Force Outlook Replies into the format of your choice
December 14, 2009 • JP • 11 Comments • Rate This Article
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In Outlook Tip 434: Change Reply Format, Diane Poremsky writes:
Outlook does not offer a way to always use a specific format for all replies, be it RTF or HTML. You need to either change it on each message or write VBA macro to change the format.
That's what we're here for! OutlookCode has VBA to always reply in HTML format, but sometimes I like to roll my own. In this case, I wrote four different procedures that each do something slightly different.
The first procedure will force replies into HTML or plain text, depending on the current value of the BodyFormat property. If the message is in RTF format, it will downgrade the reply to HTML. Otherwise, it will use the existing format. In short, it's a bit more dynamic (and less disruptive) than blindly forcing all replies to HTML. Consider it a "soft" force away from RTF.
The second procedure does the same thing, except with plain text. If a message is RTF, it replies as plain text, but if the message is HTML, it will reply as HTML.
Soft HTML Reply
' assumes Outlook 2003 and internal msg editor
' if msg is RTF, convert it to HTML, but
' if msg is already in HTML or plain text, reply using same format
On Error GoTo ErrorHandler
Dim msg As Outlook.MailItem
Dim msgReply As Outlook.MailItem
Set msg = GetMailItem
If msg Is Nothing Then
Call MessageBox("No message selected.")
GoTo ProgramExit
End If
' if msg is RTF, convert to HTML, else leave it alone
Select Case msg.BodyFormat
Case olFormatRichText
Set msgReply = msg.Reply
msgReply.BodyFormat = olFormatHTML
msgReply.Display
Case Else
If MessageBox("This message is not in Rich Text Format (RTF)." & _
" Reply anyway?", vbYesNo) = vbYes Then
Set msgReply = msg.Reply
msgReply.Display
End If
End Select
ProgramExit:
Exit Sub
ErrorHandler:
MsgBox Err.number & " - " & Err.Description
Resume ProgramExit
End Sub
Soft Plain Text Reply
' assumes Outlook 2003 and internal msg editor
' if msg is RTF, convert it to HTML, but
' if msg is already in HTML or plain text, reply using same format
On Error GoTo ErrorHandler
Dim msg As Outlook.MailItem
Dim msgReply As Outlook.MailItem
Set msg = GetMailItem
If msg Is Nothing Then
Call MessageBox("No message selected.")
GoTo ProgramExit
End If
' if msg is RTF, convert to plain text, else leave it alone
Select Case msg.BodyFormat
Case olFormatRichText
Set msgReply = msg.Reply
msgReply.BodyFormat = olFormatPlain
msgReply.Display
Case Else
If MessageBox("This message is not in Rich Text Format (RTF)." & _
" Reply anyway?", vbYesNo) = vbYes Then
Set msgReply = msg.Reply
msgReply.Display
End If
End Select
ProgramExit:
Exit Sub
ErrorHandler:
MsgBox Err.number & " - " & Err.Description
Resume ProgramExit
End Sub
GetMailItem and MessageBox are functions that, respectively, return a referenced to the currently selected or open mail item and display messageboxes. Visit Meeting Replies in Outlook 2003 for a copy of each.
The next two procedures just force all replies into either HTML or plain text format.
Force all replies to HTML
' assumes Outlook 2003 and internal msg editor
' force all replies to HTML
On Error GoTo ErrorHandler
Dim msg As Outlook.MailItem
Dim msgReply As Outlook.MailItem
Set msg = GetMailItem
If msg Is Nothing Then
Call MessageBox("No message selected.")
GoTo ProgramExit
End If
' if msg is HTML, just reply, else convert all replies to HTML
Select Case msg.BodyFormat
Case olFormatHTML
Set msgReply = msg.Reply
msgReply.Display
Case Else
Set msgReply = msg.Reply
msgReply.BodyFormat = olFormatHTML
msgReply.Display
End Select
ProgramExit:
Exit Sub
ErrorHandler:
MsgBox Err.number & " - " & Err.Description
Resume ProgramExit
End Sub
Force all replies to plain text
' assumes Outlook 2003 and internal msg editor
' force all replies to plain text
On Error GoTo ErrorHandler
Dim msg As Outlook.MailItem
Dim msgReply As Outlook.MailItem
Set msg = GetMailItem
If msg Is Nothing Then
Call MessageBox("No message selected.")
GoTo ProgramExit
End If
' if msg is plain text, just reply, else convert
' all replies to plain text
Select Case msg.BodyFormat
Case olFormatPlain
Set msgReply = msg.Reply
msgReply.Display
Case Else
Set msgReply = msg.Reply
msgReply.BodyFormat = olFormatPlain
msgReply.Display
End Select
ProgramExit:
Exit Sub
ErrorHandler:
MsgBox Err.number & " - " & Err.Description
Resume ProgramExit
End Sub
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trying to use the Force all replies to HTML
Ok, call me stupid but I can't get this code to run. I have tried pasting into the ThisOutlookSession. I have tried creating a ClassModule but don't know how to make run from there. Can someone please point me in the right direction. Thanks
Michael,
The code goes into a standard module; ThisOutlookSession is usually reserved for event handlers.
Paste ForceHTMLReply into a standard module. You also need a copy of the GetMailItem function. Visit Meeting Replies in Outlook 2003 for that.
Then you select or open a message you want to reply to in HTML and run ForceHTMLReply by pressing Alt+F8 and selecting ForceHTMLReply from the resulting dialog box.
HTH
This is nice, but the method is very clumsy with regards to Signatures. I found that calling the button command after the message is displayed preserves the presentation better.
Instead of msgReply.BodyFormat = olFormatPlain
msgReply.Display
Try using: msgReply.Display
ActiveInspector.CommandBars.FindControl(, 5564).Execute
Button Command: Plain Text = 5563
HTML = 5564
Rich Text = 5565
Also, if you go to http://outlook-tips.net/cs/blogs/outlooktips/archive/2007/08/02/671.aspx, you find the code to automatically Reply/ReplyToAll/Forward any message without calling/creating a seperate Macro button.
I've modified this code using the FindControl function…
//begin code//
Private WithEvents oExpl As Explorer
Private WithEvents oItem As MailItem
Private Sub Application_Startup()
Set oExpl = Application.ActiveExplorer
End Sub
Private Sub oExpl_SelectionChange()
On Error Resume Next
Set oItem = oExpl.Selection.Item(1)
End Sub
Private Sub oItem_Reply(ByVal Response As Object, Cancel As Boolean)
If bDiscardEvents Or oItem.BodyFormat = olFormat Then
Exit Sub
End If
Cancel = True
oItem.Reply.Display
ActiveInspector.CommandBars.FindControl(, 5564).Execute
End Sub
Private Sub oItem_ReplyAll(ByVal Response As Object, Cancel As Boolean)
If bDiscardEvents Or oItem.BodyFormat = olFormat Then
Exit Sub
End If
Cancel = True
oItem.Reply.Display
ActiveInspector.CommandBars.FindControl(, 5564).Execute
End Sub
Private Sub oItem_Forward(ByVal Forward As Object, Cancel As Boolean)
If bDiscardEvents Or oItem.BodyFormat = olFormat Then
Exit Sub
End If
Cancel = True
oItem.Reply.Display
ActiveInspector.CommandBars.FindControl(, 5564).Execute
End Sub
//end code//
Note: You will need to restart Outlook before these functions become available.
Hope this helps
Hi Brian,
I am getting Run Time error 91 "Object variable or With block variable not set" for the "ActiveInspector.CommandBars.FindControl(, 5564).Execute" line in your code…
The original code found at http://outlook-tips.net/cs/blogs/outlooktips/archive/2007/08/02/671.aspx works fine.
Outlook 2003.
Any idea's.
Thanks. D.
Great code Brian, thanks for sharing! In order to get the signature to work, you'll need to display the email first. Or, you can grab the signature from the hard disk. Or execute the menu control.
Hi,
I have a question slightly off topic but here goes.
I want to know how to make every single email to be forced to be in HTML.
If an application uses MAPIMAIL then outlook will open the email in plain text. For example if you right hand click on a file on your desktop and go send to > Mail recipient it will open in plain text.
Do you know of a way to force outlook to open every new message in HTML?
I have been trying to find an answer to this for so long.
Cheers,
Sorry, you can't control every possible way an email can be created and force it to HTML. Just don't use that option if you don't want to send plain text emails.
The problem is that a program that I have to use with work uses the MAPIMAIL and i can't make it do anything else… Do you know of a way to change the way MAPIMAIL opens an email in outlook? I can't find squat…
I prefer plain text emails anyway. Not everyone uses Outlook and some hypersensitive people get annoyed when you send non-plain text emails.
Thats a fantastic code given there?Is there a possibility to modify the line spacing like ;lets say to 1.5 while replying to a message?
In the code that uses HTML replies, you'll need to use the proper HTML syntax to set the line spacing. See http://www.codeforexcelandoutlook.com/blog/2008/09/send-links-via-outlook-email/ for an example.