Short and to the point:
I’m going to feel stupid about this, but how do I use HTML to format my outgoing e-mail messages? Particularly, how do I tell Outlook I want to make this and what are the steps I have to take? Will it work with Hotmail, from their page, as well?
Thank you. You will be receiving my utmost thanks by mail with cool pictures and tables and hyper-text goodies. 
Go to TOOLS/OPTIONS click the MAIL FORMAT tab and select HTML as your preference for formatting. Your emails will now be in HTML.
What am I doing wrong here? Under these options, I sent an e-mail to myself. All I got was my code back. Why can penis enlargers have their fancy with design and I’m stuck with toolbar options? Dreamweaver seems to agree the coding is fine.
What dumb thing am I doing (or not doing) here? Should I host the file somewhere?
Are you using Outlook or Outlook Express? If it’s the latter:
Open up a new compose window.
Go to Format, then choose Rich Text (HTML).
Now you can type formatted text using the GUI. If you want to, you can also click on the “Source” tab to edit the HTML directly.
If you’re using Outlook, make sure you’re editing the actual source and not inputting your HTML code as text.
I guess what I’m trying to do is format my mail messages using HTML code, but I don’t know how to get the program to interpret it as code and not text.
Outlook here. How does one edit the “actual source”? Explain. 
Ok, I installed Outlook to see if I could figure it out. Wow… what an incredibly difficult program.
The only way I found to get to the source was to do this:
[ol]
[li]Start writing a new message.[/li][li]Go to Tools -> Customize.[/li][li]Under the Commands tab, choose “All Commands” on the left side. Look for “ViewHTMLSource” in the long list to the right, and then drag it to one of the toolbars on your screen. It’s just a button, so you can place it on any toolbar you like.[/li][li]Now you can click on that button whenever you need to work with the HTML code. Scroll down past all the special Microsoft junk until you get to the <body> section and you can add your code there.[/li][li]Once you’re done, close the script editor window. When it asks you to save, click Yes, but then it’ll ask you for a filename. At this point, just click Cancel (unless you actually want to save a separate copy of your email). The changes you made should show up in your email even if you do not explicity give it another name.[/li][/ol]
(My god, isn’t there a better way?! It shouldn’t be that complicated… in Outlook Express, it’s a one-click deal to get to the source. I hope somebody else knows a better way. Or you could switch to OE or Thunderbird…)
And as for Hotmail (via the website), you can just start composing a new email message. Make sure the Rich Text Editor is NOT on – meaning you do NOT see the toolbar that allows you to make text bold, change font size, etc.
You can use HTML directly from there by simply copying and pasting a webpage into the textbox. Make sure the <html> tag is included.
It should look like this when you send it:
Then the recipient should see:
Hmm… perhaps the same method will work in Outlook if you select Plain Text as the format. It’s worth a try. I’d test it out for you but I don’t have easy access to a POP3 account right now, sorry.
Please consider not using HTML formatted email. It will look like sh*t to everyone you send to who doesn’t have their mail client set up to display HTML mail; as they shouldn’t, because the aforementioned spammer can use HTML coded messages to do lots of nasty things.
Tracking live addresses with image tags, installing spyware with ActiveX/Javascript, installing viruses…Ugh.
If I wanted to include fancy formatting in an email, I’d put it in a Word file and attach it.
Using a Word file isn’t a good idea either, due to the same MS security issues.
Another option would be to make a webpage, host it somewhere, and include a plaintext link in your email.
PDF. If it has to look like something, PDF is the secure, universal way to go.
HTML mail is just evil. And it was evil as far back as Win95, before security became an issue.
PDF is great if you want to send someone a document that they will print. For viewing on a computer, PDF sucks.
And if you send me HTML mail, I’ll never see all that fancy coding. I only recently got an email program that’s even capable of showing HTML, but I leave it set at plain text only because I prefer it that way. That, and I have this opinion that HTML in email is evil. Why do your email messages need fancy formatting?
What’s wrong with PDF for viewing on a computer? Better than a word document, better than HTML, and pretty much flawless. If you avoid Adobe Reader, it’s even just as quick at HTML.
(Whenever I get attachments that I won’t have to edit that aren’t in PDF, I make them into PDF. PDF’s are free and open, and I’ll always be able to open them. I can’t say the same about Word, Powerpoint, and Excel documents.)
PDF rocks. Note: again, not saying Adobe Reader rocks! ::cough-slow-cough::
Speaking of looking like garbage to anybody who isn’t set up to receive HTML mail, never understimate the ability of Windoze apps to shoot themselves in both feet.
Now that you think it’s set up to use HTML for outgoing mail, are you sure you’re allowing HTML on incoming mail? Is there a difference as far as Outlook is concerned?
GSV Consolation of Dreams, I like your name.
PS. Whether you do it depends on why you want it. If you only send html email to other people using outlook, as much as it grates my soul, there’s no reason why not For official communication, etc, it depends. A decent email client would probably allow basic html, maybe just font-altering things, or maybe everything non-abusable (no code, no images, maybe no background colours…), but I don’t know if there are any.
Thanks Shade, you a Banks fan too?
You’re right that HTML email with an enironment where everyone is using an HTML enabled mail client is OK, providing that sufficient steps have been taken to prevent such nasties as tracking image links, viruses and spam can be filtered out.
Thank you. You’ve all been a great help.
I like screwing around with things (and people), so the HTML format is suitable for me when composing mail to specifc groups of people. Sometimes I will do it for the hell of it, at others to simulate your customary spam message and create amusing and funny messages. 
But the best reason I can come up with and, really, the reason I have for almost anything, is to learn how and see if I can pull it off.
But yes, most HTML mail is evil and if you ever catch me using tracking code or attaching trojans, I would personally hand you the gun to do me in.
What’s a good PDF viewer for Windows, then?