HTML emails always render as text only (no HTML at all)

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captainclueless@gmail.com - 23 Jul 2008 16:01 GMT

Platform: Vista Ultimate / Office 2007

All of the HTML emails I receive are rendered in TXT only. I
understand that outlook 2007 uses Word's (degraded) HTML capabilities
to compose and view HTML messages; however, I'm not getting any HTML -
message is displayed in the plain text.

If i connect to the email server with "Microsoft Mail" (as delivered
with Vista), the HTML email will render.

Again, I understand that the HTML rendering may not be ideal in 2007,
however, I'm getting just plain text.

Can someone point me to a setting, or something else I may have
overlooked?

Many thanks!

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LeftFoot - 23 Jul 2008 18:28 GMT

I think that you'll find what you need under Tools | Trust Center | E-mail
Security. There's an option called "Read all standard mail in plain text"
about half-way down that dialog.

It is also possible for some anti-virus software to force all e-mail to be
read in plain text form, too.

> Platform: Vista Ultimate / Office 2007
>
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
>
> Many thanks!

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wwwgeek - 24 Jul 2008 14:06 GMT

Thx. Great suggestions as I had not checked either. However, now that
i have neither seems to be set in such a way to cause this behavior.
The Trust settings was set to NOT automatically download images -
which obviously would have some impact on HTML emails I receive, but
not the impact to the extent I'm seeing. I'll keep looking. Thanks
again.

> I think that you'll find what you need under Tools | Trust Center | E-mail
> Security. There's an option called "Read all standard mail in plain text"
> about half-way down that dialog.
>
> It is also possible for some anti-virus software to force all e-mail to be
> read in plain text form, too.

Reply to this Message

wwwgeek - 24 Jul 2008 20:35 GMT

SOLUTION:

for reasons i don't understand, have the option set to not
automatically download images caused emails to be displayed as if the
"show as text only" box was selected (when it was not). In this
condition even the most basic elements like bold, color, etc. where
not displayed.

My presumption was that with the dont download images the base HTML
would come through, but images would simply not load (protecting me
from web-bugs, etc.). Silly me.

Changing the setting to allow automatic download of images "fixed" the
issue and I can now receive emails in HTML format. Of course every
spammer now knows when they successfully deliver a message to me...

> Thx. Great suggestions as I had not checked either. However, now that
> i have neither seems to be set in such a way to cause this behavior.
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> > It is also possible for some anti-virus software to force all e-mail to be
> > read in plain text form, too.

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LeftFoot - 28 Jul 2008 18:14 GMT

I'm sorry I didn't catch your replies until now. I'm not getting notified of
replies in a consistent manner.

I'm glad you got it fixed. I'll experiment with this, as I was unaware that
the images setting had this effect.

I can think of a couple of possible solutions to your concern about spammers
knowing when they successfully delivered an e-mail to your account, depending
upon type of account, effectiveness of spam filters, etc.

I used to just leave images enabled but have all mail delivered as plain
text. Then, upon receipt, I could choose in the preview window whether or not
I wanted to view as html and / or download pictures.

Nowadays, I just leave html mail and images enabled, but I don't allow
delivery until I've looked at the headers. At that point I judge between what
gets deleted from the server, and what actually gets delivered to my inbox.

I hope you find a solution that's satisfactory for you.

> SOLUTION:
>
[quoted text clipped - 25 lines]
> > > It is also possible for some anti-virus software to force all e-mail to be
> > > read in plain text form, too.

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Julie - 23 Jul 2008 22:49 GMT

I have Outlook 2003 so 2007 should be even smarter? I believe under
Tools>Options>Mail format is it's set at "plain text" then that's what you'd
get. Rich text or HTML should keep the link intact.

Julie

> Platform: Vista Ultimate / Office 2007
>
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
>
> Many thanks!

Reply to this Message

wwwgeek - 24 Jul 2008 14:03 GMT

Thx Julie - i believe that setting applies only to the format of
outbound messages - which Im able to author in HTML just fine.

> I have Outlook 2003 so 2007 should be even smarter? I believe under
> Tools>Options>Mail format is it's set at "plain text" then that's what you'd
> get. Rich text or HTML should keep the link intact.
>
> Julie

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