Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/40990
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/40990
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

 **I would recommend a PDF.** I normally believe in converting files to text (marked or unmarked) for emails because so many times that Word file or whatever is just a couple paragraphs that don't need to be in a separate file.

In this case though, the precise formatting matters a lot. No matter how perfect you get an HTML table or plain-text tabs, it's going to look different in different email programs. With no way to predict how.

So I'd create your table in Excel (or whatever spreadsheet program you prefer), or use a word processing program with table support if it's a simple table (so Word or something similar).

Next, tell the program to print the document. When the dialogue screen comes up, choose PDF. In Word, this will be a dropdown menu at the bottom left of the screen. Click the popup and choose "mail as PDF" (or similar wording).

This way you can also keep all the bold formatting, column headers, and so on. If you have the proper formatting, you won't need all the explanations. Just a short introduction.

**If the explanations are required, use footnotes.** A superscript number after each header. Then at the bottom, put each number on its own line, with the extra text.

Doing this in one file is the best way to go. That way the reader can print it out and have the explanations together with the table. Unless the reader needs to fill it out and return it in email, a PDF really is your best choice because formatting never changes. (You can also make it an editable PDF, but that is a lot more complex.)

Original score: 2