How to Change the Format of an Email to HTML
As the Web evolves into a media-rich entity, email protocol continues to shift with it. In the younger days of the Internet, when connections were slow and you paid by the minute or by the kilobit, it was considered poor form to send an HTML email. The rich formatting required more data and took longer to load -- taking money out of your pocket. Now that fast connections and flat rates are common, many if not most people send emails in HTML, and it's no longer considered a faux pas. Email clients let you switch between HTML and plain text at will.
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Instructions
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Outlook 2010
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Click "File," and then click "Options." The Options menu opens.
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Select "Mail" in the navigation pane.
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Check the box next to "HTML," located beneath the "Compose Messages In This Format" option in the main pane.
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Click "OK."
Thunderbird
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Click "Tools," and then select "Account Settings."
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Click the "+" icon to the left of your account's name in the navigation pane.
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Click the newly visible "Composition & Addressing." Composition options appear in the main pane.
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Check the box next to "Compose Messages In HTML Format."
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Click "OK."
Windows Live Mail
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10
Click the "Menus" icon, which sits on the right side of the toolbar, between the icons of a paint brush and a blue circle with a white question mark inside of it. Select "Options" from the drop-down list to open the Options menu.
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Open the "Send" tab.
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Click the radio button next to "HTML" under the "Mail Sending Format" section.
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Click "OK."
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Tips & Warnings
Most free Web-based email services, such as Gmail and Yahoo! mail, include an option to switch between HTML and plain text inside the composition options on every outgoing email. The Web-based services often call HTML "Rich Text."
References
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