Open Outlook 2003 .msg files in Outlook XP

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Anthony - 26 Jul 2007 03:58 GMT

My company has a mixture of Office 2003 and Office XP systems.
Several users of Outlook 2003 have saved emails over the years in .msg format.
When someone with Outlook XP tries to open these .msg files, they get an
error saying that they must have Outlook 2003 to open those files.

Is there any way to get Outlook XP to open these files?
I know we could open all those emails and resave them as HTM or TXT files,
but I was hoping there would be an easier/quicker method since there are alot
of these files on our network.

Any ideas/suggestions?
Is there something simple I am missing?

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Nikki Peterson [MVP - Outlook] - 26 Jul 2007 04:41 GMT

You probably have the Outlook settings set to
save messages in Unicode format. Look at the following:

- Select the TOOLS menu
- Select OPTIONS
- Select the OTHER tab
- Click the ADVANCED OPTIONS... button

Check to see if there is a check mark next to "Use Unicode
Message Format when saving messages". If it is check marked,
turn it off and see if this helps.

Nikki Peterson

> My company has a mixture of Office 2003 and Office XP systems.
> Several users of Outlook 2003 have saved emails over the years in .msg
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> Any ideas/suggestions?
> Is there something simple I am missing?

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Anthony - 26 Jul 2007 05:22 GMT

Thanks Nikki,
I think that will make the difference for future messages.
Is there any way to fix the existing ones without resaving them all?
Or, is there a patch for Outlook XP to let it understand unicode format?

> You probably have the Outlook settings set to
> save messages in Unicode format. Look at the following:
[quoted text clipped - 24 lines]
> > Any ideas/suggestions?
> > Is there something simple I am missing?

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Brian Tillman - 26 Jul 2007 21:00 GMT

> Is there any way to fix the existing ones without resaving them all?
> Or, is there a patch for Outlook XP to let it understand unicode
> format?

No and no.

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Brian Tillman

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Brian Tillman - 26 Jul 2007 20:59 GMT

> My company has a mixture of Office 2003 and Office XP systems.
> Several users of Outlook 2003 have saved emails over the years in
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>
> Is there any way to get Outlook XP to open these files?

No.

> I know we could open all those emails and resave them as HTM or TXT
> files, but I was hoping there would be an easier/quicker method since
> there are alot of these files on our network.
>
> Any ideas/suggestions?
> Is there something simple I am missing?

In Outlook 2003, click Tools>Options>Other>Advanced Options. Uncheck the
box that says "Use Unicode Message Format when saving messages". Then when
you create a .msg file, prior versions of Outlok will be able to open them.

Signature

Brian Tillman

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