Microsoft KB Archive/287840

= OL2002: Folder Home Pages Only Support HTML Files =

Article ID: 287840

Article Last Modified on 8/8/2001

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Outlook 2002 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q287840



SYMPTOMS
If you use the folder home page feature to start or open a file in a separate window in Microsoft Outlook 2000 and you upgrade from Outlook 2000 to Outlook 2002, the separate window is not opened and Outlook renders the file in ASCII characters that appear as unreadable text.

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If you set an executable file (.exe) as a folder home page, and then click the folder home page, the File Download dialog box appears and prompts you to open or save a temporary file with a name similar to &quot;Mso65.tmp&quot; (without quotation marks).



CAUSE
These problems occur because you have set the folder home page to open a file that is not a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) file. Outlook 2002 has changed the way that it opens folder home page files, and this change limits folder home functionality to support only HTML files.



WORKAROUND
Use one of the following methods to work around this problem.
 * Set the folder home page to an HTML file. In the HTML file, create a hyperlink to the file that you want to open the file or start the program. You can also use other HTML-related technologies to provide this type of functionality, such as a Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language (DHTML) program. -or-


 * Create a Microsoft Outlook Visual Basic for Applications macro to launch the file, and assign the macro to a toolbar button. This can be done by using the Visual Basic Shell command.



STATUS
This behavior is by design in Outlook 2002.



MORE INFORMATION
Outlook 2000 exposed the capability to execute any registered file type when it is set as a folder home page. In many ways, this functioned like a shortcut file or the Microsoft Windows Run command.

However, this functionality was not intended to be exposed in Outlook 2000. This functionality is no longer supported in Outlook 2002 because Outlook changed the way it handles URLs to support new Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) features.

