HTML Emails in Outlook 2003
Author
Discussion

smp

Original Poster:

1,163 posts

277 months

Tuesday 8th August 2006
quotequote all
I'm trying to sent a HTML e-mail to a list of clients - basically a newsletter to keep them upto speed with changes and such like in our industry.

After creating a suitable page in Dreamweaver MX, it renders fine in both IE / Firefox as a preview.

I have placed the onyl 2 small images on our webserver and changed file paths as appropriate.

When I come to 'insert as text' in Outlook 2003 before sending I'm losing a lot of formatting - hyperlinks reappear with an underline - that sort of thing. The two images appear perfectly alright in the right place.

It is almost as if Outlook 2003 is removing some of my code as I insert.

Am I correct in thinking this ? And if so, is there a known workaround ?

I don't have a huge amount of hair left but I am slowly pulling what remains out . . .

Any assistance greatfully appreciated.

Simon

_dobbo_

14,619 posts

278 months

Tuesday 8th August 2006
quotequote all
What about dpong a select all, copy and paste from a web browser into your outlook compose window?

You will lose any CSS formatting but plain old vanilla HTML will be retained.

mitchp

110 posts

255 months

Tuesday 8th August 2006
quotequote all
I have vague memories of similar problems when creating an email marketing campaign.

Outlook adds tags to the inserted HTML (something like 'defangle') that break the formatting of the page - I think it's done for reasons of security by MS?? If you view the source of the page once in outlook you will see whats been changed. It may be possible to avoid the tags Outlook doesnt like by using an embeded style sheet?

I used cdo.sys via an sql query to send the mail in the end which was much more reliable.

Hope this helps

smp

Original Poster:

1,163 posts

277 months

Wednesday 9th August 2006
quotequote all
Thanks for the feedback / suggestions.

I've found an even easier way - a bulk mailer software package for $79 !

It accepts Dreamweaver files for the html as well as a seperate tab for plain text if required.

Trial version works a treat.

Cheers

Simon

borris-bear

818 posts

275 months

Wednesday 9th August 2006
quotequote all
can i ask what the software package might be? I may need to send out mails to clients and that sounds useful

sadoksevoli

1,232 posts

287 months

Saturday 12th August 2006
quotequote all
By the looks of it you've forked out dosh already but I had this exact problem last week and found the solution:
Create a new mail, ensure it is hmtrl format, insert the html file as text , ensure the "send images with email" option is NOT selected and hey presto you can send an html email based on an html file.

zumbruk

7,848 posts

290 months

Sunday 13th August 2006
quotequote all
... and immediately (and rightly) have it bounced as spam by anyone with an ounce of clue.

smp

Original Poster:

1,163 posts

277 months

Sunday 13th August 2006
quotequote all
borris-bear said:
can i ask what the software package might be? I may need to send out mails to clients and that sounds useful


www.handymailer.com - Shows as $99 but there is a $20 reduction if bought before 15th August.

HTH

Simon