complaining that I can't receive HTML email. Personally I don't give a rats about their inability to flood me with spam, but my question is - how do they know I can't receive HTML when I've never received an email from them before (that I know of)?

 

Businesses complain I can't receive HTML email

It is only the images that your email client is blocking and, it (Thunderbird) will surely give you the option at the top of the email to download images on an individual basis, even to add any domain to a list of trusted senders, as Outlook does.

Having run my own enterprise grade hosting company for over fifteen years, I am unaware of any providers that will systemically block HTML content per se, only if it is spam captured or deemed insecure by security provisions. But general, common HTML will always be sent. Mostly, host providers provide AV scanners for email as an option along with multi-level anti-spam measures. The problem with viewing all email as plain text is that, often, a lot of content is contained within the image. Not seeing that voids context.

I am highly security conscious and choose optional viewing and whitelisting as my default mode. That said, I don't get any spam whatsoever and only receive emails that I have opted to receive. A lot of them though just get deleted as soon as they arrive, those that are subscribed to newsletters for example, such as from music software I have made qualified downloads of. Many of those are tedious pap that I am not interested in, so get binned and I don't view the full HTML. But some do actually contain something of interest and viewing the HTML becomes beneficial, if only briefly. My utility providers and bank sends HTML. Even so, unless I decide to retain emails for the information within, everything gets deleted a soon as read. Horse for courses, personal choice.

Good email clients will offer the option of disabling responses to receipt and read requests. Outlook does and I'm pretty certain that Thunderbird does, too.

It's an interesting subject and more nuanced than black and white polarised standpoints with HTML in the firing line. It is now so long established and popular that never seeing any HTML emails is kind of dull. There are certainly far less safety concerns nowadays than hitherto. Of far more concern is knowing how to view and correctly analyse header data since therein lies the stealth risk. Yes, images can still contain risk, but that should get flagged up when dodgy. Best practice of never clicking on links unless deemed trustworthy for all the right reasons is seminal. None of these measures can replace informed intuition, the human security element. In that respect, I have never once been compromised since emails were first invented, beginning with old school header nous.

Just my eggs for this debate.

Regards all,

Christophe

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I meant to add that any HTML subscriptions can be unsubscribed if unwanted. I do that shortly after downloading the software I wanted for the most part. I'm vegan and subscribe to one source of lovely recipes that look wonderful in HTML. Best practice is probably enjoy HTML when benign and of use but control the pap. Unsubscribe. Problem solved mostly. One or two try to make that hard. Report as spam, filter and block. I have one email subscription that is dastardly in that respect and the sender blocks any attempt to unsubscribe. So I reported it and created a filter to delete it instantly on arrival. That was months ago and I haven't been troubled since.