Description of a new feature that users can use to read non-digitally-signed e-mail or nonencrypted e-mail as plain text in Office XP SP-1 (307594)

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry

SUMMARY

This article describes a new feature that is added to Outlook 2002 in Microsoft Office XP Service Pack 1 (SP-1). This feature permits users to configure Outlook to read all non-digitally-signed e-mail or nonencrypted e-mail messages in plain text format.

This change also permits system administrators to configure policies that require users to read all non-digitally-signed e-mail or nonencrypted e-mail messages in plain text only.

Digitally signed e-mail or encrypted e-mail messages are not affected by this update and cannot be modified by a system policy. Digitally signed e-mail or encrypted e-mail messages are read in their original formats.

For additional information about the latest service pack for Microsoft Office XP, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

307841 OFFXP: How to Obtain the Latest Office XP Service Pack

MORE INFORMATION

To turn on the "Read as Plain Text" feature, follow these steps.

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

Click Start, and then click Run.
In the Open box, type regedit.
Locate the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Outlook\Options\Mail
On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWord Value.
With the new Dword value selected, type ReadAsPlain.
Double-click the new value to open it. In the Value Data box, type 1, and then click OK.
Click OK, and then quit Registry Editor.

Note When you programmatically work with existing messages, if the Read as Plain Text feature is turned on, the BodyFormat property returns olFormatPlain and cannot be changed. This is true although Help states that the BodyFormat property is read/write. If you try to set the BodyFormat property to any other value, you receive the following error message:

Error 80070057 "Could not complete the operation. One or more parameter values are not valid."

After you turn on the "Read as Plain Text" feature, users notice the following changes:

The changes are applied to the preview pane and open messages.
Pictures become attachments to avoid loss.
The object model (custom code solutions) may behave unexpectedly because the message is still in Rich Text or HTML format in the mail store.
Digitally signed messages are not affected.