OL98: Entire Excel Worksheet Copied Rather than Selected Cells

Double-clicking a selection of cells that are pasted from Microsoft Excel into a Microsoft Outlook 98 e-mail message, displays the entire worksheet rather than just the selection of cells.

This is by design. When you use Microsoft Outlook Rich Text for the default e-mail message format and you paste the cells with the Microsoft Excel worksheet still open, the default paste option is Microsoft Excel Worksheet.

Choose one of the following options to avoid this behavior:

• Close the worksheet before pasting into the e-mail message.
• Choose Paste Special with any option other than Microsoft Excel Worksheet.
• Change the e-mail message format to Plain Text, HTML, or Microsoft Word.

If you select a group of cells in a Microsoft Excel worksheet and paste them into an Outlook e-mail message formatted as Microsoft Outlook Rich Text, the default paste option is Microsoft Excel Worksheet. The cells appear in the message as you would expect. However, the entire worksheet is actually pasted into the e-mail message. If you or the recipient of the message double-click the pasted cells, they open in Microsoft Excel and by dragging the worksheet window open wider, the entire worksheet including other pages are viewable.

To avoid this behavior use one of the following procedures:

Close the Worksheet Before Pasting the Cells

Closing the Microsoft Excel worksheet prior to pasting the selected cells into the e-mail message causes the cells to be pasted as plain text so that they cannot be opened in Microsoft Excel.

Choose Paste Special when Pasting the Cells

1. On the e-mail message Edit menu, click Paste Special.
2. In the Paste Special dialog box, click to select any option other than Microsoft Excel Worksheet.

Change the E-mail Message Default Format

1. On the Tools menu, click Options.
2. On the Mail format tab, in the Message format section, click to select HTML, Plain Text, or Microsoft Word, from the "Send in this message format" list, and click OK.