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Workflows

Smartsheet Workflow Plaintext to Unicode Converter

Smartsheet workflow alert messages sent as plain-text emails do not render HTML or rich text formatting. Any bold, italic, or heading-style emphasis in the message editor is stripped when delivered to plain-text email clients, leaving the message as an undifferentiated wall of text regardless of how it was formatted during composition.

Without Grid Tools

The daily workaround

Rich text formatting stripped in delivery
Bold and italic applied in the workflow message editor disappears in plain-text email clients, making emphasis and section headers invisible to recipients.
All text looks the same regardless of intent
Important fields like status values or deadlines cannot be visually distinguished from surrounding body text in a plain-text notification.
No heading-style visual hierarchy in alerts
Multi-section alert messages that need visual structure — summary, details, next steps — arrive as a single uniform block with no differentiation.
Workarounds require manual Unicode entry
Using Unicode mathematical bold or italic characters to simulate styling requires locating and pasting each styled character individually, which is impractical for more than a word or two.
Screenshot: Workflow message with bold and italic applied in the editor
Workflow message with bold and italic applied in the editor
Screenshot: Same message delivered as plain text — all formatting removed
Same message delivered as plain text — all formatting removed
Screenshot: Uniform undifferentiated text with no visual hierarchy
Uniform undifferentiated text with no visual hierarchy in the recipient's inbox

With Grid Tools

How Grid Tools handles it

Convert text to Unicode styled variants
Grid Tools converts selected text into Unicode mathematical bold, italic, bold italic, or monospace variants that render in any email client — plain-text or HTML.
Visual emphasis that survives plain-text delivery
Because Unicode styled characters are actual characters rather than HTML tags, they appear in the recipient's email regardless of how their email client renders messages.
Multiple style options from a single control
Select from bold, italic, bold italic, and monospace conversions to match the level of emphasis needed for each part of the message.
Apply to any text in the message editor
Highlight any word or phrase in the workflow message, apply a Unicode style, and the converted text drops back into the editor in place.
Screenshot: Unicode text converter panel in the workflow message editor
Unicode text converter panel in the workflow message editor
Screenshot: Selected text converted to Unicode bold style
Selected text converted to Unicode bold style
Screenshot: Styled text in a plain-text email showing visual emphasis
Styled text in a plain-text email showing visual emphasis

Frequently asked questions

Why does bold text in a Smartsheet workflow message disappear in some email clients?

Smartsheet workflow notifications can be delivered as plain-text emails, which strip HTML and rich text markup. Bold and italic formatting applied in the workflow editor are HTML instructions that do not survive plain-text delivery.

What Unicode styles does the converter support?

The converter supports Unicode mathematical bold, italic, bold italic, and monospace text variants. These are standard Unicode character ranges that render in virtually all email clients and operating systems.

Do Unicode styled characters work with column placeholders?

Unicode conversion applies to static text. Column placeholders like {{Column Name}} reference values at runtime — converting the placeholder itself to Unicode would break the reference. Apply Unicode styling to the surrounding static text instead.

Do recipients need any special software or settings to see the Unicode styling?

No. Unicode styled characters are standard text characters. Any email client that renders text — including plain-text clients — displays them with their visual styling intact.

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