Sending plain text emails when communicating with CRAN

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Why writing this? Prof. Dr. Brian Ripley has sent a request about “no HTML emails” to a few rOpenSci members and yours truly without further clarification. Here is a short and practical guide for sending plain text emails in Gmail, Outlook, and Thunderbird, which is helpful for accessibility. This is relevant for users that rely on text-to-voice readers because of vision issues.

Switch your email client to plain text mode before sending technical questions to CRAN and/or R mailing lists. This helps all users, including those with accessibility needs.

Gmail

1. Compose a new email.
2. Click the three dots (More options) in the formatting toolbar.
3. Select “Plain text mode”.
4. Confirm switching (this removes formatting).
5. Write and send your message.

Outlook

1. New Email → Go to the Format Text tab.
2. Click “Plain Text” in the Format section.
3. Write and send your message.

Thunderbird

1. Write → New Message.
2. Go to Options → Format → Plain Text Only.
3. Write and send your message.