I create a lot of HTML email templates and one of the more frequent questions after sending the HTML file to the client is how do I actually send that HTML file as an email.
Here's instructions for how to get the HTML into Outlook so you can send it as an email.
Save the HTML.
If you have recieved the HTML file via email, save the attached HTML out of the email you received it in using one of the following methods:- right-click on the attachment and choose "Save Attachment"
- drag and drop the file to your desktop or local filesystem
- From the File Menu of the open message choose "File > Save Attachments."
DO NOT double click on the attachment to open it and then choose "File > Save As." This causes the HTML file to be opened in your web browser, and choosing "File > Save As" from a browser may helpfully rewrite everything.
(I was suprised to learn that "save the attachment" means quite a few different things to different people.) Put it in the Stationery Directory.
Move the HTML file to:
C:\Documents and Settings\*userid*\Application Data\Microsoft\Stationery.
The Application Data folder is a hidden folder so you may not be able to see it by simply browsing to it. You can change your preferences to display hidden files and folders (Windows Explorer > Tools > Folder Options > View > Show hidden files and folders), or copy and past the above location into the Windows Explorer (double-click My Computer) address bar, replacing *userid* with the correct folder.
The Stationery folder is created by Outlook the first time you use the stationery feature. If you do not see the stationery folder, try creating a new message as below with any other stationery and the folder will be created in your user directory.Action > New message using > More stationery...
From the Action menu of the main Outlook window, choose Action > New mail message using > More stationery..., then choose your HTML file from the list. This will open a new email message with your HTML file as the body.
Outlook displays HTML differently when it's editing the HTML as opposed to simply displaying it. This can cause extra spacing to appear at the end of lines or around images. Sending the message to yourself will confirm that these types of display problems will not appear for the recipient.
Thank you so much for posting this, I was going crazy trying to get this to work. I even downloaded a stupid program that became a part of outlook and wanted me to spend $200 to send the email to more then 150 people… I found that I could also use word pad and word to send the email but going to “file” “send to” and then send it to a mail recipient. Word totally screwed everything up and word pad only works on very basic html.
Since I was using dream weaver to script the page and not word… This was becoming impossible until now. Thank you again for this, I looked everywhere and could not find any tutorials on this until I came across your site - you rock!
-Brandon
no problem. glad i could help and glad it worked out for you. It’s a simple thing but it takes forever to figure it out on your own.
Thanks for the writeup! I haven’t used Outlook in so long, and when I was asked to send an html email after having created one, I forgot how to do it in Outlook. I new it had to do something with stationary or theme but I just could not remember how. And I know what you mean, it takes forever to figure out! I luckily have done it before but that was years ago, so I knew the idea of having to use it as stationary, I just forgot how to add it to stationary, so your article helped!
Thanks again.
Christine
Thank you very much for these straight and simple instructons!!
Hi, thanks for this - not a way mentioned by many websites, but could be the way to go - although when I add the html file, it sees the background in the preview pane, but not in the actual email…. any reasons why?
Cheers, Andy
Many thanks, I’d be searching the web for hours to find an answer to this and your simple solution worked a treat.
Rob
Hey Derek,
You responded to a post I put on Campaign Monitor Forum. You directed me to this post and I am grateful but still a little confused. I am a newby at this and the info here is little over my head. One question you might help me with is, can I access the html source for Outlook 2003 email from within Outlook? I am trying to install an unsubscribe function on the normal emails I send out with no luck so far.
Thanks for your response.
You can view the HTML source in Outlook by right-clicking in the message and choosing view source. You cannot edit the HTML that way though.
This article tells you where your HTML source needs to go so you can send it via Outlook. Now you can edit your HTML file to add your unsubscribe link to the source and send it. I have no idea what your unsubscribe link should be.
You might look at the Subscribe2 plugin. It does what you want without involving Outlook. FYI, your hosting provider may have a limit on the number of outbound emails that can be sent at one time.