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Outlook for Mac - can't create horizontal lines by typing three dashes ("---")

Anonymous
2016-07-22T19:22:02+00:00

I used to be able to type three dashes, press return, and get a horizontal line when drafting Outlook messages. Now, nothing happens after typing the dashes and pressing return. I can still do this in Word, but it seems to have stopped working right after I updated to Outlook 15.24 (although I updated from 15.15 all the way to 15.24, so I don't know that this is something that changed in 15.24 or earlier, or if it is even something that changed in an update).

I believe I've seen an option to "disable horizontal lines," but for the life of me I can't find any way to bring up that option or find any information about the option, if it exists.

Is there a way to re-enable the horizontal lines function? I see that there are menu options for horizontal lines in other Office products, but I can't find one for Outlook for Mac. Thanks.

Outlook | MacOS | Legacy Outlook for Mac | For business

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  1. Jim G 134K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-08-03T16:12:57+00:00

    I did some testing and discovered that AutoText is failing when the autotext entry is a horizontal line. I've reported this bug to Microsoft.

    The procedure would be to add the line as an AutoText entry in Word:

    1. Use Microsoft Word to open a file that has an HTML horizontal line.
    2. Select the line
    3. Use Insert > AutoText > New and specify the text that should automatically generate the line

    Once you've added the AutoText entry it should automatically appear in Word or Outlook when you type the text you specified for the AutoText entry. AutoText is working for text, but not for HTML horizontal lines for some reason.

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  2. Jim G 134K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-08-03T16:02:03+00:00

    Aha! I tested and the AutoText feature is broken for using a horizontal line. I'll report it as a bug.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-07-26T00:58:29+00:00

    Jim, thanks for answering. Autotext is a fairly limited tool (for example, I don't think you can use it to enter a horizontal line), but I guess I'll have to work with it (or use a third-party automation tool).

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  4. Jim G 134K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-07-25T18:10:56+00:00

    Fixy Foxy is sound asleep.

    Version 15.15 used a light text editor based on Apple technologies.

    Version 15.24 uses Microsoft Word as the composing editor. You'll have to add an autotext entry to have the three dashes insert a horizontal line, as this is not a built-in feature of Microsoft Word.

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  5. Anonymous
    2016-07-23T18:32:23+00:00

    Hey,

    Even I had this option working in my Outlook 2016 for mac, but well the dumbest thing that I did was while testing for your issue I made the Auto Format option disappeared or removed and now for the last 90 minutes I am looking for the option to enable it again and not able to find it any which place on Outlook 2016 for mac and in this scenario that we both find ourselfs in I would hope some one from the community comes in an throws us a line - any one out there pls help us both to get the option working and back in Outlook 2016 for mac.

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