Come together with the global Drupal community in Rotterdam, 28 Sept – 1 Oct 2026. Sessions, contribution, connection, and Early Bird savings until 8 June.I recently sent a newsletter to about 160 users from Simplenews, in HTML format.
I have two test users on the site, both with email addresses that I can check, and these two users received the newsletter in the correct format as shown on http://www.dieinter.net/newsletter/feb
I have heard some reports from some of my users, that they received the newsletter in a plain text format.
I asked them to forward the message to me, and it seems like they received the newsletter in plain text format (see screenshot)
What appears to have happened is that mime-mail was bypassed a couple of times while the cron was being run to send the messages. Other users also reported that they received the message in the correct HTML format, so I have no idea how many people received it in each format.
I would like to send out another newsletter now to everyone, apologizing for the previous newsletter (rather humiliating), but how will I know it will go out in the correct format this time.
This is a rather serious issue, so i'm marking it as critical (might be related with simplenews, if so, please assign it to the simplenews queue)
| Comment | File | Size | Author |
|---|---|---|---|
| plaintext.jpg | 296.28 KB | jacauc |
Comments
Comment #1
allie mickaHonestly, I'm pleasantly surprised to hear that simplenews is leveraging mimemail :)
There's a good chance you've run into a bug that was reintroduced in the Drupal 5.x version. This bug causes the inclusion of some data that makes Outlook reject the HTML portion. I committed a change for this yesterday.
This would explain why some recipients saw the HTML format and others didn't. Hopefully, you're all set!
Comment #2
jacauc commentedThanks, I will give it a try.
a Quick question though: It almost seems like the problem was while sending them out, and not upon receiving the email.
With that, I mean that the format of the message seems to be send in the default drupal manner (with all the links attached at the bottom of the email)
I would assume that if it was related to the client package (outlook), the message would have displayed the HTML tags?
What I mean to say is that the message is in drupal format, and there's no sign of html anywhere. I think?
Comment #3
jacauc commentedSeems to do the job!
Thanks!
Comment #4
allie mickaMime mail creates what's called a multipart/alternative email. It takes the HTML you give it and creates a text-only approximation. It then packages both the html and plaintext versions and lets your email client decide which to show.
Email clients that do not support HTML, or have allowed users to select a text-only preference will show the text alternative. Email clients that support HTML will show that version instead.
The reason we give people the choice on the server side is to preserve a little bandwidth, and because it's the polite thing to do. HTML messages can be cumbersome, and are a waste of resources on both sides if the recipient doesn't want to see formatting anyway.
Hope that clears things up!
Comment #5
jacauc commentedOk, so both plaintext and HTML versions exist inside in the final message. Makes sense! Thanks!!
jacauc
Comment #6
(not verified) commentedComment #7
jacauc commentedIs this commit included in the current 5.x-1.x-dev version (June 19)?
Comment #8
jacauc commentedJust ignore my previous post... Got confused with Mime-Mail and Simplenews.
Sorry :S