Plain-text message body is cleared when writing in Outlook Web App by using Internet Explorer 8 in Exchange Server 2013

Consider the following scenario:

• You set the Outlook Web App default format to plain text in a Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 environment. For example, you run the following Windows PowerShell cmdlet in the environment:

  Set-MailboxMessageConfiguration - Identity <username> -DefaultFormat PlainText

• You sign in to Outlook Web App by using Windows Internet Explorer 8.
• You create an email message in plain text, and then you type some text in the message body.
• You click another window. For example, you click a new tab in Internet Explorer 8, a notepad file, the desktop, and so on.

In this scenario, the message body is removed in Outlook Web App.

This issue occurs because the JavaScript code of Outlook Web App registers an event handler to an input event to keep the message body. However, the input event is only available in Windows Internet Explorer 9 or later. Therefore, the message body cannot be stored in Internet Explorer 8 when using plain text.

To resolve this issue, install the following update: 

To work around this issue, use the HTML format as the Outlook Web App default format.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

For more information about the Set-MailboxMessageConfiguration cmdlet, go to the following Microsoft website:For more information about the input event, go to the following Microsoft website: