Outlook 2007 does not use the Windows "Selected Items" color to select an item

You run a program that uses the Microsoft Windows "Selected Items" color to select an item. When you use that program to capture the text of a selected item in Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, the program cannot capture the text and cannot use the text.

For example, if you use an accessibility program to magnify the text of a selected item, the text is not magnified.

To resolve this problem, you must do the following:

• Install hotfix 939596.
• Install a version of the program that is compatible with Outlook 2007.

Note This hotfix does not fix the problem that is described in the "Symptoms" section. This hotfix provides a method for a software vendor to determine the color that Outlook is using for the selected items. The software vendor can then integrate this color information into its program to enable the program to recognize selected text in Outlook 2007.

How to obtain the hotfix

This issue is fixed in the Outlook 2007 Hotfix Package that is dated June 29, 2007. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

View the registry changes after you apply the hotfix

Important You do not have to modify the registry to enable this hotfix. The registry is automatically modified after you apply the hotfix and after you start Outlook 2007.

To view the changes that are made to the registry by this hotfix, follow these steps:

1. Exit Outlook 2007.
2. Start Registry Editor.
   • In Windows Vista, click Start
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     , type regedit in the Start Search box, and then click OK.
     
     
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     If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.
   • In Microsoft Windows XP, click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
3. In the navigation pane, locate the following registry subkey, and then click it:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Options
4. Verify that the following registry entry is located in the details pane:
   ViewSelectionCOLORREF
5. On the File menu, click Exit to close Registry Editor.

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

Unlike earlier versions of Microsoft Outlook, Outlook 2007 does not use the Windows "Selected Items" color to select an item. Instead, Outlook 2007 uses an algorithm to determine the color to use for the selected item. Therefore, if you run a program that uses the Windows "Selected Items" color to capture an item that is selected in Outlook 2007, the text of the selected item is not captured by that program.

To enable Outlook to write color information to the registry, apply the hotfix, and then restart Outlook. Outlook will automatically write a registry entry and a DWORD value that the affected program can use to determine the color of the selected item in Outlook. The DWORD value in the new registry entry is a COLORREF value that describes the selected color. For more information about the COLORREF value, visit the following Microsoft Developer Netowrk (MSDN) Web site:

If you run a program that uses the Windows "Selected Items" color to capture the text of a selected item in Outlook 2007, contact the software vendor for a version of the program that is compatible with Outlook 2007.

For information about your hardware manufacturer, visit the following Web site: