---
title: Email body
description: "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.