html not rendering in Outlook 2003

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DJ Dawg - 29 Apr 2008 22:23 GMT

I intentionally left Outlook 2003 on my computer when I bought Office 2007
because I DO NOT want to use the Word HTML engine for my email!!!!!

In the past an occasional email would not be rendered correctly--it would be
in plain text instead. It wouldn't have all HTML tags, but image links and
the clickable links are shown in tag brackets (that don't wrap when the link
text wraps at the window edge!)

Now it seems to be more and more common. Just today I opened over 10 HTML
email messages in a row that were plain text. It's VERY annoying.

Did a recent update disable or handicap the HTML engine? I use AVG free as
my Virus scanner.

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Hal Hostetler [MVP P/I] - 29 Apr 2008 23:17 GMT

Regardless of whether or not it's the specific cause of your problem, you do
NOT want AVG or any other A/V application scanning your email. In general
ALL local email scanners should be considered incompatible with ALL emails
clients at some level - its entirely in the nature of the beast that the way
they must work will eventually cause problems with email flow, not an "IF",
but a "WHEN". Email scanning belongs on an email server. The resident,
local file system scanner, if kept current, will take care of anything that
might slip through a server based email scanner. AVG, in particular, is
known to cause blank email message bodies when used with Outlook 2003;
granted, this is not the symptom you're seeing, it still might be an issue
with AVG. Disabling the email scanning module is seldom sufficient, in most
cases, the application must be uninstalled, then re-installed without the
email scanning module.

Hal

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Hal Hostetler, CPBE -- hhh@kvoa.com
Senior Engineer/MIS -- MS MVP-Print/Imaging -- WA7BGX
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> I intentionally left Outlook 2003 on my computer when I bought Office 2007
> because I DO NOT want to use the Word HTML engine for my email!!!!!
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> Did a recent update disable or handicap the HTML engine? I use AVG free as
> my Virus scanner.

Reply to this Message

Ron Boyd - 08 May 2008 19:42 GMT

> Regardless of whether or not it's the specific cause of your problem, you do
> NOT want AVG or any other A/V application scanning your email. In general
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>
> Hal

I don't believe AVG is the culprit here. I have the same issue and I don't
see how AVG (in my case, the professional version) could be involved. I have,
for example, a person (yeah, a relative) who sends batches of "forwards" to
me an my wife. We both have Vista -- mine is Ultimate with Office 2003, her's
is Premium with Office 2007. Anyway, the e-mails come to me with the HTML
formatting stripped and to my wife intact. My wife can then Forward them to
me and they appear normal -- HTML rendered properly.

I might also be useful to know that, in about two out twenty times, the
e-mails from the original source arrives okay -- meaning as it was intended.
Any suggestions?

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Diane Poremsky {MVP} - 30 Apr 2008 04:36 GMT

The HTML engine wasn't updated. Most likely AVG is stripping the HTML.
Disable email scanning.

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Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Need Help with Common Tasks? http://www.outlook-tips.net/beginner/
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> I intentionally left Outlook 2003 on my computer when I bought Office 2007
> because I DO NOT want to use the Word HTML engine for my email!!!!!
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
> Did a recent update disable or handicap the HTML engine? I use AVG free as
> my Virus scanner.

Reply to this Message

Ron Boyd - 14 May 2008 17:16 GMT

> The HTML engine wasn't updated. Most likely AVG is stripping the HTML.
> Disable email scanning.

Again, I don't believe AVG is the culprit. I did, however, find that if
there is any entry in "To," the e-mail comes through as expected. Would AVG
be that discriminating?

I was, also, turned on to the KB article at

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/951982

(This may help others)

I downloaded and installed the "Hotfix" but, so far, the problem remains. I
have a suspicion that I will have to wait for "new" e-mail to arrive -- the
"old" ones may be permanently damaged.

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Jason - 14 May 2008 16:43 GMT

Have you checked the recieved message heasder "content-type: text/plain;" or "content-type: text/html;" when it was first recieved?

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Ron Boyd - 14 May 2008 17:07 GMT

> Have you checked the recieved message heasder "content-type: text/plain;" or "content-type: text/html;" when it was first recieved?

I get this in the Header:

Content-Type: multipart/related;
type="multipart/alternative";
boundary="----=_NextPart_000_00A5_01C8B4D6.F274EFD0"

What does that mean?

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