Can I stop Exchange from stripping out all HTML styling?

Question

I'm trying to send an HTML email, but the company I'm sending it to has an Exchange server which, by the looks of it, strips out all styling, so regardless of what I do to style it up it turns up unstyled when they recieve it.

Is there a way to configure Exchange to not strip out all styling?

Just to clarify, the reciever is getting the email as a html email as all the table structure is intact, but all inline css stylings and even trying to style using the deprecated HTML way (i.e. cell colour, etc) is getting removed. It just defaults it to normal unstyled cells and tables etc..

Solution 1

Just to emphasise what Bonus said in the comment. If the recipient has chosen to read all e-mails as plain text there's nothing you can do to override this. I know it's not the case in this situation but they might be using an e-mail client that can't render HTML.

If the e-mail has to be formatted to make sense then you should consider sending a link which the recipient can open in their browser of choice.

NOTE This answer refers to the question as originally stated.

Solution 2

I had weird things happen if an anti-virus scans the incoming mail and appends a "no viruses" message at the end, also incidentally destroying the html.

You might check that the said client doesn't have such an anti-virus or anti-spam filtering product installed on his machine.

Comments

[Bonus]

It's not default behaviour for Exchange. You sure the recipient isn't just electing to read in plain text?

[Arjan]

Do you know if this recipient cannot receive any formatted email? (From any sender?)

[Admin]

Updated the question a little to clarify that the reciever is still receiving an html emailing, but just with all styling stripped out.

[Arjan]

And what are you using to compose/send the email? (Ensure you're not using anything that is not in this list: campaignmonitor.com/css)

[Admin]

HTML email has been created in html editor, previewed in IE7 and send page by email has been used to send the email. Outlook 2007 is used to then send this email. This is where it starts to get wierd. Before i send it in outlook it looks fine, if i send to one of my collegues then it also looks fine (Outlook 2003 and 2007). It's only when we send it to the client (who we know has got an exchange server) that it strips all the styling.

[Arjan]

Maybe you can use something like mailinator.com to peek in the message headers? And into the body of the HTML part? (Hoping it's sent as MIME with at least a text and HTML version then.)

[Darren Mac]

We've got them to forward the email back to us that they recieved and it appends the email with "Click here to report this email as spam." so it has been checked by something called Mail Control at their end. Anyone had any experience with Mail Control ?

[Admin]

We never get any complaints about winmail.dat attachments. How can i confirm if i am sending it in RTF or HTML ? I've seen the link you provided already but that seems to describe problems when trying to send messages from an Exchange server, not being recieved by them. Will probably forward that link on to them so they can have a look at it.

[Arjan]

Aha, you're using Outlook 2007 without an Exchange server yourself? The choice between HTML and RTF is some option in the menu bar while composing a new message. When one of those is selected, I think the only other option is Plain Text. When Plain Text is selected, one can select RTF or HTML. Though I am actually not sure Outlook 2007 still supports RTF.

[Admin]

Yes thats right, we haven't got an exchange server. Just sending it as normal. Will have a look to see if that option still exists in outlook 2007.

[Admin]

Indeed that option does still exist, but the emails are definitely being sent as html, thats the default option, which i have never changed.

[harrymc]

I haven't been able to find any product by that name. You can demystify the situation by asking your client what they're using for mail client & supplier.

[Darren Mac]

The actual domain www.mailcontrol.com which is the link it inserts is actually forwarded onto something called Websense hosted email security. I've not heard of these either though.

[Darren Mac]

Yeah, thats what were attempting to do at the moment. Was hoping that somebody might have had experience with it before.