E-mail query: spaces between paragraphs

chracatoa · Jun 25, 2016

So I have what is possibly a stupid question.

I have my query e-mail ready to go and I sent it to different e-mail clients to check the final result. It turns out that Microsoft Outlook adds spaces between paragraphs, while gmail doesn't. As a result, I don't know what to do. If I don't add a line between paragraphs, all the paragraphs will be smashed together, making it hard for the agent to read if he or she has gmail. On the other hand, if I manually add a line between paragraphs, it'll look great in gmail but bad in Outlook - there it'll look like I have two lines between paragraphs.

If I add one line between paragraphs, Outlook client looks like this:

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As I said, this is easily fixed in Outlook by *not* adding the extra line. However, if I do this the gmail client looks like this:

Video provides a powerful way to help you prove your point. When you click Online Video, you can paste in the embed code for the video you want to add. You can also type a keyword to search online for the video that best fits your document.
To make your document look professionally produced, Word provides header, footer, cover page, and text box designs that complement each other. For example, you can add a matching cover page, header, and sidebar. Click Insert and then choose the elements you want from the different galleries.
Themes and styles also help keep your document coordinated. When you click Design and choose a new Theme, the pictures, charts, and SmartArt graphics change to match your new theme. When you apply styles, your headings change to match the new theme.
Save time in Word with new buttons that show up where you need them. To change the way a picture fits in your document, click it and a button for layout options appears next to it. When you work on a table, click where you want to add a row or a column, and then click the plus sign.

My question is - which one should I use?

Roxxsmom · Jun 25, 2016

Are you sending it from an outlook or from a g-mail account?

I remember running into this issue also, as I was sending my queries from my free "live" e-mail address (the only one that actually has my unadulterated name as the email address) via microsoft, when I tested sending it to different e-mail addresses I have. I remember that my solution was to paste the query into my own e-mail client from word and not insert actualy line breaks into the e-mail itself. I found a way to do it that came out with a single line break when read on both google and outlook mail systems. I think it mattered how I'd set the paragraphs up in the word document, but I don't remember which way worked best now. You may want to play around with the word file you're pasting the query from.

Note that the version of outlook used by my work e-mail system behaves like g-mail with regards to how the line spacing comes out, so this might be a feature of the cheaper, "free" version of outlook one gets with those free microsoft accounts (live or hotmail addresses), or yahoomail. I'm guessing that most agents probably use something more sophisticated for their own business purposes, one that hopefully won't do strange things to the spacing of messages?

If you can't get this resolved, I'd probably format it so it looks good on the g-mail, because an extra line on outlook is better than everything mashed together on other clients.

Laurasaurus · Jun 26, 2016

This is the absolute worst bit of querying - being scared how it will look at the other end.
Especially to US agents, who always seem to want the pages inside the email too, instead of in a nice clean, controllable separate document.

So, I don't have any help. But I sympathise!

chracatoa · Jun 26, 2016

Laura: Yes, I was just reading an agent and he complains about query formatting and copy/paste from Word. He only accepts e-mail queries without attachments. This is why I decided to test it.

Roxxsmon: I'm torn about this. My gut says that most agents would have Outlook (but I have no data, it's just a guess) and it does look distracting when reading it there.

juniper · Jun 26, 2016

Wow, one more thing to think about. :Shrug:

If I were on the receiving end of a message, I'd prefer the one with extra white space. It might look a bit off but the info is easy to read. I dislike reading blocks of text and will often just skip them.

I can't imagine that extra white space would cancel out a good query. And it's probably a wide-spread problem. I hope an agent or two will pop in here with their advice.

AW Admin · Jun 26, 2016

chracatoa said:
So I have what is possibly a stupid question.

I have my query e-mail ready to go and I sent it to different e-mail clients to check the final result. It turns out that Microsoft Outlook adds spaces between paragraphs, while gmail doesn't. As a result, I don't know what to do. If I don't add a line between paragraphs, all the paragraphs will be smashed together, making it hard for the agent to read if he or she has gmail. On the other hand, if I manually add a line between paragraphs, it'll look great in gmail but bad in Outlook - there it'll look like I have two lines between paragraphs.

If I add one line between paragraphs, Outlook client looks like this:

As I said, this is easily fixed in Outlook by *not* adding the extra line. However, if I do this the gmail client looks like this:

My question is - which one should I use?

I would add the extra return, and use whichever client you prefer.

You can't control how the email will look on the other end in any client aside from very very basic things, because the local settings on any receiving client will kick in, no matter what you do.

Extra spaces are not going to phase the agent; what he was getting from copy-and-pasted from Word would have included non-binary gibberish, high ASCII "missing" characters, weird line breaks because of MS Word's own internal "invisible" control characters, and other kinds of issues.

An "extra" line of white space won't even be an issue.

dragonfliet · Jun 26, 2016

I would go with the extra space. Too much space may look strange, but too little space can be more annoying to read.

JJ Litke · Jun 27, 2016

I'd also go with the extra space. If they use Outlook, they'll get this a lot, because an extra return between paragraphs is pretty common in emails. So it won't really look as strange to them as it might to someone who doesn't use Outlook.

L. OBrien · Jun 27, 2016

I agree with the general consensus. Extra space looks better than not enough, and its easier to read.

E-mail query: spaces between paragraphs

chracatoa

COG: Sometimes, Heaven is Overrated

Roxxsmom

Beastly Fido

Laurasaurus

chracatoa

COG: Sometimes, Heaven is Overrated

juniper

Always curious.

AW Admin

dragonfliet

JJ Litke

People are not wearing enough hats

L. OBrien