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Outlook Express

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the discontinued Windows component. For the personal information manager included in the Microsoft Office suite, seeMicrosoft Outlook.
Outlook Express
Developer(s)Microsoft
Initial release13 August 1996;28 years ago(1996-08-13)
Stable release
6.0 SP3Edit this on Wikidata / 21 April 2008
Operating systemWindows 3.x—Windows XP/Windows Server 2003
Mac System 7—Mac OS 9
PlatformMicrosoft Windows,classic Mac OS
TypeEmail client,newsreader
LicenseProprietary
Websitesupport.microsoft/kb/835830Edit this on Wikidata

Outlook Express,formerly known asMicrosoft Internet Mail and News,is a discontinuedemailandnews clientincluded withInternet Explorerversions3.0through6.0.As such, it was bundled with several versions ofMicrosoft Windows,fromWindows 98toWindows Server 2003,and was available forWindows 3.x,Windows NT 3.51,Windows 95,Mac System 7,Mac OS 8,andMac OS 9.InWindows Vista,Outlook Express was superseded byWindows Mail.

Outlook Express is a different application fromMicrosoft Outlook.The two programs do not share a common codebase, but they do share a common architectural philosophy.[1]The similar names lead many people to conclude incorrectly that Outlook Express is a stripped-down version of Microsoft Outlook. Outlook Express uses theWindows Address Bookto store contact information and integrates tightly with it.

History

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Microsoft Internet Mail and News

Version 1.0 was released asMicrosoft Internet Mail and Newsin 1996 following theInternet Explorer 3release.[2]This add-on precedes theInternet Mailprofile forMicrosoft Exchange4.0 bundled inWindows 95.Version 2.0 was released at the end of 1996. Internet Mail and News handled onlyplain textand rich text (RTF) email, lackingHTML email.

In 1997 the program was changed and renamed toOutlook Expressand bundled withInternet Explorer 4.The Windows executable file for Outlook Express,msimn.exe,is a holdover from the Internet Mail and News era. Like Internet Explorer, Outlook Express 4 can run on Mac System 7, OS 8, and OS 9.

Internet Explorer 5required Outlook Express 5 to save Web Archive files (seeMHTML).[3]

Outlook Express 6 is the last version of the software with Outlook branding. It has a similar layout to Outlook Express 5. It was included with Windows XP.

Supported file formats[4]

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  • .DBX - Outlook Express Email Folder
  • .EMAIL - Outlook Express Email Message
  • .EML - E-Mail Message
  • .IDX - Outlook Express Mailbox Index File
  • .MBX - Outlook Express Mailbox
  • .MIM - Multi-Purpose Internet Mail Message File
  • .MIME - Multi-Purpose Internet Mail Extension
  • .MS-TNEF - MS Transport Neutral Encapsulation Format
  • .NCH - Outlook Express Folder File
  • .ODS - Outlook Express 5 Mailbox (not to be confused withOpenDocumentspreadsheet file)
  • .OEB - Outlook Express Backup Wizard File
  • .PAB - Personal Address Book
  • .PST - Outlook Personal Information Store File
  • .SIG - Signature File
  • .VCF - vCard File
  • .WAB - Windows Address Book

Versions for Windows

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  • Microsoft Internet Mail and News 1.0 was released in 1996 withInternet Explorer 3.
  • Microsoft Internet Mail and News 2.0 was released later in 1996.
  • Outlook Express 4.0, which was included inWindows 98(June 1998) and integrated withInternet Explorer 4,stored messages in *.mbx files (similar to theMboxformat used inUnix-based systems).
  • Outlook Express 5.0, which was included inWindows 98 Second Edition (SE)(June 1999) and integrated withInternet Explorer 5,switched to *.dbx files, with a separate file for each mailbox folder.
  • Outlook Express 5.01 was included inWindows 2000(February 2000) and integrated with Internet Explorer 5.01.
  • Outlook Express 5.5 was included inWindows Me(June 2000) and integrated with Internet Explorer 5.5.
  • Outlook Express 6.0 was included inWindows XP(October 2001) and integrated withInternet Explorer 6.
See also:Windows Mail (Vista)
See also:Windows Live Mail
See also:Microsoft Outlook
See also:Mail (Windows)

Versions for Mac

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See also:Microsoft Entourage
See also:Microsoft Outlook

Replacements

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Builds of "Outlook Express 7" appeared in early builds ofWindows Vistawhen in development as "Longhorn".[5]It relied onWinFSfor the management and storage of contacts and other data.[6]

The final version of Vista included a successor to Outlook Express known asWindows Mail (Vista).[7]

Criticism

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Email standards

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Beginning with the text-basedUnix Mail command,email traditionally used the inline or bottomposting styleswhen replying to messages. Outlook Express, as well asLotus Notesand Microsoft Outlook, top-post (show replies newest to oldest) by default.

Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Exchange use aproprietaryemail attachment format calledTransport Neutral Encapsulation Format(TNEF) to handle formatting and other features specific to Outlook such as meeting requests. Outlook Express and other email clients are unable to read this format.[8]This can be confusing to Outlook Express users (as well as those who use other email clients) who receive attachments sent from Outlook.

Database corruption

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Outlook Express has been prone to a number of problems which can corrupt its files database, especially when the database increases in size due to an increasing number of stored emails and during database compaction. This has led to a thriving market for software that can back up, restore and recover corrupted files.[9]An open-source project called UnDBX was also created, which seems to be successful in recovering corrupt databases.[10]Microsoft has also released documentation which may be able to correct some non-severe problems and restore access to email messages, without resorting to third-party solutions.[11]

Security issues

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Outlook Express was one of the earlier email clients to supportHTML emailand scripts. As a result, emails were commonly infected withviruses.[12][13]Previously, another security flaw was that ascriptcould automatically be opened as anattachment.Another bug was in Outlook Express's attachment handling that allowed an executable to appear to be a harmless attachment such as a graphics file. Opening or previewing the email could cause code to run without the user's knowledge or consent. Outlook Express uses Internet Explorer to render HTML email.Internet Explorerhas been subjected to many security vulnerabilities and concerns.

With Outlook Express SP2 (part of Windows XP SP2), Microsoft has tried to correct the security holes. Outlook Express now blocks images inside emails by default.[14][15]It uses only the restricted security zone for HTML email, which disables scripts and imposes restrictions on what web content can be rendered. It also warns when opening potentially malicious attachments.[16]

Handling of PGP/MIME signed messages

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Outlook Express does not correctly handleMIME,[17]and will not display the body of signed messages inline. Users get a filled email and one attachment (one of the message text and one of the signature) and therefore need to open an attachment to see the email. If the email has beenforwardedseveral times, users need to open attached email messages one inside the other multiple times to reach the parent email message. This bug has still not been rectified. The proper behavior is described in RFC 1847. When replying or forwarding a message to a user who has a digital signature, Outlook Express gives an error and does not allow the user to continue if there is no digital signature installed for the sender.[18]

Extensibility

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Outlook Express does not have a documentedobject modellike Microsoft Outlook. Programmatic access to, or control of Outlook Express for custom messaging applications or plugins is not officially documented or supported by Microsoft.[19]IStoreNamespaceandIStoreFolderinterfaces[20]were documented in 2003, but they are only related to the storage.

Some companies have managed to create their plugins hacking the interface using Windowshooks.A significant one was thePGPplugin because it was the only example of a working plugin whosesource codewas available (licensed underGPL). By 2003, some companies provided commercial solutions to develop add-ins.[21]

Office 2007 spell checker incompatibility

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Outlook Express did not have a dedicated spell checker. It used the spell checkers fromMicrosoft Officeif Office was also installed. However, theOffice 2007spell checkers, except for the French spell checker, were incompatible with Outlook Express. Microsoft acknowledged this problem,[22]but did not provide any sort of remedy. There were third party files that fixed the issue, but Microsoft never took action.

Glitches and other unusual aspects

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Cancelling sending an email while it is being sent would not effectively prevent it from being sent.[23]Similarly, when importing.PSTfiles, cancelling the import while it was in progress merely canceled the import of the current folder and the import resumed with the next folder.[citation needed]Furthermore, Outlook Express only supported.dbx files that were smaller than 2 GB, and had performance problems when dealing with files approaching that limit.[24]

See also

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References

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  1. ^"Outlook Express and Outlook".Support.Microsoft.September 28, 2010.Archivedfrom the original on November 27, 2010.
  2. ^Scott Schnoll."The History of Internet Explorer".Archived fromthe originalon 16 August 2011.
  3. ^"New Features in Internet Explorer 5".Support.Microsoft. November 14, 2003.Archivedfrom the original on November 2, 2004.RetrievedDecember 17,2012.
  4. ^"Microsoft Outlook Express 6 Overview and Supported File Types".fileinfo.Retrieved2021-04-15.
  5. ^Thurrott, Paul (October 6, 2010)."Windows Longhorn Build 4051 Gallery 3".Supersite for Windows.Penton.Archived fromthe originalon February 5, 2017.RetrievedFebruary 9,2015.
  6. ^Jennings, Roger (February 1, 2004)."Get a Grip on Longhorn".MVP Magazine.RetrievedFebruary 9,2015.
  7. ^Thurrott, Paul."Windows Live Hotmail Review - Part 2: Windows Live Mail and Outlook Connector".Supersite for Windows.Penton.Archived fromthe originalon February 17, 2008.
  8. ^"How email message formats affect Internet email messages in Outlook".Support.Microsoft.October 1, 2004.Archivedfrom the original on October 19, 2004.RetrievedDecember 17,2012.
  9. ^Koch, Tom (18 November 2004)."The Other E-Mail Threat: File Corruption in Outlook Express".Windows.Microsoft.Archived fromthe originalon 19 November 2004.
  10. ^"UnDBX".SourceForge.Slashdot Media. 29 November 2016.[1]
  11. ^Koch, Tom (24 May 2005)."An Outlook Express basic repair kit".Windows.Microsoft.Archived fromthe originalon 8 August 2005.
  12. ^"Email Viruses".Archived fromthe originalon 2022-04-10.Retrieved2016-08-07.
  13. ^"Virus problems with Outlook Express".TechIMO.March 31, 2003. Archived fromthe originalon October 7, 2016.RetrievedAugust 7,2016.
  14. ^"Cannot Open email Attachments in Outlook Express After You Install SP1".Support.Microsoft.August 15, 2007.RetrievedDecember 17,2012.
  15. ^"Images are blocked when you open an email message in Outlook Express on a Windows XP Service Pack 2-based computer".Support.Microsoft.April 16, 2007.
  16. ^"Description of how the Attachment Manager works in Windows XP Service Pack 2".Support.Microsoft.August 27, 2004.Archivedfrom the original on March 9, 2005.RetrievedDecember 17,2012.
  17. ^"GPG Signing: Traditional vs. PGP/Mime".Phildev.net.Retrieved2012-12-17.
  18. ^"You Receive an Error Message When You Try to Forward or to Reply to a Digitally Signed E-Mail Message".Support.Microsoft.February 1, 2007. Archived fromthe originalon December 12, 2008.
  19. ^"Developer Support Limitations with Outlook Express".Support.Microsoft.June 25, 2006. Archived fromthe originalon October 29, 2006.RetrievedDecember 17,2012.
  20. ^"IStoreNamespace Interface".MSDN.Microsoft.2011-06-30.Retrieved2012-12-17.
  21. ^"Outlook Express API".Nektra.Retrieved2012-12-17.
  22. ^"You no longer have spell checking capabilities in some languages in Outlook Express 6.0 after you install the 2007 Microsoft Office system".Support.Microsoft.September 20, 2011.RetrievedDecember 17,2012.
  23. ^"Outlook - Recalling a Message UCSF".Oaais.ucsf.edu. Archived fromthe originalon February 14, 2008.Retrieved2012-12-17.
  24. ^"Information about the maximum file size of the.dbx files that are used by Outlook Express".Microsoft Support.Microsoft.July 1, 2005.Retrieved7 February2014.
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