Email body

The Markdown a campaign body is written in, and what each mark becomes in the email.

A campaign body is a small part of Markdown. The email goes out as HTML built from tables with inline styles, so it looks the same in Outlook, Gmail and Apple Mail, with a dark version for clients that have one, and as text for clients that show only text.

Write	In the email	In the text version
A blank line	A new paragraph	A blank line
A single line break	A line break	A line break
`# Heading`, `## Heading`, `### Heading`	A heading, three sizes	The heading’s words
`bold`	bold	bold
`italic` or `_italic_`	italic	italic
`[the guide](https://example.org/guide)`	A link	`the guide (https://example.org/guide)`
`https://example.org`	A link	The address
`- item` (or `*` or `+`) on each line	A bulleted list	`- item`
`1. item` on each line	A numbered list, from the first number	`1. item`
`![Two people at a desk](https://example.org/a.jpg)` on its own line	The image, full width (512 pixels)	The description
`![Logo](https://example.org/logo.png){width=120}`	The image, 120 pixels wide, centered	The description
`[Renew now](https://example.org/renew){button}` on its own line	A button in the publication’s color, full width on a phone	`Renew now: https://example.org/renew`
`> A quote` on each line	A quote with a bar in the publication’s color	`> A quote`
`---` on its own line (or `***`, `___`)	A divider	`---`
`::: columns`, then `\|\|\|` between columns, then `:::`, each on its own line	Two or three columns side by side, one under another on a phone	Each column in turn
`\*`	A literal `*` (works for any mark)	`*`

Columns hold anything above except more columns. An image in a column fits the column.

::: columns
![Renewal desk](https://example.org/desk.jpg)
**In person**
Tuesdays at the library.
|||
![Phone](https://example.org/phone.jpg)
**By phone**
Any day, two minutes.
:::

Links can go to https://, http:// and mailto: addresses. Images load from https:// or http://. Anything else stays as the text you typed.

Links, quotes, buttons and the publication’s name take the publication’s color, which you set on the Publications page. A light color stays as it is on buttons and gets a darker shade for text, so links stay readable.

A body with none of these marks is plain text: paragraphs, line breaks and links, the same as before Markdown.

Describe every image. Outlook and some Gmail settings block images until the reader allows them, and they show the description instead.

Merge tags

Write	Each subscriber sees
`{{first_name}}`	Their first name, or nothing when there is none
`{{first_name\|there}}`	Their first name, or `there` when there is none

Merge tags work in the subject, the preview text and the body, including inside a link address, where the name is encoded for a URL. A name is always shown as written, never read as Markdown.

Before sending, Pneumail stops on a tag it does not know, such as {{frist_name}}, and warns when {{first_name}} has no fallback and some subscribers have no first name. The preview and test emails are filled in for the newest subscriber with a first name.