Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 uses only Microsoft Office Word as the e-mail editor.

Earlier versions of Microsoft Office Outlook use two rendering engines. Microsoft Internet Explorer is used for reading content. Microsoft Office Word is used for editing e-mail messages, and it is used for composing e-mail messages. If you reply to an HTML e-mail message, or if you forward an HTML e-mail message, earlier versions of Outlook first use the Internet Explorer rendering engine to view the e-mail message. Then, the Outlook uses the Word composition rendering engine to reply to the e-mail message. This change of rendering engines could lead to the content that you enter in an e-mail message being displayed differently from what the recipient of the e-mail message sees.

Outlook 2007 uses Word 2007 for both the rendering engine and the composition engine to provide a uniform experience. Additionally, the Word 2007 rendering engine is improved over earlier versions of Word. These improvements include improved support for HTML standards and for Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) standards.

Frequently asked questions

Q1: Does using Word as the e-mail editor make it more difficult for Web designers to create HTML e-mail messages?

A1: The Word rendering engine does not support some HTML attributes and CSS attributes. For more information about HMTL standards and about CSS standards, visit the following Microsoft Web sites: Q2: Does Microsoft use the same standards in Outlook 2007 and in Internet Explorer 7?

A2: No. Windows Internet Explorer 7 was not intended to be an editing tool. Therefore, Microsoft decided to use Word to read content and to author content in Outlook 2007.

Q3: Are there any plans to add support for the other HTML standards and for CSS standards to the Word engine?

A3: Microsoft is continually examining HTML support and CSS support in Word based on customer feedback.

For more information about Word as the e-mail editor in Outlook 2007, visit the following Microsoft Web site: