Article ID: 933793 - Last Review: April 3, 2007 - Revision: 1.1

Outlook 2007 uses only Word as the e-mail editor

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INTRODUCTION

Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 uses only Microsoft Office Word as the e-mail editor.

Earlier versions of Microsoft Office Outlook use two rendering engines. Microsoft Internet Explorer is used for reading content. Microsoft Office Word is used for editing e-mail messages, and it is used for composing e-mail messages. If you reply to an HTML e-mail message, or if you forward an HTML e-mail message, earlier versions of Outlook first use the Internet Explorer rendering engine to view the e-mail message. Then, the Outlook uses the Word composition rendering engine to reply to the e-mail message. This change of rendering engines could lead to the content that you enter in an e-mail message being displayed differently from what the recipient of the e-mail message sees.

Outlook 2007 uses Word 2007 for both the rendering engine and the composition engine to provide a uniform experience. Additionally, the Word 2007 rendering engine is improved over earlier versions of Word. These improvements include improved support for HTML standards and for Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) standards.

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Frequently asked questions

Q1: Does using Word as the e-mail editor make it more difficult for Web designers to create HTML e-mail messages?

A1: The Word rendering engine does not support some HTML attributes and CSS attributes. For more information about HMTL standards and about CSS standards, visit the following Microsoft Web sites:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa338200.aspx (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa338200.aspx)

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa338201.aspx (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa338201.aspx)

Q2: Does Microsoft use the same standards in Outlook 2007 and in Internet Explorer 7?

A2: No. Windows Internet Explorer 7 was not intended to be an editing tool. Therefore, Microsoft decided to use Word to read content and to author content in Outlook 2007.

Q3: Are there any plans to add support for the other HTML standards and for CSS standards to the Word engine?

A3: Microsoft is continually examining HTML support and CSS support in Word based on customer feedback.

For more information about Word as the e-mail editor in Outlook 2007, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA102109301033.aspx (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA102109301033.aspx)

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