Martin Koss – thinking out loud…

Oh Microsoft why do you do it? Why do you consistently take a few steps forwards and then run half a mile backwards every damn time?

This is miles away from what I would normally blog about but I thought I’d rant about my probs here and maybe one day someone who understands the issues and knows a solution may see it and post a fix… Wow that would be awesome!

Although I am the proud owner of a MacBook Pro (my baby) I have been a Microsoft Office user since the year – erm – well I’m not quite sure how long but I do recall nappy rash. Anyway, I am a fan of Microsoft Office because everything is all in one place;

- contacts
- emails
- tasks and to-do list
- calendar(s)
- notes

Do you know how many times I have tried to detach myself from Outlook over the years? I have. Google mail, Google this that and everything else. MobileMe (an Apple product) was my friend for a month or so until it proved pathetically slow and unreliable when I tried to share files…

I’ve even cheated on Microsoft well and truly by secretly using Thunberbird for a few months but it crashed and burned a couple of times leaving me with a couple of days cleaning up the mess.

So here I am – an Outlook user for life – or so it seems.

Hi My Name Is Martin And I Am An Outlook-aholic…

And what does Microsoft give me in return for my loyalty (okay I say loyalty very loosely because only you and I know about my few flings with the ‘competition’)…? Crap. Tweaks from hell that completely cock up basic functions of quite possibly the most advanced and widely used email client that we should be able to rely on come rain or shine.

But when basic functions are messed about with – it beggars belief!

Here’s my major major gripe with Outlook 2007 & 2010 in a nutshell

Grrrr! I don’t want my image to be bigger (physical size) or compressed (to reduce data size).

Please leave me and my images alone – let me decide what I do on MY computer with MY software and MY email… Hands off!

What the fudging heck is the sense in mucking about with my images when I embed them into an email? Why? What the ___? Why don’t ya just leave the damn images alone and let me decide if I need to shrink them, enlarge them, compress them, or whatever!!!

I seem to think we’ve been down this old cobble stone path a few times with Microsoft developers having a hair-brain idea. A few versions back they introduced the concept of blocking email attachments without asking. No ‘would you like to receive that file before we obliterate it‘ it just disappeared – gone. I don’t recall which version of Outlook it was but I recall the horror when I’d installed it throughout a network and sent some sort of update file to all 10 users and none got the file because Outlook decided it was ‘unsafe’… Cheers Bill – the next round is on you – literally!

Anyway – that was a side issue. Just went on a trip down Outlook Memory Lane.

So here we are in 2010. New version just over the horizon. Download the new version in beta from Microsoft if you are in the mood for a hoop jumping session.

The problem with Microsoft Outlook 2007 & 2010 in detail

If you didn;t already grasp the problem from above; here’s the step by step guide to Outlokk frustration:

- Create a new email
- Insert an image
- The image appears twice the size it should be
- Use the handles to drag the size to roughly what it should be but it’s guess work
- Lose all control over the layout and compression of the images… Lovely!

Let’s try it on a Mac:

Oh look at that – the same image in an email on my Mac and it’s just – well – knock knock Microsoft – it’s perfect. Why can’t you guys do things that simple? Drag, Drop, Simplicity!

Why is it so easy on my Mac? Because Macs just get on with the job with no fuss, no unnecessary bells , whistles and hoopla… Not that I want to start a discussion about Macs and PCs or Microsoft vs whoever else. I use Outlook and, unless there’s any app that will import everything seamlessly from my Outlook PST file onto my Mac, I am stuck with it…

But please, there must be an answer out there to this mega annoyance.

I’ve bounced this subject around on Facebook and Twitter and have read so many blog posts that don’t really iron down on this specific issue – and I’m still non-the-wiser – and still unable to send a draft of a design to a client using Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2010.

I thought I was closing in on the answer when I came across a post on “All About Microsoft Outlook” (http://www.office-outlook.com/outlook-forum/index.php/m/471493/) but those guys didn’t find the answer either.

Do you know the answer?

Do you know where I can dive under the hood of Outlook and turn off these irritations?

Surely someone has figured out a way of making Outlook 2007 and 2010 work properly when embedding an image in an email. Have you? If you know the answer, please be a good sport and let the world (or at least my few readers) know in the comments area below. Cheers.

 

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