How to Remove Lines in Email Forwards

Vertical lines are added to forwarded emails that use "rich text."

When you forward emails in the "rich text" format from Windows Mail or Outlook Express, the native email program in Windows 7, they often contain blue vertical lines to distinguish between forwarded email content and the new content added by the sender. While this may be helpful to some users, others may find it aesthetically displeasing. Since these blue lines cannot be selected via mouse, users must find an alternative method for removing these blue lines without disrupting the rest of the email message.

Instructions

1. Open the email to be forwarded and click "Forward." At the forwarded message screen, select "View" at the menu bar and click on "Source Edit."

2. Click on the "Source" tab that appears at the bottom of the email text field. This will cause the email message to be viewed as HTML.

3. Scroll through the HTML source code and locate a line of HTML code that starts with "BLOCKQUOTE." This line of HTML may appear as the following:

   <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(16,16,255) 2px solid">

4. Highlight this line of HTML source code and press the "Delete" or "Backspace" key on your keyboard. Repeat this step for additional lines. When finished, forward the email message to your recipients as normal.

References

• Martha's Web: Forwarding HTML Email without Those Long Blue Lines