An attachment in an e-mail message has no icon in Outlook 98 (180038)



The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Outlook 98

This article was previously published under Q180038

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Outlook 98, when you insert a file as an attachment into an e-mail message or you receive an e-mail message with an attachment, the attachment has no file name and does not display an icon to represent the file type. You see an outlined, empty box in place of an icon.

Note Instead of an empty box, you may see "{ EMBED Outlook.FileAttach }" (exactly as it appears, except without the quotation marks). See "Disable Show Field Codes" in the "Resolution" section for information about how to correct this.

CAUSE

This problem occurs if both of the following conditions are true:

  • You are using Microsoft Word 97 as your e-mail editor.
  • The Picture Placeholder option is enabled in the Microsoft Word e-mail template.

RESOLUTION

Choose one of the following to correctly display the attachment icon.

Do not display picture placeholders

  1. Open the e-mail message, and on the Tools menu, click Options.
  2. On the View tab, click to clear the Picture Placeholders check box.
  3. Click OK.
The outlined box may display the attachment icon and its file name.

Do not display picture placeholders in Microsoft Word

  1. On the Tools menu, click Options.
  2. On the Mail Format tab under "Use this Template by default" is the name of the template you use in WordMail. Email.dot is the default. If you use a different template, make a note of the name and substitute it in the following steps.
  3. In Microsoft Word, on the File menu, click Open.
  4. Click to select the Email.dot template file, and then click Open.

    Note You may need to change "Files of type" in the Open dialog to display Document Templates (*.dot). The default location for the Email.dot is C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office. If you receive a warning that "The document you are opening contains macros or customizations," click Enable Macros. If you click Disable Macros, the template opens as read-only and does not allow changes.
  5. On the Tools menu, click Options.
  6. On the View tab, click to clear the Picture Placeholders check box, and then click OK.
  7. On the File menu, click Save.
  8. On the File menu, click Close.

Disable Show Field Codes

  1. On the File menu, click Exit And Log Off.
  2. In Microsoft Word, on the Tools menu, click Options.
  3. On the View tab, click to clear the Field Codes check box, and then click OK.
  4. On the File menu, click Exit.
  5. Restart Outlook and view your message.

Do not use Microsoft Word as the e-mail editor

To not use Microsoft Word as your E-mail editor, follow these steps:
  1. On the Tools menu, click Options.
  2. Click the Mail Format tab.
  3. In the "Send in this message format", click something other than Microsoft Word, and then click OK.

MORE INFORMATION

With Microsoft Word as your e-mail editor, most of the editing features available in Microsoft Word are available when working with e-mail messages. The Picture Placeholder option in Microsoft Word displays an empty box in place of each graphic in your document. This increases the screen refresh speed and enables you to display and scroll through a document containing many graphics faster than if all the graphics are displayed.

REFERENCES

For more information about using Microsoft Word as the e-mail editor, type WordMail in the Office Assistant, click Search, and then click to view each of the related topics.

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:3/11/2005
Keywords:kbprb KB180038