Plain-text only possible? (Outlook/Office2003 Stan

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Is there a way to have Outlook invariably send messages as plain-text only? Under Tools>Options>Mail format>Message format, under “Compose in this message format” I have selected “Plain text.” Still, Outlook wants to send every message as HTML, requiring me to also click on Format>Plain text, then confirm “Yes” I want to lose the formatting (a warning incapable of being turned off). Must I go through this every time? Is there a workaround other than finding a mail program that doesn’t insist on being smarter than me?

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For new messages, your setting under Mail Format should work. How are you creating the new message? If you are using a form or a template, that might be the problem. If you are just clicking New or pressing Ctrl+N, then it’s difficult to explain.

As for replies and forwards, you still will have to change the format manually if the sender did not use Plain Text.

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Ahhh, yes, that’s the difference ( thank you!). Creating a new message comes up plain text, while replying to a formatted message copies the original message’s format. No way to stop that?

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I’m not aware of any way to change the reply-format and forward-format behavior. But I haven’t memorized all of the options in Outlook 2003 just yet.

You could use a macro. I have a somewhat complicated system that pops a dialog on every reply or forward asking if it needs a special header/signature/disclaimer I use for client messages. One option I give myself in that dialog is to convert to plain text. The code for that option is embarrassing to post, as you can see:

If ReplyForwardForm.chkPlainText.Value = True Then
SendKeys “%ot”, True ‘the ultimate kludge!
End If

It uses VBA’s SendKeys command to “click” the same menu option that you would use manually!

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