Share via

Line breaks are removed in posts made in plain text format in Outlook

  • Article
  • Applies to:
    Outlook 2019, Outlook 2016, Outlook 2013, Microsoft Outlook 2010, Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, Microsoft Office Outlook 2003, Outlook for Microsoft 365

Original KB number:   287816

Symptoms

In Microsoft Outlook, you create a new plain text formatted post containing line breaks. Outlook removes the line breaks and displays the message. However, the posts do not display any indication that this has occurred, other than the change in formatting. The information bar message about extra line breaks does not appear, either in the Preview pane or when you read the post. This processing appears to happen when the message is initially posted.

Note

E-mail message items display the information bar as expected when the line breaks are removed.

Cause

By default, the Auto Remove Line Breaks feature in Outlook is enabled. This causes the line breaks to be removed. Any two or more successive line breaks are not removed.

Workaround

Use one of the following methods to work around this behavior.

Note

If you edit the existing post and you save the changes before you use one of the following methods, the line breaks are lost and can only be replaced manually.

Method 1 - Disable the feature that removes extra line breaks

This method disables the feature for all plain text items. To do this, follow these steps:

For Outlook 2010 and later versions:

  1. Open Outlook.
  2. On the File tab, select Options.
  3. In the Options dialog, select Mail.
  4. In the Message format section, clear the Remove extra line breaks in plain text messages check box.
  5. Select OK.

For Outlook 2007 or earlier versions:

  1. Open Outlook.
  2. On the Tools menu, select Options.
  3. On the Preferences tab, select the E-mail Options button.
  4. Clear the Remove extra line breaks in plain text messages check box.
  5. Select OK two times.

Method 2 - Use HTML or Rich Text format

You can use HTML or Rich Text formats when you create new items. Or you can change existing posts to these formats.

New posts

You can change the format for individual messages, or for all messages. To change the format for all messages, follow these steps:

For Outlook 2010 and later versions:

  1. Open Outlook.
  2. On the File tab, select Options.
  3. In the Options dialog, select Mail.
  4. In the Compose messages section, select either HTML or Rich Text in the Compose messages in this format drop-down list.
  5. Select OK.

For Outlook 2007 or earlier versions:

  1. Open Outlook.
  2. On the Tools menu, select Options.
  3. Select the Mail Format tab.
  4. Select either HTML or Rich Text in the Message Format section.
  5. Select OK.

When you create a post item, you can change the format for an individual message. To do this, follow these steps:

For Outlook 2010 and later versions:

  1. Open Outlook.
  2. On the Home tab, select New Items, and under More Items select Post in This Folder.
  3. On the Format Text tab, select As HTML or select As Rich Text in the Format section.

For Outlook 2007 or earlier versions:

  1. Open Outlook.
  2. On the File menu, select New, and then select Post in This Folder.
  3. In Outlook 2007, select HTML or select Rich Text on the Options tab in the Format group.

In Outlook 2003, or Outlook 2002, select Plain Text, and then select HTML or Rich Text.

Existing posts

  • In Outlook 2007, select Other Actions after you open the post item on the Discussion tab in the Actions group. Then, select Revise Contents before you change the format.
  • In Outlook 2003, or Outlook 2002, open the post item, select Edit, and then select Revise Contents before you change the format.

Method 3. Restore the line breaks in Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2002

This method allows you to restore the line breaks that were removed. To do this, follow these steps:

  1. Open Outlook.
  2. Open the post item.
  3. Select Format.
  4. Clear the Unwrap Text check mark.

Note

This option is not available in Outlook 2010 or Outlook 2007.