Printing emails from Outlook

[Jonathan Finney]

I don't often have to print emails from Outlook so it's not been too much of
a problem, but I just noticed that there's no Print Preview available for
the HTML Memo style. There's also no way to select anything but the default
printer and no way to access the printer properties (options greyed out).
This means I have no control over which printer I print to let alone having
the luxury of being able to select which tray I print to or any of the other
features normally available to me from other applications.

Either something's not set-up right or Outlook is truly the dumbest
application I've come across when it comes to printing.

Can anybody shed any light on this?

 

[Brian Tillman]

I don't often have to print emails from Outlook so it's not been too
much of a problem, but I just noticed that there's no Print Preview
available for the HTML Memo style. There's also no way to select
anything but the default printer and no way to access the printer
properties (options greyed out). This means I have no control over
which printer I print to let alone having the luxury of being able to
select which tray I print to or any of the other features normally
available to me from other applications.
Either something's not set-up right or Outlook is truly the dumbest
application I've come across when it comes to printing.

Can anybody shed any light on this?

If, in fact, the format of the message you wish to print is HTML, then
you'll have all the features allowed by the print widget supported by your
web browser, including print by selection or page range and printer
selection, despite not having a print preview. If, however, the format of
your message is Rich or Plain Text, you'll be using Outlook's print widget,
which does have some of the limitations you describe, although I find I can
choose my printer and do have a print preview in both Rich and Plain Text
formats.

 

[Jonathan Finney]

Hi Brian.

Seems that you and Russ do more than your fair share of the work on the
Outlook groups!

What's a print widget and how do I use it's features?

I use IE6 for browsing, but don't see the same limitations when printing
from IE. What's the connection?

I've assumed that my emails (sent) are HTML since I don't use Word to create
them and I've not specifically selected Plain Text. Is this a fair
assumption?

I seem to remember asking a question about Outlook printing back at V 2000
or earlier and being told that there were limitations that affected IMO
installations only. Could this be why you don't see these limitations?

 

[Brian Tillman]

Seems that you and Russ do more than your fair share of the work on
the Outlook groups!

I "talk" too much.

What's a print widget and how do I use it's features?

It's what you get when you click File>Print.

I use IE6 for browsing, but don't see the same limitations when
printing from IE. What's the connection?

The HTML rendering engine in Outlook is the same one used by IE and Outlook
Express, I believe, and it ties to the print widget that they both use as
well, or so I gather. I could be wrong.

I've assumed that my emails (sent) are HTML since I don't use Word to
create them and I've not specifically selected Plain Text. Is this a
fair assumption?

Don't assume, look. In Outlook click Tools>Options>Mail Format. What
default format have you chosen in the "Compose in this message format"
drop-down? Outlook's default is Rich Text.

I seem to remember asking a question about Outlook printing back at V
2000 or earlier and being told that there were limitations that
affected IMO installations only. Could this be why you don't see
these limitations?

Since Outlook 2002/2003 don't have an IMO mode, perhaps.

 

[Jonathan Finney]

Hi Brian.

My email format HTML.

Plain text is no problem, but I really don't see why HTML messages can't be
previewed or why I can't select my printer or access any of the 'Properties'
features.

Even if I set my default format to RTF (which may have other drawbacks),
I'll still have these limitations with any HTML emails received.

None of these restrictions is seen in any other program including printing
from IE6, which is not brilliant, but at least it doesn't grey out my
Printer drop down and Properties button).

 

[Raj Sabnis]

Even if you set your default mail format to HTML or RT, I think it only
affects the outgoing mail.

I stumbled upon this message because I too found it annoying that I couldn’t
pick the printer or its options. Upon reading the posts I experimented and
found that I don’t have the option to pick the printer if i tried printing
directly with out opening the email. My wording might not be technical but
try opening the email in a separate window (right click and open or double
click message in the inbox list) and you will see that you can get all
printing options except the print preview.