To use Internet-style quoting in Microsoft Outlook, Exchange or Windows Messaging

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To use Internet-style quoting

Internet-style quoting consists of putting a > or other character in front of the original message when you reply or forward it. Recipients can easily distinguish the original message from your comments. This method is preferred on many Internet mailing lists that transmit in plain text only.

Outlook 98 or later | Outlook 97 | Other Tools | Notes | More Information

Outlook 98 or later

Choose Tools | Options. On the Preferences tab, click E-mail Options.
Under When replying to a message and When forwarding a message, choose Prefix each line of the original message.
Set the prefix character(s) under Prefix each line with.
Click OK twice.

Outlook 97

Install the Internet Mail Enhancement Patch or upgrade to Outlook 97 version 8.04. Then choose Tools | Options, and on the Internet E-mail tab, check When replying to messages, indent original text with. WordMail users need to use a special template or ExLife.

See Changing the look of Microsoft Outlook replies for details on how to change the font of the quoting character in Outlook 97.

For Outlook 97 users, if you have IMEP installed in your profile and quoting turned on, it should apply to all services, not just messages sent with the Internet E-mail service. (If you don't want to use the Internet E-mail service itself, put in false values for the servers, choose I connect manually for the connection type and make sure that it's at the bottom of the delivery list at Tools | Services | Delivery.)

Other Tools

E-mail Quoted WordMail Template	Microsoft Word 97 template that includes a macro for adding a ">" in front of text to follow the Internet convention for quoting from incoming messages. May not work with Outlook 2000; to try it, rename the current Email.dot template (use Start \| Find to locate it) then move and rename the quoting template so that it becomes the new Email.dot.
Email Templates	Allows you to select text in the incoming message and quote it in your reply. Create custom replies, forwards, signatures -- inserting any type of boilerplate text into your message. Templates are stored in Outlook or Exchange folders and can contain scripting elements (in VBScript or ET's only script language) to build replies that use information from the incoming message. You can set it to to automatically move items to another folder after you apply a particular template. Also allows you to select text in the incoming message and quote it in your reply. Has some issues with Outlook 2002 -- make sure you get the latest update, disable RTF templates, and don't try to use ET as a custom action in Rules Wizard.
ExLife	An extension that adds filtering rules to Exchange/Windows Messaging or Outlook, quoting and signatures. Actions for rules include automatic saving of addresses, launching a program, saving an attachment, printing and many more. Shareware.
Outlook-QuoteFix	Cleans up plain text replies and forwards by tightening the quoting characters, allowing you to specify the quote header, and moving the cursor to the bottom of the message. Beta. Free.

Notes

Quoted text is not excluded from spell check.

More Information

Internet Mail Issues with Microsoft Outlook

Updated Jul 15 2008