E-Mail Encoding for Proper Transmission

Tom Bryan · 03-10-2007, 11:15 AM

(Could not find a proper forum for this subject. Maybe we need a New Forum such as "Outlook Express and E-Mail Handling."

I have been studying e-mail formats and encoding such as MIME, Uuencode, Quoted Printable, Base 64 etc. (What a nightmare!)

In Outlook Express, under Tools, Options, Send tab, HTML Settings -- you can set "Encode Text Using" to Quoted Printable, Base 64 or None. If I use the "None" setting, I can then adjust the "wrap" feature to where I like and therefore control how my e-mails look in the viewing pane. However, if I set the encoding to either Quoted Printable or Base 64, then I have no control over this feature.

After much research on the subject, it seems that if I don't use some form of encoding, then some formats, web links, pictures etc. will not get translated properly on the receiving end. However, I have used the "None" setting and performed some experiments: I have sent several e-mails with varying content to several e-mail addresses, including some such as Yahoo, where the user does not use Outlook Express, and thus far have found they have all gone through just fine. Now -- I am more confused than ever.

Could someone please shed some light on this subject? Also, can I continue to use the "None" setting without any problems?
Thanks for any help.

Tom

_Icarus · 03-10-2007, 11:32 AM

The "none" setting shouldn't properly translate encoded images ... are you sure users on the receiving end are getting the images properly?

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...codingtype.asp

Here's some information on the encoding. Pretty technical, though.

Tom Bryan · 03-10-2007, 12:22 PM

Icarus,

Thanks for getting back to me. Yes, the e-mails went through just fine. I actually have 2 Outlook Express e-mail accounts and 1 Yahoo account. I have sent several e-mails with Word documents, PDF documents, weblinks and pictures -- and they have all gone through just fine. This is why I am now confused about the whole subject.

Is Outlook Express still suffiecently encoding, although the None setting is used? I think this is probably a subject for a real professional who actually deals with these encoding issues. I also think it would be good information for those of us who use Outlook Express.

By the way, if I knew there is a better forum to post this subject, I would gladly ask the managers to move it for me. Is there in fact a better area to post this issue.? And again, thanks for the reply.

Tom

03-10-2007, 11:15 AM	#1 (permalink)
Tom Bryan Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 16 OS: XP	E-Mail Encoding for Proper Transmission (Could not find a proper forum for this subject. Maybe we need a New Forum such as "Outlook Express and E-Mail Handling." I have been studying e-mail formats and encoding such as MIME, Uuencode, Quoted Printable, Base 64 etc. (What a nightmare!) In Outlook Express, under Tools, Options, Send tab, HTML Settings -- you can set "Encode Text Using" to Quoted Printable, Base 64 or None. If I use the "None" setting, I can then adjust the "wrap" feature to where I like and therefore control how my e-mails look in the viewing pane. However, if I set the encoding to either Quoted Printable or Base 64, then I have no control over this feature. After much research on the subject, it seems that if I don't use some form of encoding, then some formats, web links, pictures etc. will not get translated properly on the receiving end. However, I have used the "None" setting and performed some experiments: I have sent several e-mails with varying content to several e-mail addresses, including some such as Yahoo, where the user does not use Outlook Express, and thus far have found they have all gone through just fine. Now -- I am more confused than ever. Could someone please shed some light on this subject? Also, can I continue to use the "None" setting without any problems? Thanks for any help. Tom

03-10-2007, 12:22 PM	#3 (permalink)
Tom Bryan Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 16 OS: XP	Encoding Icarus, Thanks for getting back to me. Yes, the e-mails went through just fine. I actually have 2 Outlook Express e-mail accounts and 1 Yahoo account. I have sent several e-mails with Word documents, PDF documents, weblinks and pictures -- and they have all gone through just fine. This is why I am now confused about the whole subject. Is Outlook Express still suffiecently encoding, although the None setting is used? I think this is probably a subject for a real professional who actually deals with these encoding issues. I also think it would be good information for those of us who use Outlook Express. By the way, if I knew there is a better forum to post this subject, I would gladly ask the managers to move it for me. Is there in fact a better area to post this issue.? And again, thanks for the reply. Tom Last edited by Tom Bryan : 03-10-2007 at 12:23 PM. Reason: spelling

03-10-2007, 11:32 AM	#2 (permalink)
_Icarus Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Rhode Island Posts: 198 OS: Windows XP Professional/Mac OSX	The "none" setting shouldn't properly translate encoded images ... are you sure users on the receiving end are getting the images properly? http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...codingtype.asp Here's some information on the encoding. Pretty technical, though.