OL2000: How to Customize or Disable the Welcome Message (293870)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Outlook 2000
This article was previously published under Q293870

SUMMARY

You may not want the generic Outlook 2000 Welcome message that is generated during a first run of Outlook. This article describes how to either disable this message from being generated or modify the default message.

MORE INFORMATION

Disabling the Welcome Message

To disable the Welcome message, before you run Outlook 2000 for the first time, rename the Welcome.msg file. This file is located, by default, in the following location:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office

Customizing the Welcome Message

The Welcome.msg file is in HTML format. You can edit it with any editor capable of editing HTML, such as Microsoft Word or Outlook. In most cases, if you double-click on a file with the extension of .msg, it will open in Outlook. Our steps below assume that the file is opening up in Outlook. To customize the Welcome.msg:
  1. Locate and double-click the Welcome.msg file in the path listed in the "Disabling the Welcome Message" section, or wherever Microsoft Office is installed on the computer.
  2. On the Edit menu, click Edit Message.
  3. Make the changes that you want.
  4. On the File menu, click Save. This saves the file in its current location with its current name.
  5. Close the message.
NOTE: A message can be created in any supported message format such as Rich Text Format (.rtf), and saved to Welcome.msg file name.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:9/29/2003
Keywords:kbhowto KB293870
©2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.