# How To: Work with Rich Text Fields

Use the right output mode when rich text fields contain formatting you either need to keep or remove.

### Problem

You have rich text fields with HTML formatting that need to be displayed or stripped in your documents.

### Solution 1: Preserve Formatting

**Use triple braces:**

```
{{{!Opportunity.Description__c}}}
```

This preserves:

* Bold, italic, and underline
* Font colors and sizes
* Bullet and numbered lists
* Hyperlinks
* Tables
* Images in PDF and DOCX

### Solution 2: Strip Formatting

**For merge fields:**

```
{{!Opportunity.Description__c strip-html="true"}}
```

**For related lists:**

```
<column type="text">Description__c</column>
```

**Input:** `<p>This is <b>bold</b> text with <a href="#">links</a></p>`\
**Output:** `This is bold text with links`

### Solution 3: Preserve Formatting in Related Lists

```
<column type="rtf">Rich_Notes__c</column>
```

### Comparison

| Method              | HTML Tags | Formatting | Images       | Best for                    |
| ------------------- | --------- | ---------- | ------------ | --------------------------- |
| `{{{!Field}}}`      | Rendered  | Preserved  | PDF and DOCX | Standalone rich text output |
| `strip-html="true"` | Removed   | Lost       | No           | Plain text output           |
| `type="rtf"`        | Rendered  | Preserved  | PDF and DOCX | Rich text inside tables     |
| `type="text"`       | Removed   | Lost       | No           | Plain text inside tables    |

### Tips

* Use triple braces for standalone rich text fields.
* Use `type="rtf"` inside table columns.
* Strip HTML when you need plain text only.
* Test images and formatting in the output format you support.


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