Format changes for distribution lists

[brunei]

Here's question that has me stumped...

If I send a message to 3 people individually in Rich Text they will receive the message in Rich Text. However, if I send the same message to those 3 people as a distribution list they will recieve the message as plain text.

Ever heard of this?

 

[brunei]

Sorry, I probably should have given the specs. Exchange 2000 with Outlook 2000 setup as Corporate Workgroup.

 

[jbuchanangb]

When you address them as individuals, Outlook looks them up in your Contacts folder, where it finds out that you have set to send to the recipient on Rich Text format.

(Right click the addressee, to open the contact, then right click the e-mail address field to check this)

When you address them from a distribution list, it picks up their addresses from the list, but it is a copy of their address, not linked to the entry in your Contacts. I don't think that the format for sending mail is kept with the address in the distribution list, so it then sends using the default mail format, in your case presumably Plain Text.

 

[brunei]

Is there then a way to modify the distribution list to send in Rich Text format?

 

[jbuchanangb]

Try opening the distribution list, then select one of the addressees and double-click. This should open the window with the check box for "Always send to this recipient in Rich Text". So I was wrong before and it is possible to keep this information with the entries in a distribution list.
If it is not checked, then check it. You'll need to do this for each addressee in the list.
I hope this helps you solve the problem.

 

[brunei]

We have 2 different email servers within our organization (ABC and XYZ for this purpose). I am part of ABC. If I open a distribution list and doubleclick on an addressee from ABC I do not see the "Alway send to this recipient in Rich Text" option. If I doubleclick on an addressee from XYZ I see the box, but it is grayed out and not usable.

 

[jbuchanangb]

I'm sorry, it's got me beaten. I have to say that since RTF is a mail format unique to Microsoft, and that recipients of mail sent in RTF frequently complain about the arrival of a strange file called WINMAIL.DAT, it is generally best practice to send e-mail in Plain Text format, and leave any special formatting etc. to files in attachments.
I hope somebody else may be able to assist you.

 

[joegz]

Are we talking about a public distribution list or a private distribution list? If private where are the e-mail addresses being selected from (i.e. Global Address List, Contacts, PAB entry,...)? Are the recipients using Outlook as well or some other application? joegz
"Sometimes you just need to find out what it's not first to figure out what it is."

 

[brunei]

These are distribution lists in the Global address list created with addresses from the Global address list. The recipients are all using Outlook 2000.

 

[joegz]

Most of the previous suggestions were for Private DLs and not for Public DLs. I wish I was more fluent in Exchange but I would think that it is not an issue with the Outlook application but possible something on the Exchange server that is causing that behavior.

Have you tested if others send to this same DL if it also converts to plain text?

I tried searching the in Exchange forum but did not find anything yet. joegz
"Sometimes you just need to find out what it's not first to figure out what it is."