Special announcements require a special touch. For example, wouldn't it be fun to announce an upcoming party by filling the message full of colorful balloons, or to announce a birth by sending a picture of the new arrival in your message? When you use HTML as your message format in Outlook, not only can you add pictures or color, you can use them as a background for the entire message! Using a picture or color as the background means you type your message on top of the background, giving your message a designer's touch.

 Note   If you're using Microsoft Word as your e-mail editor, type add a background in the Office Assistant or on the Answer Wizard tab in the Help window, and then click Search.

Add a background image or color to an HTML message

1. With the HTML message open, position the insertion point within the message body.
2. On the Format menu, point to Background, and then do one of the following:
   • To specify a background image, click Picture. In the File box, type the path to an image on your hard drive, type a URL (address) to an image on the Internet, or click Browse if you need to locate an image. You can use pictures in a variety of formats, including GIF and JPEG. To choose from the same images used for Outlook stationery, click the down arrow in the File box instead of typing in the box.
     If the picture isn't large enough to fill the message body, it will be repeated as many times as necessary to fill it.
   • To specify a background color, point to Color, and then click the color you want to use.

Sending Pictures Stored on the Internet vs. Locally

Depending on where the original picture for a background is stored, Outlook can send a copy of the picture as part of the message or it can include a pointer to the picture. If you enter a path to a picture that's located on your local drive or on a network, Outlook will automatically store a copy of the picture with the message. That's because the recipients most likely won't have access to these locations, so a pointer wouldn't work for them. However, if you specify a path to a picture that's located on the Internet, Outlook automatically includes a pointer to the picture. That's because your recipients could have access to the Internet and because sending a pointer keeps the message size down. Sending a picture with the message can increase the size of the message significantly and, therefore, slow down the time it takes to send and receive the message.

If your recipients don't have access to the Internet location that the message points to, they'll see a red X in place of the picture. If you want, you can send a copy of Internet pictures with the message instead of sending a pointer.

Send a picture stored on the Internet in a message

1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Mail Format tab.
2. Do one of the following:
   • If you're using Outlook in the Corporate/Workgroup configuration, select the Send pictures from the Internet check box.
   • If you're working in the Internet Only configuration, click Settings, and then select the Send pictures from the Internet with messages check box.

Besides adding a background or colors, the HTML message format also lets you enhance messages using special designs, formatted text, or a structured layout. For more information, read Create Stylish and Decorative E-mail in Outlook 2000 Using HTML.

 Note   While many popular e-mail programs besides Outlook 2000, such as Outlook 98, Outlook Express 4.0, Eudora 4.0, and Netscape Messenger 4.0, understand HTML messages, some do not. For more information about sending HTML messages, read Choose the Best Outlook 2000 Message Format for a Recipient.