Emails with white text

  • Thread starter Thread starter Questionairre
  • Start date Start date
Q

Questionairre

According to the IT department within my company I am running the most
updated form of Microsoft Office, but I am still receiving white text emails.
Does anyone have any ideas why an updated version of Office would present
such an issue? Do you have any solutions?
 
What text specifically is white? Is it the entire message (From, To,
Subject, etc.) and the body of the message or just the body of the message?

Is this the case for all messages you receive or just certain messages?
 
It's only certain messages and I have no idea what distinguishes those
messages from any other message I might receive. Also, it's the entire
message that's white. The only thing I can see is the to and from if it is a
reply message and that's only because that text is placed on a blue
background.
 
Well, then I guess it can't be your display settings if only certain
messages are doing this and others are not.

If you open the messages that look fine and then open the messages with the
white text; look at the very top of the message Windows on the title bar. It
should display the message subject followed by:
"- Message (HTML)"
or
"- Message (Rich Text)"
or
"- Message (Plain Texr)"

Is there any similarity here between the good messages and the bad? Maybe
all the bad messages are HTML and the good ones Plain Text or something
similar?

Another thing to try so we can find some commonality here:
Open one of these bad messages. In the Office Ribbon, select Other Actions |
Edit Message. Now, select the Options tab above the Ribbon. What format is
highlighted here? Plain Text, HTML, or Rich Text? Whatever format it is, try
selecting something different (select Continue if you get a warning box).
Can you see the text of the message if you change to one of these formats?

Do you have anything in-place that may be touching these messages before
they get displayed in Outlook? ...Maybe a virus scanner with a hook into
e-mail or something similar?
 
You're right there is a difference between the normal messages and the odd
ones. The normal ones are HTML text and the odd ones are plain text. But,
changing the odd ones to Rich or HTML text doesn't correct the issue. But at
the same times, changing normal messages to plain text changes the content to
all white text.

And yes, my company uses Symantec for antivirus protection as well as
antispyware.
 
Ok - the fact things are changing within Outlook leads me to believe it's
probably not AV doing anything.

How about this:

From the main Outlook Window, select Tools | Options... | Mail Format
Select the Stationery and Fonts... button

At the very bottom, under "Composing and reading plain text messages,"
select the Font... button. Is there anything to note here in the font
settings? Try changing the Font color to something else (what is it set to
now?). Select OK | OK | OK. Do any of the plain text messages look different
now?
 
Well the good news is that it did affect some messages but not all of them!
Is there something else I can do?
 
Are these messages it didn't work on also Plain Text?

Let's take one of these and try changing it to HTML or Rich Text, and then
change it back to Plain Text. In the Office Ribbon, select Other Actions |
Edit Message. Now, select the Options tab above the Ribbon. Select something
different (select Continue if you get a warning box). Save it, then repeat
to go back to Plain Text.

I can reproduce this, but it's affecting all Plain Text messages when I do
it.

Again, I can't imagine the Windows display settings are at play here because
it's not affecting all messages, but it may be worth checking:
I'm not sure which OS you're using. In Control Panel...

Windows Vista - Select Personalization | Window Color and Appearance | Open
classic appearance properties for more color options | Advanced...

Windows XP - Open Display | Appearance | Advanced

Check the colors set for Window Text (select Window from the Item
drop-down). What is set for Color 1 (Window background) and Color (Window
font)?

At this point, it may be worth attempting a repair on the MS Office
installation from Control Panel | Add/Remove Programs or Control Panel |
Programs and Features (Vista).
 
That worked!! I am not sure if it has taken care of all the emails with this
issue, I'd have to hunt through my various other folders, but for the ones I
have in my inbox the problem is taken care of!!

I did attempt to adjust the display settings but they seemed to be in
working order. The text was black and the window background was white as it
should be.

As far as the MS Office repair I think I am going to have our company IT
person do that, for fear that I might truly make a mess of the situation!

Thanks so much for your help though! Hopefully the changes you helped me
accomplish will continue to be effective!!
 
Back
Top