Outlook randomly changed on me!

[eowyn0622]

Hi. When I left work last night I had a normal Outlook (2007 on a Vista machine) with several days worth of emails showing and a PREVIEW PANE at the bottom. Today when I came in my preview pane is mysteriously GONE. I've gone to view and made sure "Message with Preview Pane" is marked. I've Closed and reopened outlook. I've rebooted my machine. No matter what I do I can't get a screen with a preview pane at the bottom. All of the other views work - but the preview pane will NOT come back. Any advice?? Please tell me I do not have a virus.... Thanks for your help.

[windowsrefund]

Shouldn't you be calling Microsoft's support team about this problem?

[jbennet]

Shouldn't you be calling Microsoft's support team about this problem?

Not unless he is made of money....

[windowsrefund]

Not unless he is made of money....

So why is he using their product when he clearly feels that they can't support him?

[eowyn0622]

Shouldn't you be calling Microsoft's support team about this problem?

ARE YOU FLIPPING SERIOUS?? The reason something like Daniweb even exists (or so I thought) is so people like me, who are not very computer or tech savvy, can get easy to understand solutions to sort of simple problems from smart people who know this stuff. At least that is what I thought. I posted because I don't want to jump through hoops with Microsoft for the next 4-5 hours of my day when some really smart guy or girl out there can probably tell me - HEY you just need to fiddle with the whatchmacallit toggle blah-blah and you will be just fine. If it is more than that then yes, I move on the calling Microsoft. Thanks for your NON help buddy. Geez. I think this is the last time I will ask for help on Dani Web thanks to you. I found it useful in the past (AND I WAS SO THANKFUL) but if everyone on here has turned into a jerk like you I might as well call the bozos in India or Bangladesh and ask them what the hell could be wrong with my computer. I'm sorry if we all aren't computer geniuses like you, but to some people small problems can seem like big ones if you are not good at this sort of thing.

[eowyn0622]

So why is he using their product when he clearly feels that they can't support him?

First - How many offices do you know that DON'T use Outlook. I don't have much of a choice.

Second - IT IS SHE not he.

Third - I don't think that Microsoft CAN'T support me (although I am not a HUGE fan of their products, but I am stuck with them at work) I'm saying that I don't want to spend 4 hours on with phone with someone about a problem that is probably very easily fixed by a nice, smart person surfing the Daniweb forums. CLEARLY THAT IS NOT YOU. Seriously, you seem like a real jerk. I'm sure my post and my thread are going to be pulled because of this, but it makes me feel much better to write it.

[MidiMagic]

Your employer's system administrator probably disabled the preview pane on every employee's computer because it is a security threat.

Phishers have created ways to find out personal, company, and internet access information from your computer if their phake email is opened in the preview pane as the "next message." Most IT security departments disable the preview pane on all company computers.

It is also against most security policies to leave email software open when you are not present at the computer. You are inviting disaster for your company with your unsecure computer use.

[eowyn0622]

Thanks for the answer.

I close my email every time I walk away from my computer. I closed it when I left last night and when I opened it this morning there was no preview page anymore. Weird. The public computer we have at the office still has a preview pane for its Outlook. We don't have any sort of IT department (we are a very small company) but I'll email our system administrator and see if they did anything.

Thanks again.

[Noodles156]

Found something that may be of help has a screen shot of where you would re enable the preview pane if it wasn't disabled via group policy.

http://blogs.howtogeek.com/mysticgeek/2007/08/10/manage-the-reading-pane-in-outlook-2007/

Have a look it should help. If it is grayed out or doesn't do anything when selected you probably have a group policy issue in which case you will still need to consult your IT people and see if a group policy was put in place.

[thoughtcoder]

So why is he using their product when he clearly feels that they can't support him?

You have to pay for support for all other products. Why not Microsoft products too?