In Outlook 2003, you could open an email message and convert it from HTML to text by hitting Ctrl-Shift-O. That was handy, because I generally prefer to bottom-quote, and that's a pain in the ass when the email is HTML. So when I installed Outlook 2007 I was annoyed that Ctrl-Shift-O didn't work any more.
After a bunch of fumbling around, I finally discovered that if you open a message and edit it (Message->Other Actions->Edit), you can then change it to plain text (Options->Plain text). Well, being a keyboard guy, I got pretty tired of doing that, so now I have the following key sequence committed to muscle memory:
Enter (open message)
Alt H X E (edit message)
Alt P L (convert to plain text)
Alt H R P (reply)
Which, honestly, sucks, but is maybe 100 times as fast as doing the same thing with the mouse.
You can add Edit and Plain Text to the quick edit toolbar, which would at least shorten it to Alt-6, Alt-7.
ReplyDeleteNo doubt you could go all the way and make a macro command that does the whole thing in one shot.
I looked briefly at writing a macro, but with no "record macro", I gave up. :)
ReplyDeleteHow about this (hopefully the formatting isn't too whacked):
ReplyDeleteSub ChangeBodyToPlainText()
Dim item As Object
Dim selectedItems As Object
Dim outlookApp As New Outlook.Application
Dim outlookExp As Outlook.Explorer
Dim outlookSel As Outlook.Selection
On Error Resume Next
Set outlookExp = outlookApp.ActiveExplorer
Set selectedItems = outlookExp.Selection
For Each item In selectedItems
If (item Is MailItem) Then
item.BodyFormat = OlBodyFormat.olFormatPlain
item.Save
End If
Next
Set selectedItems = Nothing
Set item = Nothing
End Sub
Good ol' Kevin. Sometimes I wonder why I bother to code at all - I could just post specs here and charge my clients. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks!
So, of course it works beautifully, but now I have no idea how to bind it to a keystroke...
ReplyDeleteAs long as I get a piece of that action. :P
ReplyDeleteThe only way that I know to get a kbd shortcut is to add the macro to a toolbar and set a unique mnemonic on it.
Tools/Customize
Macros category
Choose macro, drag it to a toolbar
Right click on it, rename it and use "&" to assign the mnemonic (e.g. name it '&Plain Text' - then Alt-P should trigger it).
Strange that Outlook doesn't seem to let you bind hotkeys like Ctrl-Alt-O to macros. At least that I've been able to find.
Perhaps I'm missing something, as I never actually do the thing you're trying to do here, but it seems like it doesn't need to be anything like this complex.
ReplyDeleteI just tried adding a Command Bar shortcut to the "Plain text" command. (This is the command bar on the message editing window, rather than the message reading window, or the main window.)
So now, if I want to reply and convert to plain text, its:
Ctrl+R (Reply)
Alt+6 (Convert to plain text)
...the '6' because this happens to be item number 6 on my command bar. Replace that with wherever it ends up on yours.
Since you presumably needed to do the Ctrl+R thing before if you were replying, this seems like fewer keystrokes than Outlook 2003. And no need for a macro.
What's the command bar? And how do I add a shortcut?
ReplyDeleteIt's the thing at the top left of most windows in Office 2007. (Except the main Outlook window. But it's present on the window for composing mail.)
ReplyDeleteThere's a drop down menu button from which you can customize the thing.
OK, thanks. However, I tried that, and it doesn't quite do what I want. Here's why:
ReplyDelete1. It does indeed let me convert a reply to plain text. But I want to convert the original message to plain text, because that's what gives me the chevrons at the beginning of the line so I can quote in the manner to which I am accustomed.
2. If I add this button to the message window itself, it is greyed out. I.e. unavailable.
3. I haven't been able to figure out how to add Kevin's macro to the command bar, either: it doesn't appear when I select "macros".
So I'm still not happy.
I'm using this same code, but wondered why if you use the "Edit Message" technique I get a 136k message to 12k, but if I just convert using this macro the message goes to 124k. Is there a way to actually use the "Edit Message" technique in the macro?
ReplyDeleteYou could also try always viewing and sending with plain text.. I think it would do the same exact thing as it always converts HTML mail to plain text when you hit reply (and includes the chevrons if you have your reply options set to use them).
ReplyDeleteAlways read mail as Plain Text: Tools, Trust Center, E-Mail security - and Check 'Read all standard mail in plain text'
Alway send using Plain Text: Tools, Options, Format tab - set 'Compose in this format' to 'Plain Text'
Fab.
ReplyDeleteTrust Center held the key for me.
Many thanks 'br0k'
Mac
In a new mail message, customise the Quick Access Toolbar (right click on the toolbar at the very top of the form, the one with the Save icon).
ReplyDeleteFrom the drop down, choose Popular Commands then Plain Text. Click the Add>> button to copy it to the Quick Access toolbar.
You can click this button whenever you wish to send a plain text email.
Does that just help me compose new messages in plain text? Because that's fairly easy. What I want is to convert existing messages to plaintext while I'm replying to them. Also, I don't really like to use the mouse - even the key sequence I describe above is faster than taking my hands off the keyboard to click something.
ReplyDeleteJust do what br0k said above, then *restart Outlook*, and you will read and reply to all of your messages in plain text automagically, like a sane person.
ReplyDeleteYeah. except you now can't read html mail.
ReplyDeleteYou can still read html mail Kai, when the message is opened there's a little "this mail was converted to plain text" box near the top of the mail window which you can click to view the mail as html again.
ReplyDeleteKEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
ReplyDeleteCTRL-1 Switch to Email view
CTRL-2 Switch to Calendar View
CTRL-3 Switch to Contacts View
CTRL-4 Switch to Tasks View
CTRL-6 Switch to Folder List in Navigation Pane.
CTRL-F12 Marks the message as ‘Social’ category and puts it in another colour. [To set it, go Categorise > All Categories and set a button]
When viewing a message:
Alt H Accesses the menubar
Thus Alt H X E (edit message)
Alt P L (convert to plain text)
Quick Access Toolbar
It is also possible to add items to the ‘Quick Access Toolbar’. Right-click on the menubar and go to “Customise Quick Access Toolbar”.
Use the ‘All Commands’ Dropdown. Select all the items you want. I’ve chosen:
1 Edit Message
2 Plain Text
3 HTML
4 Rich Text
5 Message Options (allows you to see the email address of exactly who sent you the message if its not automatically shown)
6 Superscript
7 Subscript
8 Convert Text To Table
9 Convert Table to Text
09 Clipart
etc…
You can then access each menu item simply by clicking ALT and the number.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HP052426891033.aspx
ReplyDeletehttp://support.microsoft.com/kb/831607
Between these you can easily make all incoming and outgoing email in plain text, with no other programming.
Thanks for the links. I solved all my problems with Outlook about two years ago by not using it any more. :)
ReplyDeleteI've been pounding my desk since IT upgraded me to Office 2007 last week. This page was finally a life-saver.
ReplyDeleteThanks.