Selecting a Message Format to Use

In Outlook 2007, there are three different message formats you can use. The default message format is HTML format. When you create messages using HTML format, you have a lot of flexibility. You can use bold and italics, choose different fonts, insert images, create tables, include hyperlinks, pretty much anything you could do when creating a basic web page. For most people most of the time, HTML format is ideal. See the following figure for a simple HTML format message.

Sometimes HTML format is not the right format to use. For those situations, Outlook allows you to use Plain Text format or Rich Text format.

Rich Text format gives you pretty much the same formatting abilities as HTML format, but it is implemented in a Microsoft-proprietary manner. Some organizations require all messages to be created using Rich Text format to ensure compatibility, but otherwise, this format is quickly becoming obsolete.

Plain Text format is the third message formatting option in Outlook 2007. As its name implies, it doesn't give you any real formatting options beyond the space bar and the tab key. Depending on how things are set up, you may still see clickable links in your Plain Text messages, but beyond that, you're stuck with whatever you see on your keyboard. The following figure shows a simple Plain Text message.

Choosing the Format for Your Messages

If you're using Outlook at work, it is almost certainly set up with the format you are required to use. If you're using Outlook at home, it is almost certainly set up to use HTML format. But if you need to change the format for some reason, you can either change it manually for each message, or you can change the default format Outlook starts with for all new messages.

Manually Change the Format of a Single Message

Changing the format of a single message is easy. With the New Message window open, click the Options tab on the ribbon. It will look very much like the ribbon does in the figures on this page. In the Format section of the ribbon, select the format you wish to use for this message. That's all it takes.

Note: If you change the format of a message that you've already started working on, you may lose formatting you already applied.

Change the Default Format for New Messages

Changing the default format for New Messages isn't much harder than changing the format of a single message. In the Outlook menu bar, click Tools, then Options. In the Options dialog box that appears, click the Mail Format tab. In the Message format section of the tabbed page, select the format you want to use in the Compose in this message format box, then click OK to return to the main Outlook window. You're done.

Return to the About Outlook 2007 Mail page.