Searching for text in HTML formatted messages

[Ian J.]

Hello,

I have come up against a problem that I have as yet not been able to find a
solution to, either on the www, or in Usenet. I have searched for relevant
issues within several newsgroups and still not found an answer.

The problem is this: I am trying to search emails for set words, but don't
get all results. It seems that any emails in HTML format are not found by
the search engine. I can find words in their headers, but not words in the
bodies of HTML formatted emails.

Does anyone have any idea what is wrong??

(Currently using Outlook 2003)

TIA

Ian J.

 

[Ben M. Schorr - MVP]

Hello,

I have come up against a problem that I have as yet not been able to
find a
solution to, either on the www, or in Usenet. I have searched for
relevant
issues within several newsgroups and still not found an answer.

The problem is this: I am trying to search emails for set words, but
don't
get all results. It seems that any emails in HTML format are not found by
the search engine. I can find words in their headers, but not words in
the
bodies of HTML formatted emails.

Does anyone have any idea what is wrong??

Hmmm. It works fine here. Could it be that the text is embedded in an
HTML image of some kind and not actually text in the body of the message?


--
-Ben-
Ben M. Schorr, MVP-OneNote/Outlook
Operations Coordinator
Stockholm/KSG - Honolulu
Microsoft OneNote FAQ:
http://home.hawaii.rr.com/schorr/computers/onenotefaq.htm

 

[Ian J.]

Hmmm. It works fine here. Could it be that the text is embedded in an
HTML image of some kind and not actually text in the body of the message?


--
-Ben-
Ben M. Schorr, MVP-OneNote/Outlook
Operations Coordinator
Stockholm/KSG - Honolulu
Microsoft OneNote FAQ:
http://home.hawaii.rr.com/schorr/computers/onenotefaq.htm

Thx for replying. No, I have checked the message by viewing the source, and
it is definitely showing text that I would have thought would be searchable.

Normal rich and plain text messages are fine, it seems to be just the HTML
ones with the trouble.

Ian J.

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

I'd suggest that you download and install the free Lookout application from Microsoft. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...ee-16e5-4961-91b8-2200ba31ea37&DisplayLang=en

It vastly improves searching, both in speed and in available features.

 

[Ben M. Schorr - MVP]

Thx for replying. No, I have checked the message by viewing the source,
and
it is definitely showing text that I would have thought would be
searchable.
Normal rich and plain text messages are fine, it seems to be just the
HTML
ones with the trouble.
Ian J.

Hmmm. Do you have all of the latest service packs installed? Do those
HTML messages also include images or downloadable content?


--
-Ben-
Ben M. Schorr, MVP-OneNote/Outlook
Operations Coordinator
Stockholm/KSG - Honolulu
Microsoft OneNote FAQ:
http://home.hawaii.rr.com/schorr/computers/onenotefaq.htm

 

[Ian J.]

Hmmm. Do you have all of the latest service packs installed? Do those
HTML messages also include images or downloadable content?


--
-Ben-
Ben M. Schorr, MVP-OneNote/Outlook
Operations Coordinator
Stockholm/KSG - Honolulu
Microsoft OneNote FAQ:
http://home.hawaii.rr.com/schorr/computers/onenotefaq.htm

To the best of my knowledge, all updates have been applied. XP is on SP2,
and office 2003 is on SP1.

Sue Mosher suggested another app to look at, so I will try that.

Thx so far,

Ian J.

 

[Ian J.]

Sue, will this work with the rules wizard in Outlook 2003? My main reason
for searching to find text in HTML emails was to work out why the Rules
wizard wouldn't move messages based on rules I created. I traced this to the
failure to find words using the Find facility.

Also, if the search should work on Outlook with HTML, then it suggests
something is wrong with my installation of Office 2003. I will look into
getting that repaired (though I don't know why it would be wrong as
everything else seems to work ok except I can't click on a link in an email
or news posting and have it open up in IE)

Ian J.

I'd suggest that you download and install the free Lookout application from
Microsoft.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...ee-16e5-4961-91b8-2200ba31ea37&DisplayLang=en

It vastly improves searching, both in speed and in available features.

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

The Rules Wizard doesn't handle HTML text consistently. (I suspect it's partly because of the way text can be embedded in many different ways in the body of an HTML message.)
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

 

[Ian J.]

Hmmm. Seems odd that the Rules wouldn't be able to search through the HTML
as text (like in Notepad) rather than as some kind of code. But there you
go. One for Microsoft to change perhaps?? They'll certainly need to if
Outlook is to maintain any level of customisability with regards to
filtering Junk email using the Rules... (which is what I'm trying to do - I
don't want my ISP deciding what is and is not spam on my main email
account).

Ian J.

The Rules Wizard doesn't handle HTML text consistently. (I suspect it's
partly because of the way text can be embedded in many different ways in the
body of an HTML message.)
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers