Send Complex HTML Emails from a Mac Without Needing a Script
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Here’s what you need:
- Mac OS
- MS Entourage (part of MS Office)
- A free Yahoo email address.
You may be surprised to hear that new Macs and their email programs are not set-up to send HTML emails, and the previous tricks (Outlook Express, etc) are no longer available for Mac. Some people will not be bothered by this, because they think HTML emails are a bad idea anyway, and that’s fine – in some cases they are.
Sometimes, however, an HTML email is needed and just makes better sense. For example, if you promote something on a yahoo group, HTML emails look fantastic and make it a thousand times easier for a reader to figure out what you’re promoing. It was for this reason I spent roughly 48 nonstop hours trying to figure out how to manage this. In my search, I came across a few touted methods which just didn’t work for me, for one reason or another.
Some suggested uploading your html email to a server and then mail it via Safari. This probably would have been ok, but I couldn’t upload my html to a server with the program I was using, and I didn’t feel like setting up an FTP program. Some suggested downloading one of several scripts designed for sending HTML emails from MS Entourage. This was supposed to be easy – but it simply did not work for me.
I also found a method which suggested altering 2 very simple settings in Entourage – and that was all you’d need to do. Well, this was true to a point; I was able to send html emails to myself and to yahoo email addresses – but when mailing gmail or yahoogroups directly, it resulted in nothing but code showing up. Which, obviously, defeated my purpose!
Now, I’m not a computer programmer, and I have only a very basic knowledge of html. I have even less knowledge about Macs, as I’ve only had one for a few months. I am, however, a very determined person when I set my mind to something, and after two days of nonstop trying, I discovered a very easy way to send my html emails to yahoogroups – or anywhere else – from my Mac, and have them render correctly.
No scripts were required, nothing extra whatsoever.
Here’s how you do it:
1. First you need to set up Entourage for html. Bear in mind, once you do this, it will automatically apply this to all outgoing mail. That means you will either need to change this setting back each time you want to send a regular email, or it means you keep it this way and only use Entourage for sending HTML emails. Personally, I do the latter because don’t use Entourage otherwise.
2. Next, use Tom Granger’s instructions and make the following changes. Open Entourage → go to the toolbar and select Tools → select Accounts → choose applicable email account → select Options. Once you have the Options box open, click under Header and a box will appear. Type “content-type” in this space. Next, click under Value and another box will appear. Type “text/html” in this space. When you’re done, click Ok.
3. Now you’re ready to insert your html. Open a new message and insert your html. Remember, it needs to either begin with a Doctype header, or <html>. And, of course, it will need to end with </html> or you’ll just be sending lots of code.
4. But! Before you click send... Pull down the Format menu in the toolbar and make sure “HTML” is unchecked. In this form, you should be able to email a number of addresses and have the email render correctly.
5. If you want to email a yahoogroup, gmail or any other recipient who will only see code when they open it, there is one more step, and it’s very easy! All you have to do is email the html to a personal yahoo address – it will render correctly. From there, simply forward it anywhere you like, and voila! It should render correctly for everyone else, as well.
If all of this sounds like a great big hassle, it’s not.Once Entourage is set up correctly, you will not have to go through all of this each time. You’ll only have to make sure that "HTML" bit is unchecked in the Format menu. Yahoo will receive the email correctly, and from there it can go anywhere you like.
So, to recap:
- Set Entourage up
- Insert HTML into an email
- Uncheck HTML option before sending
- Receive it at your Yahoo address
- Forward to anyone else.
Note: If you really need the email to be delivered from a business address, as opposed to a yahoo address, you can add one extra step: Forward it to the email address you want to use, and then forward it to your intended recipient, and it should still render. HOWEVER! Test it first! Sometimes emails can wind up with bizarre symbols at this stage. Good luck and happy emailing!
xx Isabella
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Comments
html mails are a tricky item... Congrats on figuring out something that works.
Guru - Thanks! :)
Oneshot - You're right! And thanks! :)
Nice n' sweet!
MUCH EASIER: Open Safari and browse to the HTML page you want to send (you should upload it to a server like .mac etc) Now, go to file menu and choose 'Mail contents of this page' . Mail will now open with an HTML message ready to go. Just mail it, job done!
No need for entourage or yahoo or any of that malarkey
I mentioned that in the article, and it doesn't work nearly as well, or I would have done it. It turns out like crap. I don't want to send a web page, anyway - I use HTML emails to send promotional info.
Hi Isabella,
This HTML email stuff is so not my bag, but I've been asked to investigate it for work. I did everything you wrote but I'm confused as to the section: Now you’re ready to insert your html. - exactly how do I insert my HTML into Entourage...and this is the embarrassing part - how do I make an HTML? Can you help please!!
SBB - Oh, dear.. :) HTML isnt something you can just explain, its something you need to learn. Its the code behind webpages. HTML emails basically look like mini-webpages in email. Im no HTML expert, and Im afraid I couldnt teach you how to do it - but thats where you need to start. I recommend googling "html" - there are plenty of free sites out there explaining it. Good luck! :)
This works great! After messing around with and failing with a lot of the approaches you mention, I really appreciate the simplicity of what you have recommended. This simply works. Thanks a million!!
I'm glad it worked for you!! :)
Excellent job, thanks.
It works great Isabella. Thanks.
Only problem is that it doesn't work on fwd email :(
You my friend, you saved my life!
Thanks a lot.
Is this supposed to work with M.S Word pages saved as HTML?
Hi Isabella,
I have been through all the instructions but when I send this to my gmail and work address I just get code no page. The only thing that I think I might have done wrong is "Now you ready to insert your HTML" I have the code but not sure what I am meant todo with it or where to insert it. Can you please explain. Not as easy as adding to Stationery in Outlook on a PC
Wade -- It's meant for graphics; I really don't know if it works with text as I've not used it.
Ryan -- I haven't needed to do this in ages and I can't recall, because I do not use Entourage for anything else. If I recall correctly, it was just a matter of selecting show html or something similar from one of the menu items.
how about just using thunderbird? there is an insert html function there.
Hi. Your article worked fine for me. ThankU and best regards, from Spain. ;-)
Hi. It works pretty well but I get spaces between the images slices. This doesn't happen when I insert the html file using Microsoft Outlook on the PC
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
A couple of things. You say "insert html into your email", I can't figure out how to do that. I am using Entourage 2008 so maybe it has changed, but under the insert button/pull-down there is only picture(s), sound and movie.
The other thing is the safari trick that is mentioned briefly, this no longer works in Entourage 2008 (as you may know hense the article above, but I thought i would point it out for others).
I think i figure it out, but insert you mean copy and paste or type it. :) Worked great, I was even able to hard-link as css file which made the text link have the normal rollovers etc.
I like the article by Roger Harris. I have a website of my own. I'm trying to figure out to include an image in a html file so that when you e-mail it to somebody the image is included in the html file.
This was a great article, thanks
Hi all,
I have a HTML page(eblast) with hotspots/links. How can I load it using Entourage and making sure that the hotspots/ links to another pop up window of another webpage works? I had upload the images to the website server.
Or you can buy a Windows PC and choose send as email. Done.
Hi Isabella, lovely tutorial.
I don't know if you're still checking back here: Just a quick note - It all works fine for me, all except for hotmail accounts, which display the html code. Most other email clients (gmail, yahoo, Mail, Entourage) work fine...
Any advice?
Thank you.
That's great!!!!
Works perfectly!
Thank you!
thanks for the tips what about hotmail any advice
Thank you! you save my day! works perfectly!
Guru-C says:
2 years ago
I'm bookmarking this!