Setting Up Message Format in Outlook 2007 Using Windows Registry

Recently we got a request by our email team to force clients to use HTML formatting within Outlook 2007 and not Rich Text.  There is an issue where our spam blocking vender is receiving emails from us to help block spam, but when they receive it in rich text, there is not much they can do about it.  They need to receive it in HTML format.  Rather than retrain everyone, it is being asked if we can make this a standard setting within Outlook. 

We can set this up via GPO but then it gets locked down and grayed out. So the best possible solution will be to implement the setting through registry keys and deliver the solution to all the client machines using Altiris Software Delivery.

Outlook 2007 stores the settings in the follow registry key:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Options\Mail\EditorPreference]

Following are the possible values, in decimal format:

HTML = 131072
HTML & Word To Edit = 131073
Rich Text = 196610
Rich Text & Word To Edit = 196609
Plain Text = 65536
Plain Text & Word To Edit = 65537

We can add/configure these entries to the computer using Active Setup as the registry entries are USER related entries.

Attached is the zip file [remove .TXT extension after download] vbscript and registry file for software delivery use. Extract the content of the ZIP file and make sure the VBscript file and registry file are in the same directory. Execute the vbscript and restart, active setup entry will be added and executed upon reboot and the registry setting will be set automatically after the reboot when the user logs in for the first time.

I hope this helps.

Thanks,

Eshwar