Line breaks are not inserted as expected in the text of an e-mail message in Outlook 2002

Line breaks are not inserted as expected in the text of an e-mail message in Microsoft Outlook 2002 if one of the following conditions are true when you reply to an e-mail message:

• A line break is inserted from the 65th character for a single-byte character set (SBCS).
• A line break is inserted from the 65th character for a double-byte character set (DBCS).
• A line break is inserted irregularly if the line has a combination of DBCS and of SBCS characters.

This problem occurs because Outlook 2002 considers the prefix length and tries to wrap the original e-mail message line. Outlook 2002 is using two types of length limits to control where the line must wrap. The first control is the default Microsoft Exchange server limit of 72 bytes. The second control is set for 64 bytes.

For SBCS characters, Outlook 2002 reaches the 64 bytes length limit and wraps at the 65th character. For DBCS characters, Outlook 2002 reaches the 72 bytes length limit and wraps at the 36th (36x2=72) character. If you have a combination of SBCS and of DBCS characters, Outlook 2002 uses the 72 bytes length limit by calculating SBCSx1+DBCSx2 <72 and causes the unexpected wrapping.

Service Pack Information

This problem is corrected in Office XP Service Pack 3.

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft Office XP. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Hotfix Information

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem.

If the hotfix is available for download, there is a "Hotfix download available" section at the top of this Knowledge Base article. If this section does not appear, submit a request to Microsoft Customer Service and Support to obtain the hotfix.

Note If additional issues occur or if any troubleshooting is required, you might have to create a separate service request. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for this specific hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Customer Service and Support telephone numbers or to create a separate service request, visit the following Microsoft Web site: Note The "Hotfix download available" form displays the languages for which the hotfix is available. If you do not see your language, it is because a hotfix is not available for that language.

The global version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel. After the hotfix is installed, the global version of this fix will have the file attributes (or later) that are listed in the following table:This fix is a post-Office XP Service Pack 2 (SP-2) fix. To install the fix, you must have Office XP SP-2 installed. For additional information about Office XP SP-2, click the following article number to see the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Additionally, you may have to install Windows Installer 2.0 to install this fix. For additional information about the Windows Installer requirement for post-Office XP SP-2 fixes, click the following article number to see the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:


WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk. Follow these steps, and then quit Registry Editor:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following key in the registry:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Outlook\Options\Mail
3. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD.
4. Type AddTickMarksWithoutLineBreaks, and then press ENTER.
5. On the Edit menu, click Modify.
6. Type 1, and then click OK.

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

This problem was first corrected in Office XP Service Pack 3.