Plain text links from a user perspective are not nearly that ambivalent. Instead of clicking on the link to open it, users either have to copy and paste it or use other means to open it in their favorite web browser. This means that it will take longer to open those links.

The Firefox Internet browser has a nice feature that can be used to open non-HTML links. Just select the link text, right-click it and select to open the link in a new tab. The browser can identify plain text links automatically to display those options in the context menu.

While that’s a great workaround if you encounter those links on an irregular basis, it may become an annoyance if you happen to encounter plain text links regularly.

That’s where the free userscript Linkify comes into play. The script turns plain text links automatically into clickable HTML links on all http pages (it is not working on https websites).

The script supports http, https, ftp and email address links that are displayed in plain text instead of the HTML code version.

This is the plain text link of the screenshot above.

And this is the very same link after installation of the userscript.

As you can see, the script has modified the plain text link on page load and turned it into a clickable link.

I have tested Linkify Plus under Firefox with Scriptish installed. It is likely that the script will also work under different web browsers, Opera or Chrome for instance. Please note that Linkify Plus can only work its magic if JavaScript is enabled for the particular website you are visiting.

You can install Linkify Plus directly from the official userscripts website.

The Thunderbird email client supports both plain text and HTML emails. The account settings hold the default preference for each email account in the mail client. This only affects email messages that are created in Thunderbird, not messages that are received.

html emails

The preference for incoming emails is found under View > Message Body As. Here it is possible to switch from the default Original HTML to Simple HTML or Plain Text.

incoming emails plain text

This preference is valid for all incoming emails, regardless of the email address they have been sent to.

Original HTML

If you choose View – Message Body As – Original HTML, then you see HTML messages in their original form, except that:

* For privacy reasons you can choose not to allow messages to run JavaScript code.
* For privacy reasons you can choose not to allow messages to download remote images.
* Some messages might contain non-standard HTML that Thunderbird does not support.

For privacy settings, choose: Options (Preferences) – Privacy – General

Note: There are normally no security issues when you read a message in Thunderbird. It is not normally possible for hostile code to attack your computer just because you read a message. But if you open an attachment, then Thunderbird passes the attachment to your operating system or to some other application. Your operating system or the other application might allow the attachment to attack your computer.

Simple HTML

If you choose View – Message Body As – Simple HTML, then you see HTML messages in a simplified form. Thunderbird does not run JavaScript code, and does not download remote images. Simple HTML preserves basic HTML formatting.

Plain text

If the message is plain text, then you always see plain text.

If you choose View – Message Body As – Plain Text, then you see plain text even if the message is really HTML. If the message is multipart, then you see the plain text part. Otherwise Thunderbird converts the HTML message to plain text.

Thunderbird normally enhances plain text by supporting certain HTML-like features:

• Bold, italic and underlined text.
• Smileys displayed as images.
• Attached images displayed in the body of the message.
• Links displayed in blue, and underlined.
• Flowed paragraphs (if the message was sent using flowed paragraphs)
• Quoted paragraphs outlined with colored bars (if the message was sent using flowed paragraphs)
• Signatures displayed in gray.

The supported smileys are:
:-) :) smile
:-D laughing
:-( :( frown
:-[ embarassed
;-) ;) wink
:-\ undecided
:-P ;-P tongue
=-O surprise

:-* kiss
>:o >:-o yell
8-) cool
:-$ money
:-! foot
O:-) innocent
:'( cry
:-X sealed

It sometimes may be necessary to write HTML emails and plain text emails, depending on the recipient. While it is possible to switch the format in the account settings, it is possible to make a temporary switch when composing emails.

Holding down the Shift key before clicking on create a new message, or one of the reply options, switches from the default writing mode to the other.

Thunderbird will automatically display the plain text email editor if HTML emails are the default, and vice verse if the Shift key is pressed.

The composition window will display HTML elements like bold or underline if an HTML message is composed, or no text formatting options if it is a plain text email.

HTML Email composition window

html email

Plain Text composition window

plain text email

Holding down the shift key is the fastest way of switching between HTML and plain text composition windows.

Puretext is a freeware utility that helps you in this special case. It adds a new windows hot key to your system (Windows + V) which removes all the formatting of the text that is pasted into your editor. You have some options in puretext like changing the hotkey to Shift + V or ALT + V instead of the default one. You are free to change the key that needs to be pressed as well, making it highly flexible.

Another option if selected pastes the converted text automatically into the active window when you press the hotkey. If you do not enable this the text is stripped of the formatting but not pasted into the editor. You are free to play a sound when this is done but I would advise against it. You may also auto run puretext with every windows start by enabling that option in puretext.