I've just “discovered” an outrageous fact about Outlook – it ALTERS plain text messages and HIDES this fact from you!
First of all, I would like to “answer” a possible “explanation” from an “Outlook expert” that I should use HTML format because it has a special marker for a new line. Such an explanation would be moronic because in plain text messages there is already such a marker, namely ENTER!
A true solution (for plain text messages) is given towards the end of the present post (it can be found by searching for “__”, which visualises two spaces next to each other).
I send all my e-mails in plain text, because I don't care about visuals – the content is what really counts, not the presentation. Moreover I had always thought that the plain text messages are the safest ones, because there is no extra formatting, but Outlook spoils them anyway!
Please notice that the first example I will give you is a “light” one, just to show you how I made my “discovery”. I will give you a much more extreme example towards the end of the present post (it can be found by searching for the words “extreme example”).
All the examples are a little simplified. Most importantly in my original message the first sentence was so long that it was divided into five lines, not three.
Recently I sent an e-mail that looked like this (I can't actually quote it because it was a business e-mail):
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was wrapped to the next line:
1. Name of a corporate entity A.
2. Name of a corporate entity B
3. Name of a corporate entity C.
4. An extremely long name of a corporate entity D with a patron.
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
That was how it looked BEFORE I sent it. When I looked at the already sent e-mail I saw something different.
I-a. Default view shown to the sender:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was wrapped to the next line:
1. Name of a corporate entity A.
2. Name of a corporate entity B 3. Name of a corporate entity C.
4. An extremely long name of a corporate entity D with a patron.
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
The point 3 was in the same line as the point 2! I thought that I messed something up by accident, so I sent the e-mail again, the way I wanted it to be sent. And I was shocked to see that the end-result was ALTERED again! I got really surprised.
I noticed that at the top of the sent e-mails there was info “We removed extra line breaks from this message”. After I clicked this info and chose “Restore line breaks”, I was shown a seemingly correct e-mail.
II-a. Non-default view shown to the sender:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was wrapped to the next line:
1. Name of a corporate entity A.
2. Name of a corporate entity B
3. Name of a corporate entity C.
4. An extremely long name of a corporate entity D with a patron.
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
I started to wonder why Outlook doesn't do it automatically and forces me to click the info “We removed extra line breaks from this message” and chose “Restore line breaks” every single time. Then I found on the net that I can change the Outlook setting “Remove extra line breaks in plain text messages”. Click to enlarge.
Before I go on I have to make some rules, so my description will be as clear as possible. From now on when I write the word “default” I mean what you can see when the Outlook setting “Remove extra line breaks in plain text messages” is CHECKED without clicking anything. When I write “non-default” I mean what you can see when this setting is UNCHECKED or when you click the info “We removed extra line breaks from this message” and chose “Restore line breaks”.
II-a. Non-default view shown to the sender: a “correct” view (the way I wrote it).
II-b. Non-default view shown to the recipient:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a
very long sentence that was wrapped to
the next line:
1. Name of a corporate entity A.
2. Name of a corporate entity B
3. Name of a corporate entity C.
4. An extremely long name of a corporate
entity D with a patron.
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
So, the first sentence was actually divided into THREE lines and the point 4 was divided into TWO lines!
The outrageous thing is the fact that you CANNOT see this effect as the SENDER, no matter if the Outlook setting “Remove extra line breaks in plain text messages” is checked or unchecked! Only the recipient can see the actual sent e-mail (but only in the non-default view)!
It means that Outlook does something (alters an e-mail) and HIDES this fact before the sender!!! UNACCEPTABLE!!!
This is probably the reason why there is no “preview” option and why the sender is NOT warned BEFORE sending a plain text message that some new line breaks will be added to the ones created by pressing the Enter key.
What usually happens is that the sender thinks that he (or she) sent an e-mail in the correct way (the way it was written) and the recipient simply thinks that the sender sent an e-mail that is messed up! In other words: Outlook makes idiots of its users!!!
The interesting thing is the fact that in the non-default view my first two e-mails were also shown “correctly”, so I guess that the first two e-mails were altered in the same way as the third.
I checked the Outlook setting “Remove extra line breaks in plain text messages” again and ALL my e-mails were show with the info “We removed extra line breaks from this message”, including the third mail that I sent AFTER unchecking this option. And yes, in the third e-mail the point 3 was also in the same line as the point 2! So, NOTHING really changed!
It means that the Outlook setting “Remove extra line breaks in plain text messages” does NOT change the way e-mails are sent, but only the way e-mails are shown!!!
At that point I realised that Outlook alters some sent e-mails by dividing some lines into two or more lines and then tries to reverse the process by combining two or more separate lines into one line before displaying e-mails, but in some cases it messes things up and combines lines that shouldn't be combined! Are you kidding me? Are you FUCKING kidding me?!
How the e-mails are shown in Outlook depends on the RECIPIENT's setting, not the sender's! It means that to see the actual sent e-mail the recipient has to click the info “We removed extra line breaks from this message” or to uncheck the Outlook setting “Remove extra line breaks in plain text messages”!
Obviously when the recipient doesn't use Outlook, but some other program then he (or she) sees the e-mail that was actually sent (the way a recipient with Outlook would see it in the non-default view). Oh, GOD!!!
Why did Outlook messed up my first e-mail? Because I missed a dot at the end of point 2! Yes, a single dot may be important! I started to make experiments. I sent several DOZENS of e-mails and I realised that the “reverse process” depends on many different things and is FAAAR from perfect.
I will show you the most extreme example. I sent an e-mail similar to the first one, but on purpose I wrote at the end of the first sentence a semicolon instead of a colon and at the end of the points 1, 3 and 4 I wrote commas instead of dots:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was wrapped to the next line;
1. Name of a corporate entity A,
2. Name of a corporate entity B
3. Name of a corporate entity C,
4. An extremely long name of a corporate entity D with a patron,
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
That was how it looked BEFORE I sent it.
The end results (not one result, but THREE different results, exactly like in the original example) were these:
I-ab. Default view shown to the sender and to the recipient:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was wrapped to the next line; 1. Name of a corporate entity A, 2. Name of a corporate entity B 3. Name of a corporate entity C, 4. An extremely long name of a corporate entity D with a patron, 5. Name of a corporate entity E.
Outlook combined everything into ONE line! Ridiculous!
II-a. Non-default view shown to the sender: shown in a correct way (the way I wrote it).
II-b. Non-default view shown to the recipient:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a
very long sentence that was wrapped to
the next line;
1. Name of a corporate entity A,
2. Name of a corporate entity B
3. Name of a corporate entity C,
4. An extremely long name of a corporate
entity D with a patron,
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
So, either way the recipient is shown an ALTERED e-mail! The text is either combined into one line or divided into additional lines.
What's worse the sender is shown an e-mail that is different from the one that was actually sent! The text is either combined into one line or shown the way it was wrote, but not sent! What a moronic idea!
Let me point it out again: there are three different views of ONE sent e-mail! THREE!!! Outrageous! Totally OUTRAGEOUS!!!
In the Outlook options there is the setting “Automatically wrap text at character …”, so the obvious question is: “Does it help?”, but the answer is: “Not really.”. The default number is 76, but the max is set at 132. ONLY 132! It doesn't change much. I re-sent the first e-mail and there were THREE different results AGAIN:
I-ab. Default view shown to the sender and to the recipient:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was wrapped to the next line:
1. Name of a corporate entity A.
2. Name of a corporate entity B 3. Name of a corporate entity C.
4. An extremely long name of a corporate entity D with a patron.
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
The point 3 was in the same line as the point 2 AGAIN!
II-a. Non-default view shown to the sender: shown in a correct way (the way I wrote it).
II-b. Non-default view shown to the recipient:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was wrapped
to the next line:
1. Name of a corporate entity A.
2. Name of a corporate entity B
3. Name of a corporate entity C.
4. An extremely long name of a corporate entity D with a patron.
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
So, the first sentence was still divided, but this time into TWO lines (previously it was divided into 3 lines). This time the point 4 remained unchanged (previously it was divided into 2 lines).
Anyway, there were still three different views of ONE sent e-mail! THREE!!! Outrageous! Totally OUTRAGEOUS!!!
I re-sent the extreme example again (with the “132 characters setting”) and it was still totally messed up:
I-ab. Default view shown to the sender and to the recipient:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was wrapped to the next line; 1. Name of a corporate entity A, 2. Name of a corporate entity B 3. Name of a corporate entity C, 4. An extremely long name of a corporate entity D with a patron, 5. Name of a corporate entity E.
Outlook combined everything into ONE line AGAIN! Ridiculous!
II-a. Non-default view shown to the sender: shown in a correct way (the way I wrote it).
II-b. Non-default view shown to the recipient:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was wrapped
to the next line;
1. Name of a corporate entity A,
2. Name of a corporate entity B
3. Name of a corporate entity C,
4. An extremely long name of a corporate entity D with a patron,
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
So, the first sentence was still divided, but this time into two lines (previously it was divided into 3 lines). This time the point 4 remained unchanged (previously it was divided into 2 lines), but the recipient is still shown an ALTERED e-mail! The text is either combined into one line or divided into an additional line.
There were still three different views of ONE sent e-mail! THREE!!! Outrageous! Totally OUTRAGEOUS!!!
I tried to divide the lines myself, but I added ENTERS where I wanted them, not where Outlook would place them:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was
ENTERED to the next line:
1. Name of a corporate entity A.
2. Name of a corporate entity B
3. Name of a corporate entity C.
4. An extremely long name
of a corporate entity D with a patron.
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
That was how it looked BEFORE I sent it. When I looked at the already sent e-mail I saw something different!
I-ab. Default view shown to the sender and to the recipient:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was ENTERED to the next line:
1. Name of a corporate entity A.
2. Name of a corporate entity B 3. Name of a corporate entity C.
4. An extremely long name of a corporate entity D with a patron.
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
Outlook JOINED two lines into one line! THREE TIMES! Outlook made the fist sentence look like one line, even though I divided this line MYSELF! And Outlook made the point 4 look like one line, even though I divided this line MYSELF! And of course the point 3 was in the same line as the point 2 AGAIN! Now this is fucking CRAZY!
II-ab. Non-default view shown to the sender and to the recipient: shown in a correct way (the way I wrote it).
There were “only” 2 different views of ONE sent e-mail, so is the problem solved? NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why? Because most of the Outlook users have no idea what the setting “Remove extra line breaks in plain text messages” really does. When somebody sees the word “extra” then he (or she) thinks that the sender by mistake place some unneeded line breaks! So the recipients leave this setting CHECKED! So, when I send an e-mail the way I want it to look, the Outlook OVERRULES me!
Imagine that as a sender you don't use Outlook and you write a plain text message that you arrange yourself – you decided where the next lines are started. The CRAZY thing is that if the recipient uses Outlook then he (or she) sees a different (default Outlook) view of your e-mail, NOT the real one! OUTRAGEOUS!!!
The extreme case was still totally messed up, even when I added ENTERS where I wanted them, not where Outlook would place them:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was
ENTERED to the next line;
1. Name of a corporate entity A,
2. Name of a corporate entity B
3. Name of a corporate entity C,
4. An extremely long name
of a corporate entity D with a patron,
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
That was how it looked BEFORE I sent it. When I looked at the already sent e-mail I saw something different!
I-ab. Default view shown to the sender and to the recipient:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was ENTERED to the next line; 1. Name of a corporate entity A, 2. Name of a corporate entity B 3. Name of a corporate entity C, 4. An extremely long name of a corporate entity D with a patron, 5. Name of a corporate entity E.
Outlook combined everything into ONE line AGAIN! Ridiculous!
II-ab. Non-default view shown to the sender and to the recipient: shown in a correct way (the way I wrote it).
There were “only” 2 different views of ONE sent e-mail, so is the problem solved? NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why? Because most of the Outlook users have no idea what the setting “Remove extra line breaks in plain text messages” really does. When somebody sees the word “extra” then he (or she) thinks that the sender by mistake place some unneeded line breaks! So the recipients leave this setting CHECKED! So, when I send an e-mail the way I want it to look, the Outlook OVERRULES me!
Imagine that as a sender you don't use Outlook and you write a plain text message that you arrange yourself – you decided where the next lines are started. The CRAZY thing is that if the recipient uses Outlook then he (or she) sees a different (default Outlook) view of your e-mail, NOT the real one! OUTRAGEOUS!!!
So, Outlook makes idiots of all of its users, also when they are recipients! In the default view Outlook ALWAYS shows not the e-mail that was actually sent, but an e-mail “reconstructed” by Outlook! OUTRAGEOUS!!!
What can be done?
Yes! There is something you can do to trick Outlook! But at what price! You have not only to add ENTERS where you want them to be, but also you have to add TWO SPACES at the start of EVERY line!
__Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was
__ENTERED to the next line;
__1. Name of a corporate entity A,
__2. Name of a corporate entity B
__3. Name of a corporate entity C,
__4. An extremely long name
__of a corporate entity D with a patron,
__5. Name of a corporate entity E.
I showed a single space as “_”, so two spaces look like “__”. I did it to make them visible.
This is what “solves” the problem! ALL four views of such an e-mail (default and non-defualt for the sender and for the recipient) are shown by Outlook correctly!
Oh, dear GOD!!!
I am not the only one who has been devastated by how Outlook alters plain text messages. Somebody on this site:
https://www.masternewmedia.org/newsletter_publishing/newsletter_formatting/remove_line_breaks_issue_Microsoft_Outlook_2003_when_publishing_text_newsletters_20051217.htm
called this feature “retarded”. I will quote the whole post:
“I have to say -- the feature in question, the automatic removal of line breaks -- has to be the stupidest, most idiotic addition to any application -- EVER. It's 100% useless, inaccurate, and just plain retarded. Whoever thought this little gem up ought to be dragged out into the parking lot and shot -- seriously. We should not feel bad that this problem has had so many of us stumped and coming up with work around "hacks". It was a stupid idea on Microsoft's part, and badly implemented.
Outlook -- an application DESIGNED to read messages as they are sent -- which is how they were intended to be read -- should NEVER, EVER, EVER alter the content of a message unless that content was deemed to be dangerous in some way -- and even then, I would argue that it SHOULD NEVER EVER ALTER CONTENT.
I can't believe I've had to spend so much time figuring out how to get a message I send to display correctly using the oldest technology around -- plain text. Absolutely ridiculous.
In any event, I have an alternative solution you might be interested in. Instead of adding two spaces to the start of each line, I add a tab character right before the line break at the end of the line (CR, LF). This seems to satisfy Outlook, in that even if this RETARDED feature is enabled it will treat all lines correctly.
Why is this important? Why can't we just turn the option off? Believe me -- I have, but you can't expect other readers to know, or even care about doing that. It should be the responsibility of the content provider (sender, in this case) to ensure that content is formatted correctly, regardless of the end-users' setup. User's are not always the smartest of people, so even when you provide them with crystal clear 1,2,3 instructions, you can't expect them to A) follow them, or B) get it right.
Anyway, that's my two cents on the subject -- I just had to vent. Hope my alternate solution is of benefit to others.
Microsoft -- PLEASE DO US A FAVOR AND REMOVE THIS COMPLETELY RETARDED FEATURE! Or at the very least, disable it by default!”
It was posted in 2006! It's 14 years later and this problem still exists! FOURTEEN fucking years!!!
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