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How can I configure Outlook to read non-digitally-signed e-mail messages or nonencrypted e-mail messages as plain text in Office XP SP1?

Article ID: 307594 - View products that this article applies to.

This article was previously published under Q307594

Introduction

This article describes a feature that lets users configure Outlook to read all non-digitally-signed e-mail messages or nonencrypted e-mail messages in plain text format. This feature was added to Outlook 2002 in Microsoft Office XP Service Pack 1 (SP1). This feature also allows system administrators to configure policies that require users to read all non-digitally-signed e-mail messages or nonencrypted e-mail messages in plain text only.

Note Digitally signed e-mail messages or encrypted e-mail messages are not affected by this update and cannot be changed by a system policy. Digitally signed e-mail messages or encrypted e-mail messages are read in their original formats.

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

307841

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307841/ )

How to obtain the latest Office XP service pack

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Fix it for me

To add this feature automatically, click the Fix this problem link. Then, click Run in the File Download dialog box and follow the steps in this wizard.

Fix this problem
Microsoft Fix it 50168

Note This wizard may be in English only; however, the automatic fix also works for other language versions of Windows.

Note If you are not on the computer that has the problem, you can save the automatic fix to a flash drive or to a CD, and then you can run it on the computer that has the problem.

To check whether the automatic fix added the feature, go to the "Did this add the feature?" section.

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Let me fix it myself

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322756

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/ )

How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

To turn on the "Read as Plain Text" feature, follow these steps:

Click Start, and then click Run.
In the Open box, type regedit.
Locate the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Outlook\Options\Mail
On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWord Value.
With the new Dword value selected, type ReadAsPlain.
Double-click the new value to open it.
In the Value Data box, type 1, and then click OK two times.
Exit Registry Editor.

Note When you programmatically work with existing messages, if the "Read as Plain Text" feature is turned on, the BodyFormat property returns a value of olFormatPlain. When the "Read as Plain Text" feature is turned on, this value cannot be changed. This is true even though Help states that the BodyFormat property is read/write. If you try to set the BodyFormat property to any other value, you receive the following error message:

Error 80070057 "Could not complete the operation. One or more parameter values are not valid."

After you turn on the "Read as Plain Text" feature, users notice the following changes:

The changes are applied to the preview pane and open messages.
Pictures become attachments to avoid loss.
The object model (custom code solutions) may behave unpredictably because the message is still in Rich Text or HTML format in the mail store.
Digitally signed messages are not affected.

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Did this add the feature?

Check whether the feature was added. If the feature has been added. You are finished with this article. If there is a problem, you can contact support

(http://support.microsoft.com/contactus)

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