Multilevel list (style) in Word not carrying over to mail

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I set up a multilevel list style in Word 2007 for a client, following his specifications for the numbering/lettering and indents for each of the levels of the list. So far, so good.

When the client copies text that incorporates the style into an e-mail message (presumably in Outlook — I believe the firm is using Outlook 2003), the list levels do not carry over. Instead, the list becomes a single-level list.

I have basic fluency in Outlook but don’t use it regularly; my familiarity with the more advanced features is spotty. I’m wondering if there is any way to ensure that the multilevel list will paste intact from Word into Outlook.

Not sure if this is an Outlook question that should be moved or if it belongs in the Word forum, since I don’t know where the problem lies or how to fix it (if it can be fixed).

The client says he was able to paste multilevel lists from Word 2003 into Outlook, which certainly makes it sound as if it can be done. (Unsurprisingly, he was not able to get a multilevel list to paste properly from WordPerfect into Outlook.)

Hoping for a simple solution, preferably one that doesn’t require a macro.

Thanks in advance.

Jan

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Jan,

Am not at a location with Word 2007 so can’t test this until tomorrow, but it doesn’t sound surprising that there might be problems pasting a Word 2007 outline into Outlook 2003 – are you saying that the client is using Word 2007 and Outlook 2003 on the same PC? (and if so, why?)
Maybe something to try would be to save the Word 2007 document as a Word 97-2003 formatted document, and then try the copy and paste into Outlook.

Gary

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Hi, Gary,

Thanks for your reply. Let me see if I can answer the questions you raised.

Although I don’t know for certain, I think the firm has been using Outlook for mail and contacts/scheduling for some time — in fact, now that I think of it, they might be using a version that is older than Outlook 2003 — but have been using WordPerfect as their primary word processor.

They contacted me early this year and indicated that they want to migrate to Word. They couldn’t decide between Word 2003 (which I think they already had on at least some of the work stations) and Word 2007. I provided them with pros and cons and waited for them to decide.

Sometime in the late spring or early summer, they upgraded their computers. I am not sure what software they installed on the new machines. It’s possible that they had more than one version of MS Office on at least some of the work stations, including that of this particular person (one of the partners of the firm). They finally decided to move to Word 2007 and brought me in this summer in to do a (multi-day) training for the entire staff (and help create templates, Quick Parts, and so forth).

For several reasons (including comments and questions from the partner about the multilevel list issue), I have been assuming — but am not certain — that the firm still uses an older version of Outlook. That might not be the case, especially in light of the fact that they upgraded all of their work stations. I guess I need to pin them down.

I also need to do some testing myself, something I might have a little time for this weekend.

They are using compatibility mode (Word 97-2003) as their default document format, so that doesn’t seem to be an issue.

I wouldn’t necessarily have expected a multilevel list to retain its formatting when pasted into an e-mail message if not for the fact that the partner said it had worked with Word 2003. Again, I don’t know enough about Outlook to understand how it handles text pasted from Word, but it certainly seems logical that if it worked with Word 2003, it should work with Word 2007 (especially in compatibility mode).

Do you know if there are some configuration options in Outlook that could be causing the problem?

Thanks again for taking the time to respond.

Jan

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I have just tried this.

Using Word 2007 and Outlook 2007 the multi-level bulleted list works perfectly when copied from Word to Outlook

Using Word 2003 and Outlook 2003 (Word is not the editor for emails), the list looks correct when imported. All the indents and numbers look good but the bullets and numbers are just plain editable text.

I don’t have a PC with mixed versions of Outlook and Word.

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Hi again,

Interesting story – and maybe not that unusual. My biggest client user of Word 2007 is using compatibility mode too, which is kind of a worst of both worlds, I think (compatibility mode locks you out of a lot of the new features in Word 2007, while making some of the older features less accessible).

But have to say I just tested pasting some Word 2003 outline-numbered text into an Outlook 2003 (HTML format) e-mail message, and was surprised to find it lost indentation formatting. I thought it would retain that formatting, but maybe I’m remembering older versions of OL, which had a rich text OL message format option. At home I mostly use Office XP – will test this with Word 2002 and a rich text Outlook 2002 e-mail message when I get home tomorrow.

So this may not be a Word 2007 issue per se. One thing you could check with your client, is what e-mail format he was using – HTML or rich text?

Gary

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fwiw, some more test results, on PCs at home:

Word 2007 to Outlook 2007: same result as Stuart – formatting retained when pasted into Outlook. Numbers are not editable text.

Word 2003 to Outlook 2003: unlike my earlier test at work, on this home PC I have a Rich Text format option in Outlook (but no HTML option). Word text pasted into Rich Text Outlook message retains all formatting. Numbers are not editable text.

Word 2002 to Outlook 2002: only have HTML and Plain Text e-mail options. Word text pasted into HTML message loses indentation formatting. Numbers are editable text.

Stuart, just curious: what was the e-mail message format for your 2003 test?

Gary

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Stuart, just curious: what was the e-mail message format for your 2003 test?

html

I have just retested. Bullets and indents are all correct, numbers / bullets are editable.
It behaves exactly the same using rich text too.

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Thanks very much to both of you for testing and responding.

Did either of you try pasting from Word 2007 to Outlook 2003? I’m going to try that myself later today.

From your results, it sounds as though it probably shouldn’t matter if the client is using HTML mode or RTF mode in Outlook. I’ll have to try both options and see if there’s any difference.

The client’s complaint, if I understood him correctly, was two-fold: that the levels didn’t retain either their indentation or their number/letter when pasted into an e-mail message. I’m not certain if he needs the numbers to be editable. Will check with him next week. Also might have to test on site at the law firm, which might give me more clues than testing on my own machines.

I appreciate all of your detective work.

Jan

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An update:

In my (brief) experiments yesterday, the list pasted fine from Word 2007 into Outlook 2003. The numbers and letters stayed exactly as they were in the original Word document, as did the indents.

True, the numbering converted to hard text rather than codes, but that’s pretty much what I expected. (Or should the numbers and letters remain codes when pasted into an e-mail message — perhaps if Word is the e-mail editor?)

I think I’ve reached the point where I need more information from the client. Moreover, I probably need to see exactly what he is doing and how it works (or doesn’t work) on his machines; perhaps there’s a setting at his end that is causing the problem.

Once again, I appreciate your help. Will post back with another update if/when we figure things out.

Jan

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Thanks to the two of you, and with some more experimentation, I think I’ve resolved the issue.

Without answering my question about which version of Outlook he’s using, the client sent me a sample document that looked fine in Word but, according to him, lost the formatting when he pasted it into an e-mail message. I copied the document and tried pasting it from Word 2007 (compatibility mode) into Outlook 2003 with different options enabled.

What worked best was:

Before pasting the document containing the multilevel list into a “new message” composition window in Outlook, I clicked the Format menu and clicked to enable “Rich Text.” Then I pasted the list.

The list retained all of the correct indentation and levels; also, the numbers and letters came in as codes rather than as “hard text.” So pressing the Enter key after a paragraph inserted a code for the next number or letter in sequence. Also, I could cut and paste various numbered or lettered paragraphs somewhere else in the list (within the composition window) and the numbers or letters would increment properly.

I sent brief instructions to the client and am waiting to hear back. I can’t imagine that his results differ from mine, but we’ll see.

Will let you know.

Much obliged for your assistance, which helped put me on the right track.

Jan

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What worked best was:

Before pasting the document containing the multilevel list into a “new message” composition window in Outlook, I clicked the Format menu and clicked to enable “Rich Text.” Then I pasted the list.

The only downside to this solution is that mail clients other than Microsoft Outlook often cannot display Outlook’s “Rich Text” format messages. To address that, Outlook has the option to convert outgoing RTF messages to HTML for internet addresses, which means that the delivered message may not look the same as the one the user composes. Tricky area!

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Yes, it’s somewhat problematic. However, I suspect the client is unaware of the nuances of the issue. Because he seems concerned mainly with how the list appears at his end, that’s what I’ve been focusing on.

I don’t have an ideal solution for him. Of course he could write his message in Word, convert it to PDF, and send it as an attachment. But perhaps he’s expecting the recipient to respond by interlineating comments. I just don’t know at this point.

Until I hear back from the client / get more input from him, I think things are at an impasse.

Thanks for your comments!

Jan

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