Recommendation #2: Use plain text messages, and stopВ sending HTML and Rich Text mail completely. YouвЂ™ll still be able to send and receiveВ HTML and Rich Text email, but Outlook will use itвЂ™s own, faster and moreВ lightweight editor instead of firing up the 10,000 lb. Now, make sure that both the check boxes that referenceВ Microsoft Word are UNchecked. In Outlook, Click on the Tools menu, the Options item, and then click on the MailВ Format tab.

ItвЂ™s big, itвЂ™s slow, itвЂ™s overkill, and if you donвЂ™t know how toВ drive it just so, it can make one heck of a mess. Recommendation #1: stop using Word as your email editor.В Using Word to edit email is like driving a Greyhound Bus to visit your nextВ door neighbor. It is notorious for generatingВ horrible and convoluted HTML. Or more to the point, I blame Microsoft Word. Using Word to edit email is like driving a Greyhound Bus to visit your nextВ door neighbor. You should be able to,В but ultimately you cannot. For example, you might not be able to indent oneВ paragraph without indenting all paragraphs. The problem, particularly when replying to a message that contains thisВ convoluted mess, is that the editor youвЂ™re using to type and edit your reply,В may actually not be able to properly decipher and adjust the existingВ formatting in a message. It may look simple on the outside, but inside? A convoluted mess. The instructions I mean are those that do things like indent, and place a bar next to this paragraph, or make this word bold, or embed aВ bulleted list within the message. These are the raw HTMLВ instructions that you donвЂ™t normally see, but that cause the email to appearВ the way it does. I believe that the problem stems from very convoluted formattingВ instructions that are created within the message. I think I understand why it happens, and I definitely have someВ suggestions. All of a sudden, what I type doesnвЂ™t appear in the style IВ want it to, and for the life of me, I canвЂ™t whack it into shape. ItвЂ™s a problem I commonly experience when replying toВ other peopleвЂ™s mail.

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