Save as type in Outlook

Question

In Outlook 2007, what is the different between the save as type: Outlook Message Format and Outlook Message Format - Unicode?

Also, I have been told that if I save an Outlook email in the Outlook Message Format (*.msg) any email attachments are saved with the message. This sounds like a better solution than what I am currently doing by saving the message as a pdf file, then saving the email attachments. Am I understanding the Outlook Message Format correctly?

Answer 1

Unicode just means it'll save in double-byte format, making codepages like Chinese and Japanese save correctly. If you're purely in the Latin codepage (e.g. English), it won't make a difference.

For your second question, it's better to save the entire message as a *.msg as it will save the attachment too (embedded in the email). However, this is only compatible with other Microsoft mail products.

Why are you saving the emails like this anyway? What is your goal?

Answer 2

Always save as Unicode if you get the chance so that the subject, to, from, cc, and bcc fields are saved correctly IF they contain Unicode characters. The body is wrapped with tags so it is typically preserved no matter (this is how exchange mapi does it). There are some things to be aware of if doing this. You will not be able to copy the .msg file back to a .pst file that is non-Unicode and versions of Outlook older than 2003 may have trouble with the Unicode .msg file contents. This is not really a problem, just mentioning it.