ah, i see the issue, @Brad_Hawkins.
the original text with the check-boxes is in a special ‘rich-text’ format.
but when you use the text in a formula, you get the simplified ‘plain-text’ version that has no formatting.
and it looks like the gmail pack is only seeing this unformatted plain-text version of the text.
so we need to find a way for you to send the fully formated ‘rich-text’ version instead.
i suspect we can use a html version of the text to preserve the formatting, but ive not yet solved this myself.
perhaps this link will get you started on finding a solution?
let us know if it helps.
respect
max