As anyone who sends files from Windows Explorer knows, choosing Send to > Mail Recipient opens a message using the Outlook editor set to plain text. It also adds (in some versions on Windows) text to the message body ("The message is ready to be sent with the following file or link attachments:") and inserts "Emailing: [attachment name]" as the subject.

If that annoys you, you can create a shortcut in the Send to menu and use your default message form and format.

To create your own shortcut, find the SendTo folder. (In Windows XP, it's at C:\Documents and Settings\username\SendTo.)

1. Right click and choose New > Shortcut.
2. Browse to find Outlook.exe, and add /c IPM.note to it - with Outlook 2003, the command line looks like:
3. "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\OUTLOOK.EXE" /c ipm.note

If you often send messages to the same people, you can use preaddressed custom forms or use the /m switch (/m test@outlook-tips.net or /m alias) in a shortcut's command line. Or you can create a custom form to use instead of the default form, just replace IPM.note with the name of your custom form.

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\OUTLOOK.EXE" /c ipm.note /m dianep

For more information see: KB 234487 (The article was written for Outlook 2000 and Windows 98/ME, but works for all versions as long as you change the file paths.)