Problems using HTML with Entourage

I use Entourage 2004 for all of my Email and I'm having a problem using HTML with it. I have it selected to use HTML as the format of my emails and even have it selected to use the format that email was received in when responding or forwarding emails.
Yet at times I copy and paste HTML from a document or web page but when I paste it in Entourage it shows up as simply text, none of the formatting of HTML or even the pictures. I received a email today in HTML which I tried to forward to several people but once again it did the same thing, not showing up in HTML. I used to use Outlook 2003 and never had this problem. What could be causing this or am I doing everything right and this is how Entourage works? It wouldn't make sense since I'm selecting HTML but does it have something to do with selecting something for showing pictures?

well, it may not be much help to you, but from experience I have found Entourage to be a fairly useless application, especially when it comes to handling HTML. I even had to download a 3rd party apple script to be able to use HTML as 'stationary'...but that's another story...

Some of the biggest problems with HTML in emails (i think) is that its is converted to MIME for sending with the message, then back to 'HTML' for viewing. It does not retain certain key elements needed to display HTML correctly, so it can result in errors when forwarding straight through the application, especially if it was made by our complicated friends over at Microsoft.

Reply/Forward HTML
first of all, try going to http://scriptbuilders.net/ and downloading Paul Berkowitz's free "Auto-Reply in HTML" script.

Troubleshoot HTML
After that, I would troubleshoot the inserting of HTML into a message using the faq found here: http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq_topic/html_msg.html

Also, try copying the HTML into TextEdit, then copy it again into Entourage. Remember, it does not take strict HTML, but more offers support for basic font editing and remote image display.

If you want to send an HTML page as en email through Entourage (eg eFlyer/Newsletter) I have had great results from a script called Send Complex HTML with Inline Files 2004 by Rob Buckley as found here http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/23801

good luck! :yinyang:

It's useless for HTML. If you want to use HTML, you need to edit the source of the email, not just paste it in as it will just be text as you've discovered.

Even then, Entourage seems to have some differences in the HTML it uses compared with other programs.

Are there any alternative mail programs that do offer HTML? I am currently resorting to webmail when I want to send pasted HTML from a website or word document.

Is this a Microsoft trojan horse so to speak?

At least for forwarding you can forward the email as an "attachment". This preserves the HTML.