I want to embed a link to some external content into an Outlook email (M365 Outlook desktop app for Windows, not the "new" Outlook or web version). The site I'm using provides a HTML code snippet to put into the email message. (I'm inserting a countdown timer from mailtimers)

I can't work out how to embed the code snippet into my Outlook message though. I've searched the web and found lots of articles that suggest you can use the "Insert file" feature in Outlook (often this needs to be added to the ribbon or Quick Access Toolbar first as it's not shown be default) and then select the "insert as text" option once you've selected a saved .html file.

This doesn't work for me however, there is never a "Insert as text" option on the dialog that appears for Insert File, as shown in the various articles I've found.

I've been at this for hours, and can't believe that such a simple task is so difficult? I'm clearly missing something obvious?

I want to embed a link to some external content into an Outlook email (M365 Outlook desktop app for Windows, not the "new" Outlook or web version). The site I'm using provides a HTML code snippet to put into the email message. (I'm inserting a countdown timer from mailtimers)

I can't work out how to embed the code snippet into my Outlook message though. I've searched the web and found lots of articles that suggest you can use the "Insert file" feature in Outlook (often this needs to be added to the ribbon or Quick Access Toolbar first as it's not shown be default) and then select the "insert as text" option once you've selected a saved .html file.

This doesn't work for me however, there is never a "Insert as text" option on the dialog that appears for Insert File, as shown in the various articles I've found.

I've been at this for hours, and can't believe that such a simple task is so difficult? I'm clearly missing something obvious?

• outlook
• office365

1 Answer 1

Ok, so I've eventually found a way to do this, which is fairly straightforward. This follows this Microsoft Support article on how to create stationery for email messages. I think the Insert File > Insert as text feature has been removed from a recent version of Outlook and is no longer suitable as a solution.

• Draft an email message in the Outlook desktop app

• Please a small text placeholder where you want to insert the HTML code snippet (e.g. "[HTML goes here]")

• File > Save as... select "HTML" as the Save As Type, and save to folder "%appdata%\microsoft\stationery" with a sensible filename

• Find the saved .htm file in File Explorer and edit it in Notepade or Visual Studio or editor of choice

• Find your text placeholder in amongst the HTML code of the stationery file and replace it with your code snippet. Save the file

You can now send an Outlook email that contains your custom HTML code by going to Outlook > New Email > Email Message Using > More stationery...

You can also configure Outlook to send all new messages using your stationery template too if you want to.

I hope someone finds this useful :-)