Saving to Reuse
 
 
Getting It All and Retaining the Formatting
 
 
    Using the "File>Save as Stationery" option on OE's menu will only snag a stat's background graphic and the most minimal HTML necessary to format it.  Here's how to save any (IM, OE) stationery as an UNSENT email ready to write on--with all its HTML coding and scripts, its midi and all attachments including embedded fonts, loose pictures (tags, toppers, etc.), and anything that's been "paper-clipped" to it--totally intact:
 
Set Up Your Options, then go "Forward"
  • First you need to set up OE to "Reply to" and "Forward" using the message's original format (that is, Rich Text stationery) as shown by the hands in the screenshot.
    •  To do this, on OE's main menu go to "Tools > Options > Send" and make sure "Reply to messages using the format in which they were sent" has a check next to it.  (I check and uncheck this setting often depending on what I want to do with received mail.)  Also be sure "Plain Text" is ticked under "Mail Sending Format" (this is the secret for saving all attachments, including the graphics and midi out of an email--will let you know how to do that below).  Click "Apply>OK"
  • With the targeted received or sent message highlighted in the list of headers (it doesn't have to be open or the message in view even), click the "Forward" icon on OE's toolbar.  A new message will open using the complete original stationery with the "Original Message" added on it at the top.
  • There should be three tabs at the bottom of the new message's window--"Edit, Source, and Preview."  If they're not there go to "View" on the new message's menu and click on "Source Edit" to put a check mark next to it (this is a one-time setting--if it wasn't already checked, it will be from now on).  The window you should be looking at is the "Edit" tab view (you can't alter anything in the "Preview" tab view).  After setting up the new message like this, any OE stationery in its "ready-to-write-on" state will always display the three tabs at the bottom.
  • Delete whatever you don't want to have show up in your *.eml file--like the original message maybe and Yahoo's ads.  (To get rid of Yahoo's "tables," move your cursor around the edges of the ads until it turns into a cross then hit the delete key.)  If you accidentally delete something you want--like a sound if there is one--click the "Undo" arrow on the message's toolbar.
  • After you've got it all cleaned up and before you do anything else with it, click "File > Save As..."  on the new message's main menu (do NOT click to "Save as Stationery"--whatever was Microsoft thinking with that one???)
  • Browse to a folder to save it into (I use My Documents since that's the one OE chooses first with Windows Millennium), rename it if you want (by default, the save dialog will name it anything you've typed into or left in the message's Subject line), then click "Save" to store it as an *.eml file.
  • While you still have the new message open, you can also save a copy to your drafts or another OE folder for later use by clicking "File > Copy to Folder..." and choosing from the folder list (this dialog will only show you OE's folders).  This will make a one-use copy only though--whereas saving to My Docs as *.eml will create a copy you can use over and over as well as attach to other messages.
  • To use a stationery saved as an *.eml, go into My Docs or the folder where you saved it and double-click it.  No need to open OE.
Saving It In Pieces
 
    Here's how to get everything --pics, midis, backgrounds, attachments, etc.--out of an email to save as individual files with their original names to your hard drive:
  • On OE's main menu, click Tools>Options>Send, then:
    • uncheck "Reply to messages using the format in which they were sent"
    • Click "Apply>OK"
  • Click "Forward." Voilą!--all files the message contains (including pics, embedded fonts, background tiles, midis/waves and separate attachments) are on the "Attach:" line in the Forward's header just above the message area.  To save them, click "File>Save Attachments..." on the message's menu.  In the dialog box that appears, highlight the files you want, browse to a folder to save them into, then click "Save."
  • Don't forget to re-check "Reply to messages using  . . . " the next time you want to save a complete, formatted stationery.
 
 
 
 
o d d m e n t s i n d e x
 
 
 
 
 
If you've found this tutorial useful, and would
like to have it for reference, feel free to click
File/Save As and stash it on your hard drive.