Using Word for reading/editing received messages

R

RKM

Hi,

I often edit received messages to clean up formatting, typos, etc., before
filing them away. However, even though I have enabled "Use Microsoft Office
Word as my email editor" in Tools > Options > Mail Format, I only get the
built-in Outlook editor when I read/edit received messages. Is there some
setting or registry entry that will instead use Word? I've searched the web
and the newsgroups but all I've come up with is that this has something to do
with Simple MAPI vs. MAPI.

My biggest annoyance is that the built-in editor does not allow me to
specify a custom font size: I want 9 pt Arial, but my only choices are 8 and
10, and I can't even type in 9. Why is the built-in editor so brain dead?

I'm using Office 2003.
 
S

Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]

You can Word mail as the email editor for received messages only if those
messages use rich text format, not HTML or plain text. If you open the
message, you can change the format (Edit | Edit Message, Format | Rich
Text), then save and close the message. When you reopen it, it should open
in WordMail.

The built-in editor supports fonts of all sizes. Just type in the size you
want rather than picking from the list.
 
R

RKM

Sue, thanks for your reply. I knew I had tried both your suggestions in
previous versions of Outlook and they didn't work, but I tried them again
just to be certain, and sure enough, there is no option to convert a received
message to RTF (only plain text and HTML), nor does an unlisted font size
stick if you type it in: if I type in 9, it jumps to 10 when I press Enter.
 
S

Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]

Both work fine on my Office 2003 system.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
 
R

RKM

That's odd. Are you using a POP or an Exchange account? What are your Tools >
Options > Mail Format settings? I just have HTML and Plain Text as my options.
 
R

RKM

OK, I found out why I don't have the Rich Text option -- it's only available
if the original message is in plain text; it's not available for HTML
messages, which is so annoying! I have to convert the message to plain text,
which loses all the formatting, then to rich text, and reapply all the
formatting. So much for seamless a operation...
 
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