HTML / Markdown Not Rendering for Email Output (mailjet?) #2109

smyoss · 2024-01-11T16:43:46Z

smyoss
Jan 11, 2024

Hello Community!

When HTML emails are sent from changedetection.io, they are being received with HTML tags escaped and displayed as plain text. This prevents the email from being rendered correctly in email clients such as Gmail.

Sample Notification:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <title>My Webpage</title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>Test</h1>
</body>
</html>

Steps to Reproduce:

Configure changedetection.io to send an HTML email notification.
Trigger an event that sends an email notification.
Observe the received email in Gmail.
Expected Result:
The email should display with HTML content properly rendered.

Actual Result:
The HTML tags within the email content are escaped with < and > entities, causing the email client to display the raw HTML code instead of rendering it.

Additional Information:

The issue is observed in Gmail, where the Content-Type is set to multipart/alternative with a quoted-printable content transfer encoding. The HTML content is included in the email body, but it is escaped, which should not be the case for HTML emails.
Attachments:

Suggested Fix:
Ensure that the HTML content is not being escaped when constructing the email body. The Content-Transfer-Encoding should be set correctly (either 8bit or quoted-printable), and the HTML tags should be sent as actual < and > characters, not as HTML entities.

Desktop (please complete the following information):

OS: Windows
Browser Chrome
Version 120

Change Detection Version
v0.45.12

dgtlmoon · 2024-01-11T16:46:38Z

dgtlmoon
Jan 11, 2024
Maintainer

can you paste your actual notification URL for emails? (obviously just replace username and password with xxx)

0 replies

smyoss · 2024-01-11T16:51:05Z

smyoss
Jan 11, 2024
Author

Sure thing! Check out below. Thanks!!

mailtos://[username]:[password]@[smtp-server]:[port]?smtp=[smtp-server]&from=[Sender Name]%3C[sender-email]%3E&to=[recipient-email]

mailtos://USERNAME:PASSWORD@SMTPSERVER:PORT?smtp=SMTPSERVER&from=SenderName%3Cno-reply%40example.com%3E&to=recipient%40example.com

0 replies

dgtlmoon · 2024-01-11T16:56:12Z

dgtlmoon
Jan 11, 2024
Maintainer

77133de

Can you add &format=HTML to the notification URL and let me know if it solves it?

0 replies

smyoss · 2024-01-11T17:09:26Z

smyoss
Jan 11, 2024
Author

Sure thing, I just tried, but I had the same experience. I added both the &format=html to the URL as well as set the email to HTML format. :-/

0 replies

dgtlmoon · 2024-01-11T18:57:45Z

dgtlmoon
Jan 11, 2024
Maintainer

sorry, what about format=HTML ? (instead of lower case html)

0 replies

smyoss · 2024-01-11T19:15:04Z

smyoss
Jan 11, 2024
Author

Not a problem at all! I appreciate your help in troubleshooting this issue.

Sadly, the issue persists. Neither HTML or html will result in getting the template sent as HTML. Also, to confirm, the notification dropdown is set to HTML as well.

0 replies

dgtlmoon · 2024-01-11T19:16:18Z

dgtlmoon
Jan 11, 2024
Maintainer

I'm unable to reproduce this

notification format = HTML

notification url = mailto://[email protected]&[email protected]

notification body

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <title>My Webpage</title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>Test</h1>
</body>
</html>

the email contains the HTML part... so no problem

To: [email protected]
Message-ID: <170500020667.1.7417686678213304326@mailer>
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2024 19:10:06 +0000
X-Application: changedetection.io

--===============5790172178538689748==
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Test
--===============5790172178538689748==
Content-Type: text/html; charset="utf-8"
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang=3D"en">
<head>
    <title>My Webpage</title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>Test</h1>
</body>
</html>
--===============5790172178538689748==--

0 replies

dgtlmoon · 2024-01-11T19:17:28Z

dgtlmoon
Jan 11, 2024
Maintainer

@smyoss any chance you can download the .eml email original source and attach it here? you may need to .zip it to make it attach

0 replies

smyoss · 2024-01-11T19:31:58Z

smyoss
Jan 11, 2024
Author

Absolutely! Please see attached. I have made a couple of small redactions for privacy. Thank you!!

HTML.eml.txt

0 replies

dgtlmoon · 2024-01-11T22:13:09Z

dgtlmoon
Jan 11, 2024
Maintainer

how are you setting up the notification body? can you add a screenshot?

0 replies

smyoss · 2024-01-11T22:34:28Z

smyoss
Jan 11, 2024
Author

Sure thing, please see attached. I'm not adding the URL parameters you mentioned, but this is what this looks like. For the SMTP provider, I'm using Mailjet, but they aren't doing anything to stop HTML emails. I send ~2-3k HTML emails per day through them.

Also, I tried with your configuration and I got the same experience. HTML as text and not rendered.

Thank you so much for your he

lp.

0 replies

dgtlmoon · 2024-01-12T09:56:02Z

dgtlmoon
Jan 12, 2024
Maintainer

I suspect its something in mailjet to be honest.. can you try a different SMTP server? the output from apprise in this version is not escaping the HTML.. :(

btw does the changedetection instance run in windows, or in linux?

0 replies

smyoss · 2024-01-12T17:17:55Z

smyoss
Jan 12, 2024
Author

I just tried it again with Amazon SES and it was the same experience. :-/

I'm running this on Ubuntu 22.04 in Docker.

Thank you so much!

0 replies

dgtlmoon · 2024-01-12T22:13:44Z

dgtlmoon
Jan 12, 2024
Maintainer

its strange that no one else has reported it...

but i can see in your EML attachment that it's true :/ i have no idea

0 replies

dgtlmoon · 2024-01-14T15:09:46Z

dgtlmoon
Jan 14, 2024
Maintainer

maybe its your client thats converting it?

0 replies

dgtlmoon · 2024-01-14T16:52:35Z

dgtlmoon
Jan 14, 2024
Maintainer

#2108 this extra tests passes

    assert '<h1>Test</h1>' in msg
    assert '&lt;' not in msg
    assert 'Content-Type: text/html' in msg

I'm also unable to reproduce this in gmail at all...

0 replies

dgtlmoon · 2024-01-14T16:53:01Z

dgtlmoon
Jan 14, 2024
Maintainer

@smyoss any way you can test mailto:// instead of mailtos:// ?

0 replies

smyoss · 2024-01-15T03:25:54Z

smyoss
Jan 15, 2024
Author

Thank you for asking. Sadly, the issue persists. See attached. I tied....

mailto://UN:[email protected]:587?smtp=in-v3.mailjet.com&from=Company%20Changes%3Cno-reply%40company.com%3E&to=person%40companyname.com

and

mailto://UN:[email protected]:587?smtp=in-v3.mailjet.com&from=Company%20Changes%3Cno-reply%40company.com%3E&to=person%40companyname.com&mode=starttls

I don't think my email client is converting this message. It's just Gmail so it isn't something fancy. I also tried this with AWS SES with the same outcome.

Thank you so much for your help.

0 replies

dgtlmoon · 2024-01-15T09:10:27Z

dgtlmoon
Jan 15, 2024
Maintainer

For now i'll park this in discussions, i'm unable to reproduce it when delivering to gmail

1 reply

smyoss Jan 15, 2024
Author

Understood, thank you so much for your help.

smyoss · 2024-01-19T17:15:03Z

smyoss
Jan 19, 2024
Author

Just wanted to let you know I tried the latest release and the issue persists. No pressure. Just wanted to let you know I tried. Again, thank you so much for your incredible application.

1 reply

dgtlmoon Jan 19, 2024
Maintainer

interesting, has to be something with your SMTP service.. could you email me some access to try it? [email protected]

dgtlmoon · 2024-01-21T10:06:21Z

dgtlmoon
Jan 21, 2024
Maintainer

I tried your email credentials you sent me and it worked perfectly fine...

can you try set the main "SETTINGS" (global settings) to HTML too? as well as your watch settings to HTML format? and send again

0 replies

smyoss · 2024-01-22T17:43:59Z

smyoss
Jan 22, 2024
Author

Yep, both are set to HTML as well. See attached. Thank you!

1 reply

dgtlmoon Jan 22, 2024
Maintainer

first screenshot is not with the notifications tab

smyoss · 2024-01-22T19:18:09Z

smyoss
Jan 22, 2024
Author

Yep, I was trying to show you how I was fetching the data. Isn't this the watch settings? I'm not seeing a tab for watch settings specifically. I have enabled HTML for everything. Thank you!!

1 reply

hrmtc Nov 25, 2024

Hi @smyoss, could you please share how you resolved this problem? Thank you!

TheConner · 2024-01-24T19:20:51Z

TheConner
Jan 24, 2024

Ran into this myself and decided to take a stab at fixing this, I noticed the notification format was overwriting the notification title (see email subject on earlier replies). The notification format was always being set to "plain", even if the setting was set to "html". Found a culprit for this bug and submitted a PR.

2 replies

dgtlmoon Jan 24, 2024
Maintainer

@smyoss please try the :dev tag

https://hub.docker.com/layers/dgtlmoon/changedetection.io/dev/images/sha256-b2033d7f030353738a83257585d9c50f40ddf61914725c1ec8be3d12745e0c7a?context=explore

dgtlmoon Jan 24, 2024
Maintainer

@TheConner thanks a billion!

smyoss · 2024-01-24T22:25:39Z

smyoss
Jan 24, 2024
Author

I think that did the trick!!! Thank you @dgtlmoon and @TheConner!!! You guys are awesome!!! Much love to you all.

4 replies

dgtlmoon Jan 24, 2024
Maintainer

@smyoss please can you leave a rating here? https://alternativeto.net/software/changedetection-io/about/ :)

smyoss Jan 24, 2024
Author

Sure thing it would be my pleasure, but it's not letting me.

This is my review and appreciation for your hard work.

Changedetection.io is an absolute game-changer for anyone looking to stay ahead of the curve! This service is not just awesome; it's a life-saver when it comes to keeping track of the latest updates on your favorite websites. Its user-friendly interface makes it incredibly easy to use, even for those who aren't tech-savvy.

The dedication of dgtlmoon to maintain such high-quality code is evident, and their responsive support is top-notch. When I encountered an issue, it was addressed with such efficiency and expertise that left me thoroughly impressed.

I highly recommend Changedetection.io to anyone who values their time and wants to streamline their online workflow. It's not often that a service makes me say 'Wow!' but this one truly deserves all the praise. Do yourself a favor and try it out today—you won't be disappointed!

dgtlmoon Jan 24, 2024
Maintainer

thanks a bunch :) lets see if it gets published :) I have no control over that tho :(

smyoss Jan 24, 2024
Author

Of course! I appreciate you and happy to help! Thank you!

hrmtc · 2024-11-25T04:02:59Z

hrmtc
Nov 25, 2024

Hi. This has been resolved? I’m using the latest version and I’m experiencing the exact same problem. Thanks.

2 replies

smyoss Nov 25, 2024
Author

Unfortunately, I didn't really do anything myself to resolve the issue. The maintainer published a fix to resolve the issue. In a nutshell, the issue was that the email was being set to plain text no matter what you did. The maintainer added an option to toggle it to HTML format. I just upgraded through normal Docker update procedures, but I didn't adjust any code myself. I'm sorry I can't be more helpful. :-/

hrmtc Nov 26, 2024

Thanks for your explanation, @smyoss. Do you still have this problem?
I'm using the latest version (v0.47.06), but it still sends the notification as plain text.

@dgtlmoon, do you have any ideas on how to resolve this? Thanks!

MartinCa · 2025-08-27T18:09:20Z

MartinCa
Aug 27, 2025

I had issues with this when using a different notification for a group.

For all notifications I had it set to text, then for the specific group I had it set to HTML.

The notification for the group still got sent as text even though the group setting specified HTML format. The strange part was that the test notification from the group notification tab was formatted correctly. Once I changed the global notification format to HTML, the group notification was suddenly formatted correctly as HTML.

3 replies

MartinCa Aug 27, 2025

@dgtlmoon I think the issue is that specifically for notification_format the cascading get of variables does not get to the setting for tags if the notification for the watch itself is set to default format, here:

changedetection.io/changedetectionio/notification_service.py

Line 114 in 8b8f280

    
           if var_name == 'notification_format' and v == default_notification_format_for_watch:

dgtlmoon Aug 27, 2025
Maintainer

thanks, ive seen something similar too

dgtlmoon Aug 27, 2025
Maintainer

linking #3162

Uh oh!

HTML / Markdown Not Rendering for Email Output (mailjet?) #2109

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smyoss Jan 11, 2024

Replies: 27 comments · 15 replies

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Jan 11, 2024

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