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I created a HTML template that I want to get into an email so it can be sent out, but how does one do this? I have Outlook 2016 and research I had read before with Outlook 2013 and below you could 'insert text' instead of the linked file, but Outlook have removed this.

I would be willing to use another program in order to get it into an email for sending out as a newsletter, so it doesnt need to be outlook.

By the way I wasnt sure what part of StackExchange to post this in, so I hope I have posted it in the right one.

Many thanks.

Ninjab
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2 Answers2

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For me worked worked following to add functionality - File attach "Insert as Text" into Outlook 2016: What if you want Outlook 2016 to behave like Outlook 2013 and earlier? Well, the Attach File with the dropdown is not customizable directly, but you can add an old-style Attach File button. To do this, start a new email, right-click the toolbar, and click Customize the Ribbon. Right-click the New Mail Message section on the right, and choose Add new group. Then select the Attach File command on the left, and the new group on the right, and click Add. I have called my new group Custom:

enter image description here

The effect is that you now have two Attach File commands, one of which behaves just like Outlook 2013:

enter image description here

David
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Stanislav Vincent
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Outlook 2016 still does have the classic attach file button with insert as text, you just need to do a little work to get it (http://www.msoutlook.info/question/classic-attach-file-button)

My recommendation for inserting HTML into a desktop client would be Thunderbird (https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/). Outlook rewrites the email HTML before sending it out, which usually removes all media queries and can sometimes otherwise warp your display. Thunderbird uses a much friendlier engine and will allow your HTML to stay the same as it would on any popular Email Service Provider (such as SalesForce Marketing Cloud). Thunderbird has the option to literally "Insert HTML". This allows you to directly paste your HTML code and it populates in the editor.

For mail merge, you will need this add-on (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/mail-merge/), which I actually find better than what you get in Outlook.

Finally, I just wanted to make sure that you are meeting CAN-SPAM compliance on your email newsletter as it is considered a commercial email and want you to avoid potential fines (up to $10,000 per email). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN-SPAM_Act_of_2003)

Gortonington
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  • Thanks for the reply Gortonington. I downloaded Thunderbird and inserted the code as you said, however what it is doing to my images is changing them to attachments and getting rid of the Hyperlinks to the images. Is there an option somewhere to change that action? – Ninjab Mar 14 '16 at 13:30
  • yes on the img tags add the following attribute: moz-do-not-send="true". E.g. "" – Gortonington Mar 14 '16 at 13:55
  • Thanks a lot. Is there anyway to preview the images when I insert the code into the new message window, as opposed to having to send it? Thanks again. – Ninjab Mar 14 '16 at 14:48
  • i believe that is probably just a setting in Tbird to allow external images as by default it blocks all. – Gortonington Mar 14 '16 at 14:53
  • Thanks, I had a look but unable to find anything. It doesnt matter. My HTML looks screwed up in Outlook. Is there any development tools to use to see whats going on? As it looks fine in Tbird, Hotmail, Gmail etc. It would be due to how Outlook is handling some of the tables or CSS but no idea since I cant see how it is writing it. Thanks again. – Ninjab Mar 15 '16 at 04:37
  • The issues you are saying above about display would be best asked as a new question (please include code you are using to send). As far as viewing images for Firefox, check out this forum discussion as it should contain a solution for you - https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/996668 – Gortonington Mar 15 '16 at 12:18
  • I cant seem to get Tbird to display images for this email. Other newsletters and remote content from other email display no problems. I have no blocked content at all as far as I have looked. Thanks. – Ninjab Mar 16 '16 at 04:16
  • I got it to work but I had to uninstall the Tbird profile and readd it back in. For some reason the 'allow remote content' option was never there to select. – Ninjab Mar 16 '16 at 04:38
  • that is odd. Glad you got it to work though. – Gortonington Mar 16 '16 at 12:22
  • As for the classic attachment button: I don't even have that option available when I try to add it to ribbon or QA. I found an "Attachments"-button... but that only filters the current view by `has attachment` :/ (I hear there are problems on Win7 x64, which is what I am using)... Do you know of any solution / work-around for this work.around? – Ben Philipp Jun 17 '16 at 09:24