Sending E-mail in HTML Format
Outlook
Thunderbird
Not a feature of your e-mail program? or want to send an existing Web page?
Keep in mind...
Before getting started: Need a BU logo or a template for your message? (BU network only)
From Outlook:
Step 1: Choose File->New->Mail Message
Step 2: Within the message window, indicate that you want the message to be in HTML format
Step 3: Format the message exactly as you would a Web page (insert images, format font style, etc.) and you should be all set!
From Mozilla Thunderbird:
Step 1: Tell Thunderbird that you want to send HTML-formatted messages by going to Tools->Account Settings->Composition and Addressing and select "Compose Messages in HTML format". Note that you will need to do this for each Account you want to use it from. Then click on OK.
Step 2: Format the message exactly as you would a Web page (insert images, format font, etc.).
Step 3: From now on HTML will be your default. To resume sending in plain text (recommended) you should go back to shut off the "Compose messages in HTML format " preference OR, as needed, choose Plain Text from your menu.
If your e-mail program won't send in HTML format
Step 1: If applicable, create the page and upload it to a Web server. (For help creating Web pages, see Webcentral at www.bu.edu/webcentral.)
Step 2: View the page in your Web browser *at its live location, not as a local page* using either Internet Explorer or Netscape 7. (The current version of Firefox does not have a "send page" feature.)
Step 3: Use that browser's "send page" command to (launch your default mail program and) mail the page you are viewing.
| In Internet Explorer | In Netscape |
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When you do send in HTML format, keep in mind that...
Unfortunately, you can't be sure each recipient will actually see your message in the way you would hope. As people try to protect themselves from viruses, spyware and spam, they will view mail more restrictively and with greater suspicion, even mail coming from a BU address, because it could be spoofed.
If a recipient does not "view attachments in-line" for example, they could initially see your e-mail as something that looks like the image below. Other recipients might read messages in just "plain text" or "simple HTML" (and not see the graphics).
Mail programs, and message recipients, will choose to handle
HTML messages differently, and you can't know how your
e-mail will be received by everyone. People who read with Pine
or Horde, for example, would see your message as something that
looks like the images below.
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