Managing Communications on Your Intranet

Sending Office Documents as HTML-based
E-mail Messages

HTML-based e-mail messages allow users to send and receive e-mail messages that contain any of the features of a Web page that are viewed in a Web browser including Rich Text Format (RTF), embedded graphics and sounds, and hyperlinks. The following e-mail clients support sending and receiving HTML-based e-mail messages:

• Microsoft Outlook Express
• Microsoft Outlook
• Netscape Messenger
• Qualcomm Eudora Pro
• Lotus Notes Mail

Several Microsoft Office 2000 applications support the Mail Recipient command (File menu, Send To submenu). This command converts the active document to HTML, and then sends it as an HTML-based e-mail message to specified recipients.

Note   You must have Outlook 2000 or Outlook Express 5.0 installed to use the Mail Recipient command in other Office 2000 applications.

The following table describes the Mail Recipient command in each Office 2000 application.

Note   Office 2000 applications also support the Mail Recipient (as Attachment) command (File menu, Send To submenu), which opens a new mail message with the attached active document in the native format of the application.

If some of your users do not have e-mail clients that can read HTML-based e-mail messages, you can disable the Mail Recipient command in any Office 2000 application. Office 2000 automatically disables this feature when the local computer does not have Outlook 2000 or Outlook Express 5.0 installed.

System Policy Tip   You can disable the option to send Office files as HTML-based e-mail messages by setting a system policy. Use the Disable command bar buttons and menu items system policy in the Disable items in user interface\Predefined category for each application. Under Settings for Disable command bar buttons and menu items, select the File | Send To | Mail Recipient check box to disable this feature. For more information, see Using the System Policy Editor.

You can disable the Mail Recipient command in selected Office 2000 applications. When you do this, consider replacing the E-mail button (Standard toolbar) with the Mail Recipient (As Attachment) button.