Headers in Outlook Express

August 6, 2006 10:07 AM

How can I set Outlook Express to open saved messages showing all the headers?

I've done it many times in the past - saved a form letter to my desktop, open it, paste an address into the "To" window, then send. Now, for some reason, saved messages open with no address windows or editing capabilities. I've looked through all the program settings and options but can't find the solution. Help?

posted by davebush to computers & internet (4 comments total)

Thanks for asking this. I've had the same problem with .eml files saved to desktop and found the only way round it is to forward the form letter and put the address in. But that's a pain, I have to remember to take out the FW in the subject line and the forwarding info in the body of the email, so if there's a workaround it, I'd be glad to know.
posted by essexjan at 10:30 AM on August 6, 2006

Did some research and found my solution. The problem was caused by a - wait for it - Windows XP security update.

Details and solution here.
posted by davebush at 10:54 AM on August 6, 2006

Thanks davebush. Done!
posted by essexjan at 2:14 PM on August 6, 2006

Mozilla Thunderbird has a very handy "Edit as New" menu option for resending messages you've already sent (or received) as well as template support. It can also easily import OE mails and address books, so cutting over is very easy.

The other nice thing about Thunderbird is that it uses mbox format to store all your mails, meaning that you can do useful recovery with standard text processing tools if something goes horribly wrong. OE, by contrast, uses an inscrutable Microsoft binary database format.

Sorry about this "your favourite mail client sucks" post, but I support lots of users with OE and lots of users with MT, and of the two, OE causes about 90% of the trouble.
posted by flabdablet at 5:57 PM on August 6, 2006