There are many good reasons to pay attention to the formatting of your e-mail messages:

Message format dictates how text and images are displayed. If the person on the receiving end of your message is using an e-mail system that can't decode your formatting, it may not make any sense to them.

Formatting also affects the size of your messages. If your message recipient is using a slow connection, those fancy touches may not be entirely welcome. Pictures and extra formatting may make the message bigger, which means it could take a long time to download.

Finally, the messages you receive can also be more or less effective, depending on the way you view them. Take this course and learn how Outlook lets you control how you send and see messages.

To learn more about this course, read the overview in the center of this page or the table of contents in the left column.

When you're done reading this page, click Next to start the first lesson.

Before you can send and see messages, Outlook must be configured correctly. Here’s a great place to go to start that process:

Outlook Overview: Setting up e-mail accounts in Outlook

For training specifically about attachments, see Send and receive photos and attachments with confidence.

In some corporations, message format is set when Outlook is installed. If this applies to you, only parts of this course may be useful for you.