Outlook - deleted items

[norbertlars]

there is a big issue there which goes all the way back to at least 2007 that is pretty annoying for me and maybe dangerous for less tech people

so, let`s say we receive 10 messages + 5 spam messages ( that go to spam folder automatically ) for me on Hotmail I set that ALL messages from people NOT in my contact list to go to the spam folder (- nice option there since at least 2005 I think), so ... now we delete 5 messages from inbox that were display in full html and we also delete those 5 spam messages which ... if I go to spam folder and click I get only in text mode and all active stuff are disabled to protect me

now the problem appears, ANY message that goes to DELETED folder is displayed with FULL stuff and you can get some nasty viruses just by opening the email ( in JUNK you are protected )

If I don't pay attention i click on deleted items when i see a bigger number to see what`s there ...instead of just right click - empty folder

how do i disable html stuff in that folder ? are those in charge at Microsoft lazy ? to protect this folder also ?

 

[Diane Poremsky]

You can't disable HTML in folders - it's built into the junk folder. Outlook can't trigger active content aka scripts etc - HTML is safe in outlook.

The only potential issue is RTF messages - unpatched machines could be infected by a virus in winmail.dat files (only used by RTF messages). While you can't disable RTF, you could use a macro to convert all RTF messages to plain text to avoid the problem. (No one outside of organizations should use rtf anyway.) Convert RTF Messages to Plain Text Format

Rather than move junk to the deleted folder, why not shift+delete it so it's gone for good?

 

[Diane Poremsky]

BTW, there is a setting to show all mail in all folders in plain text - its just not possible for one folder.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

One more thing - you could tweak the itemadd macro at the link i posted and convert all deleted messages to plain text -
change Set Items = Ns.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderInbox).Items to Set Items = Ns.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderDeletedItems).Items so it watches the folder. Remove the If statement so it applies to all messages.

 

[norbertlars]

ty for reply, i find pretty annoying ( better say hard.. ) to use macros as my brain is unable to understand some of this algorithms ( i can follow most of them but is so annoying when i miss something)

but i will give it a try next week

 

[Diane Poremsky]

Read it slowly and skip the lines that are gobbledygook - reading down, the first "understandable" line is
Set Items = Ns.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderInbox).Items
this sets Items variable to be items in the default Inbox. To watch another folder, change this line.
Set Items = Ns.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderDeletedItems).Items
(Bottom of this page has list of default folders Working with VBA and non-default Outlook Folders)

Then it says to quit if messages (read receipt, NDR, meeting request) is not a normal email message (<> is less than or greater than )
If Item.MessageClass <> "IPM.Note" Then
Exit Sub

This says if the format is rich text (RTF) turn it to plain text. If you prefer html, replace olformatplain with olformathtml. Add the category so you know it was changed by the macro and save to commit change.
If Item.BodyFormat = olFormatRichText Then
Item.BodyFormat = olFormatPlain ' or olFormatHTML
Item.Categories = "Was RTF"
Item.Save

How to use macros is here - How to use Outlook's VBA Editor

Option Explicit
Private WithEvents Items As Outlook.Items
 
Private Sub Application_Startup()
  Dim Ns As Outlook.NameSpace
  Set Ns = Application.GetNamespace("MAPI")
  Set Items = Ns.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderInbox).Items
End Sub
 
Private Sub Items_ItemAdd(ByVal Item As Object)
If Item.MessageClass <> "IPM.Note" Then
  Exit Sub
End If
  If Item.BodyFormat = olFormatRichText Then
    Item.BodyFormat = olFormatPlain ' or olFormatHTML
    Item.Categories = "Was RTF"
    Item.Save
  Else
End If
End Sub