How do I keep Outlook from embedding a doc instead of attaching?

[MarilynH]

When I want to attach a document to a message in Outlook (2003) I click the
paper clip icon, find the doc, and it shows up in an Attachments line in the
header of the mail message.

However sometimes I do the exact same thing and it embeds the document in
the text of my message at my current type-in point. This seems to happen
sporadically, I think in messages where I've done a Reply versus a New
message, but not consistently. What causes this difference, and how can I
stop the embedding behavior, which I almost never want?

 

[Brian Tillman]

When I want to attach a document to a message in Outlook (2003) I
click the paper clip icon, find the doc, and it shows up in an
Attachments line in the header of the mail message.

However sometimes I do the exact same thing and it embeds the
document in the text of my message at my current type-in point. This
seems to happen sporadically, I think in messages where I've done a
Reply versus a New message, but not consistently. What causes this
difference, and how can I stop the embedding behavior, which I almost
never want?

A message composed in HTML or Plain Text will show the attachment in its own
header line as you observe. A message in Rich Text format will show the
attachment in the body of the message. Set your default compose format to
HTML or Plain Text.