Emails arrive as attachments

For some reason, in order for me to read my emails, I now need to double click on the subject line and then my emails come up as attachments. What have I done and how can I fix it please?

I am using Windows XP Professional and Outlook Express 6

 

Hi

I haven't got XP, but I do use Outlook Express 6 (on W98)

it sounds as though you have turned off your preview pane perhaps?

To enable the preview pane try View>Layout and there should be a checkbox "enable preview pane "

==

in earlier versions of Outlook Express the preview pane constituted a bad security loophole

as soon as a message appears in the preview pane (up to & including OE5.5x) it opens any graphic elements, which unfortunately includes web bugs and the like

but with OE6 all that changed - as long as you ensure that you
- read all messages in Plain Text only
- do not reply to messages in the format in which they were sent

(find these settings under Tools>Options at the Read & Send tabs, respectively)

you should be pretty safe - aginst HTML-borne malware, web bugs & the like

(I hope this is also true for OE6 on XP ! It's the case for OE6 on W98, I've checked pretty exhaustively - am sure someone will jump on me from a great height if it isn't)

HTH

best wishes, HJ.

 

I'm not sure I'm understanding correctly but try this. In OE, click view>layout and make sure "show preview pane" is checked. I'm assuming you've lost the preview pane. Is that correct?

 

No Luck

Thank you for your detailed response. However, I went to layout and all the necessary boxes are checked. Is there a way of re-installing OE?

 

Preview pane is checked. Still no luck!

 

Hi again

hmmm - reinstalling Outlook Express - that would probably be "Mend Internet Explorer "

could we try a couple more things before it gets to that stage pls?

interested to know:
do you see a blank preview pane (the pane is there but the messages aren't), or does it not appear at all?

if it's missing altogether you could try view>layout and then
1) uncheck the show preview pane box; Apply;
2) check the show preview pane box; Apply;

see if that gives it a "prod "

along the same lines it might be worth experimenting with "show beside messages / show underneath messages" - again, Applying each time you make an alteration

(although it doesn't appear to be possible to resize the pane to zero-size, occasionally things can get scrambled so that windows are "placed" somewhere invisible)

anyway it's quick and easy to try

==

of course if the pane's there, but devoid of messages the above is pretty pointless!

let us know how it goes pls...

best wishes, HJ

 

Yep, the pane's there, but devoid of messages!

 

oh hollyhocks - sounds like a "Mend IE" job to me...

but I would rather like a second opinion on the matter!

==

just to be completely certain -

1) you are seeing the preview pane, but it's blank;
2) a single left click on a message in the list will highlight the message in the list as it should; but when you do this the contents don't appear in the preview pane;
3) double clicking on messages in the list opens them in their own window OK

- any other odd things going on?

- did the onset of the problem coincide with anything else of note?

- have you made any message "rules "?

- do you have more than one mailbox? (so could send something to yourself if need be for testing)

==

I must disappear, for half an hour only - back soon

let's hope an eXPert can come up with something meanwhile

best wishes, HJ

 

Oh hollyhocks indeed!
1) you are seeing the preview pane, but it's blank; YES
2) a single left click on a message in the list will highlight the message in the list as it should; but when you do this the contents don't appear in the preview pane; YES
3) double clicking on messages in the list opens them in their own window OK

Well, things went sour when I attached the school's LCD projector to my puter.

My life is ruined!

 

well I don't know much about XP but it seems to have things called "system restore" points, so if you have one of those prior when to disaster struck that would maybe be the best option

==

failing that there are two possibilities
1) try rebuilding the mailboxes
2) mend Internet Explorer

1) is less "heavy duty" but I don't think it will work in your case unless you can get some life out of the preview pane for another folder - "Sent Items" for example. If you can get the preview pane to work for any folder then 1 is the better option.

If you can get life out of the preview pane on any folder stop here & post back with details and I'll give the procedure for rebuilding the mailboxes

==

2) to mend Internet Explorer:
(I hope this is the same for XP ) (this is how to do it for Win98)

go to Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs. In the list, locate "Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 SP(something) and Internet Tools" and then choose the Add/Remove button...

...which should take you to a screen with several options, one of which is "Repair Internet Explorer" - select and OK

then cross fingers while it checks that things haven't gone missing or become corrupted - takes a few minutes.

Caveats:
- could maybe check my description of the procedure in XP's help, to make sure that it's not signicantly different for XP;
- I don't think that doing a "Repair Internet Explorer" is likely to hurt your machine, but if you want a safety net then create one of those "restore points" before you start;
- after doing this, visit Windows Update and check for critical patches;
- you may find a few settings get lost or return to defaults after the process;

phew - at least it wasn't the LCD projector which got ruined, those things cost serious money

good luck

best wishes, HJ

(who wants to interface an eidophor to a graphics card)(for AVS...)

 

Click on one of the email headers so it's highlighted and then press ctrl+F3. Does this by any chance make the text show in the preview pane?

 

Thank you for your time and effort everyone! None of your suggestions were able to avoid the inevitable. Yep, I re-installed Windows XP Pro. I know .... I can hear you from here: WEAK B...... !

 

LOL - if you took a survey of all the posters on here with names in green (team members) and others of us with names in funny colors, you would find that somewhere between 99% and 100% of us have at one time or another solved a problem with an OS reinstall.

Sometimes a problem just doesn't seem to have a solution we could find but more often, the 'fix' would take too much time and leave you with a questionable system so a reinstall is easier.