HTML Email Differences Between Outlook 2003 and 2007
HTML-formatted email (with images and special formatting) that was created in Outlook 2003 may look quite different when viewed by users in Outlook 2007. This is because Outlook 2003 uses Internet Explorer to display HTML emails while Outlook 2007 uses Microsoft Word, which has fewer HTML capabilities. The tip for this week demonstrates how to prevent formatting issues between HTML email from Outlook 2003 and 2007.
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Reminder - The new UW Colleges/UW Extension training web site is located at: http://www.uwex.uwc.edu/it/instruct-support/training.cfm . There users will find links to many useful Office 2007 training documents, videos, and web sites. We encourage you to check out this site first when you have questions about Office 2007.
Sample Outlook 2003 Email Displayed in Outlook 2007
The long-term solution to the problem is to re-design old Outlook 2003 email templates in Outlook 2007 so that they will display correctly to all users; however, Outlook 2007 does not support much of the Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) formatting that was available in Outlook 2003, including background colors. For more details view http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa338201.aspx
An alternative would be to instruct Outlook 2007 users to view 2003-formatted email messages in their Web browser. (“Outlook 2007 users, please follow the three steps below to view this email”)
- Step 1. Open the E-mail in its own window (double-click to open the message)
- Step 2. Click the toolbar button called “Other actions”
- Step 3. Choose “View in browser”
Note that if a recipient is viewing the email message in Internet Explorer Webmail, the HTML formatting will usually display correctly, but that is not the case in Firefox Webmail.
Special thanks to Karen Franker for providing this tip.
As always, suggestions are welcomed and Computing Tips are appreciated. Send them to Pat Fellows.