Word document to email

[chappo66]

I want to set up a Word document that can be sent as an email - saving it as
HTML looks the best option, I can then copy and paste into a new email.

It looks okay when I test it, but will I have problems with firewalls if I
add graphics?

Any help, gratefully received

MC

 

[Elliott Roper]

I want to set up a Word document that can be sent as an email - saving it as
HTML looks the best option, I can then copy and paste into a new email.
Shudder!

It looks okay when I test it, but will I have problems with firewalls if I
add graphics?

No, but with a little luck, the recipient's spam filter will bin it.
I'm sure I am not the only person on earth who has trained my spam
filter to reject HTML e-mail.

What is it with HTML e-mail? If it's a document attachment that wants
to look and print pretty, send a PDF. Otherwise send plain text.
You have *no* control over the way your recipient's mail client will
mangle your message.

You *can* add graphics to plain text messages. Some mail clients will
be unable to place them in context though. They will show the pictures
as attachments.

I know this is no help, but I'm feeling exceptionally curmudgeonly this
morning.

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

I'm only partially with Elliott on this one.

I agree that email should really be sent in plain text only, and that if you
need to send formatting or pictures you should attach a file.

PDF is unusable when it arrives. You can either read it or print it: that's
it. If you want your user to be able to "use" the text, you need to send
something else.

Under those circumstances, I would prefer HTML over a Word document. Not
everyone has Word: everyone can display HTML. If anyone sends me PDF, I
simply reply asking for the document (if I want it) or just bin it (if I
don't). I wouldn't bother "reading" a PDF

Graphics are a mixed bag. The modern spam filters and firewalls compute a
"score" for the email based on around fifty factors they consider, each of
which adds to the "smelliness quotient". When it smells bad enough, the
filter dumps it.

Anything sent in HTML format starts off smelling pretty bad, since a large
quantity of spam is sent in HTML. I never see HTML messages unless they
come from known senders.

Anything containing the common picture formats smells worse: most spam
contains at least some pictures. Add a couple of URLs and an email address
to the message and nobody on the planet will ever see it

Hope this helps

I want to set up a Word document that can be sent as an email - saving it as
HTML looks the best option, I can then copy and paste into a new email.

It looks okay when I test it, but will I have problems with firewalls if I
add graphics?

Any help, gratefully received

MC

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Business Analyst, Consultant
Technical Writer.
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

 

[Elliott Roper]

I'm only partially with Elliott on this one.

Dear innocent bystanders: This one keeps running and running.

I agree that email should really be sent in plain text only, and that if you
need to send formatting or pictures you should attach a file.

PDF is unusable when it arrives. You can either read it or print it: that's
it. If you want your user to be able to "use" the text, you need to send
something else.

Well, you can read it and print it. They are quite reasonable values of
"use". Not only that, you can read it and print it exactly as it left
the sender. That is added value of "use" that you cannot guarantee for
mumble.doc. It is for that reason I send a PDF to people who are not
supposed to edit it past the PDF comment state. For the others, well,
they still get the PDF, because I can't trust their fonts or printer
drivers, and then I send them a .doc to play with. When they send it
back, the first thing I do is copy it and paste (sometimes unformatted)
to a fresh document because I can't trust their Word set ups before I
have had time to train them.
Is this sub-optimal? You bet it is!
Microsoft Office folk need to wake up to the fact that there is an
internet out there. There is a colossal mis-match between Word and
e-mail.

Under those circumstances, I would prefer HTML over a Word document. Not
everyone has Word: everyone can display HTML. If anyone sends me PDF, I
simply reply asking for the document (if I want it) or just bin it (if I
don't). I wouldn't bother "reading" a PDF

That's because you are even more curmudgeonly than I am, and that most
people who send you stuff expect you to work on it, 'cos that's how you
earn your loot. Normal people just read it *then* bin it.

Graphics are a mixed bag. The modern spam filters and firewalls compute a
"score" for the email based on around fifty factors they consider, each of
which adds to the "smelliness quotient". When it smells bad enough, the
filter dumps it.

Anything sent in HTML format starts off smelling pretty bad, since a large
quantity of spam is sent in HTML. I never see HTML messages unless they
come from known senders.

Anything containing the common picture formats smells worse: most spam
contains at least some pictures. Add a couple of URLs and an email address
to the message and nobody on the planet will ever see it

Now you are talkin' my language!