Software & Apps › MS Office Always Send Plain Text to Certain Addresses in Outlook What to do when the email recipient's device can't display rich formatting Share Pin Email Print MS Office Outlook Word Excel Powerpoint By Heinz Tschabitscher Writer A former freelance contributor who has reviewed hundreds of email programs and services since 1997. our editorial process Heinz Tschabitscher Updated February 03, 2020 If there are contacts in your address book who prefer plain text email over rich HTML formatting, you don't have to send your emails in plain text when using Outlook. In the Outlook address book, set specific email addresses to prefer plain text. Outlook automatically converts messages to these addresses to plain text no matter what format you use to compose the message. Instructions in this article apply to Outlook 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007; and Outlook for Office 365. Always Send in Plain Text to Certain Email Addresses in Outlook To make sure Outlook always sends emails in plain text to certain addresses: Go to the Outlook Navigation pane and select People or Contacts (depending on the version of Outlook you use). Or press Ctrl+3. In Outlook 2007, select Go > Contacts. Go to Home and, in the Current View group, select either Card or Business Card. Locate and double-click the desired contact. Select the Email dropdown arrow and choose the email address you want to set to plain text. In the upper-right corner, double-click the email address that should receive plain text messages. In the Email Properties dialog box, select the Internet format dropdown arrow and choose Send Plain Text only. If the Edit Business Card dialog box opens, you'll need to make a change to the Windows Registry to access the Email Properties dialog box. Select OK. Close the contact window. Force the Email Properties Dialog for Addresses in Outlook 2016 and Outlook 2013 To have Outlook always show the Email Properties dialog when you double-click a contact's email address: Close Outlook. In Windows, press Windows+R. In the Run dialog box, type regedit. Select OK. If prompted by User Account Control, select Yes to allow this app to make changes to your PC. For Outlook 2016, go to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Contactcard For Outlook 2013, go to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\Contactcard If the Contactcard key exists in the registry, go to step 12. If you do not see the Outlook version key in the registry, you'll need to create a new key. For Outlook 2016, go to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common For Outlook 2013, go to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common Go to Edit and select New > Key. Type Contactcard and press Enter. Go to Edit and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. In the Name column, type turnonlegacygaldialog and press Enter. Double-click the turnonlegacygaldialog value. In the Value data text box, enter 1. Select OK. Close the Registry Editor. You can now follow the instructions to set the sender to receive plain text emails.