You can fix the formatting of hard to read messed
up email by using the capabilities
of a word processor.
However, your first approach to fixing messed up email text should
be to try making the email message window wider. Sometimes the
lines
have not been
cut at all, and all you need to do is make your window wider to
let them extend to full length.
If you want to pre-format text so that it can be safely sent
and forwarded over the Internet in a form that remains readable,
you need to put it in Text Standard Format.
If you want to fix email text that has already been mangled, then
you need to use a word processor to repair
it by
performing the steps listed below. You can record this sequence
in a macro the first time you do it, and thereafter just invoke
the macro. A predefined macro for Word 97 can be found here.
Note that there are spaces in the strings specified below.
- Copy the text you want to fix into a blank document. Select <ctrl>-h
to bring up the Find and Replace window.
- Remove any trailing blanks at the end of lines. Put "^p " in
the Find field, and "^p" in the Replace field, and
select Replace All as many times as necessary.
- Remove any blanks at the beginning of lines. Put " ^p" in
the Find field, and "^p" in the Replace Field, and
select Replace All as many times as necessary.
- Remove the ">" characters. Put "^p>" in the
Find field, and "^p" in the Replace field, and select
Replace All as many times as necessary.
- Temporarily remove the blank lines between paragraphs. Put "^p^p" in
the Find field, and enter a unique string like "~!@#$" in the
Replace field. Select "Replace All" as many times as necessary.
- Join the lines together. Put "^p" in the Find field, and just
a space " " in the Replace field, and select Replace All once.
- Put back the blank lines between paragraphs. Put "~!@#$" in
the Find field, and "^p^p" in the Replace field, and select Replace
All.
- Close the Find and Replace window. The text should now be fixed
and look as good as new.