We use Trebuchet 10 as our font, and when some clients receive emails from us random parts of the message has increased in size 10 fold. It would seem that the HTML code has been mis-read to change 10.0 to 100. If you look at the HTM code listed below you can see that it was orignally 10.0pt and changed to 100.0pt. The first line of code is from the senders sent items, the second is from the email the receipient sent back.

 

class = "MsoNormal" >< font size = "7" color = "blue" face = "Trebuchet MS" >< span style = "font-size:10.0pt; font-family:&quot;Trebuchet MS&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;color:blue" > Glad you

class = "MsoNormal" >< font size = "7" color = "blue" face = "Trebuchet MS" >< span style = "font-size:100.0pt ;font-family:&quot;Trebuchet MS&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;color:blue" > Glad you

 

Any ideas on why it happens.

As an aside I have received and email from a client that has the same fault coming in to our system.

 

 

 

Hi,

 

Are you using GFI MailSecurity?

 

I found several similar issues that is resolved by disabling HTML Sanitizer,

 

Or, try to create a registry value "AdapterDotStuffing" ( REG_DWORD ) under HKLM\Software\GFI\ContentSecurity\MailSecurity\Config and set it to a non-zero value. Then just restart GFI MailSecurity Scan Engine service

 

Best Regards,

 

Sally Tang

TechNet Subscriber Support in forum

If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com  

• Proposed as answer by Vacula Monday, September 26, 2011 7:54 PM

Hi,

 

Are you using GFI MailSecurity?

 

I found several similar issues that is resolved by disabling HTML Sanitizer,

 

Or, try to create a registry value "AdapterDotStuffing" ( REG_DWORD ) under HKLM\Software\GFI\ContentSecurity\MailSecurity\Config and set it to a non-zero value. Then just restart GFI MailSecurity Scan Engine service

 

Best Regards,

 

Sally Tang

TechNet Subscriber Support in forum

If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com  

• Proposed as answer by Vacula Monday, September 26, 2011 7:54 PM

Hi

Thanks for your reply.

No we are not using GFI MailSecurity. We filter all our email via Postini.

I notice that there is a lot of internet chat about the problem but other than GFI not a lot of solutions.

 

 

 

Hi,

 

Check if the issue occurs in safe mode.

Press and hold the CTRL key, and then click the Outlook program to start.

 

If the problem does not occur in the safe mode, this issue might be related to some third-party add-ins in the Office program, we can try to disable them.

 

Best Regards,

 

Sally Tang

TechNet Subscriber Support in forum

If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com  

 

We have similar symptoms but our staff are using Outlook 2010.

As you say, it is random and doesn't happen for all E-Mails going out and coming in. 

As it is totally random and doesnt happen to the same recipient from the same sender all the time using safe mode is very difficult.

Hi,

 

OK. Then try to scan your system for viruses at this time.

 

Best Regards,

 

Sally Tang

TechNet Subscriber Support in forum

If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tngfb@microsoft.com   

Hi,

If you are using Exchange Server in your environment, does the message appear differently if you open it using Outlook Web Access/Outlook Web App (OWA)? If it also appears with the unexpected modification, you should post in either the Exchange Client or Exchange Connectors forum for additional troubleshooting suggestions.

Abdias Ruiz [MSFT]

I know exactly when the problem occurs.  But I don't know why it occurs.

 

When Outlook sends and email the HTML part of the email will look something like:

 

 

...<p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'text-autospace:none'><span style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"'>d<o:p></o:p></span></p>...

 

Outlook then breaks the long lines into shorter ones.  It is this process that causes the problem.  If a "font-size=10.0" falls such that the "." should be the first character of the next line, its gets lost.  So the recipients email program, when they put the lines back together gets

 

...<p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'text-autospace:none'><span style=3D'font-size:100pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"'>d<o:p></o:p></span></p>...

 

Instead.

Here is the full text of the html part of an email the exhibits this issue:

 

------=_NextPart_000_0044_01CB9274.5BF95680
Content-Type: text/html;
	charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

<html xmlns:v=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o=3D"urn:schemas-micr=
osoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" =
xmlns:m=3D"http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns=3D"http:=
//www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><META HTTP-EQUIV=3D"Content-Type" CONTENT=
=3D"text/html; charset=3Dus-ascii"><meta name=3DGenerator content=3D"Micros=
oft Word 12 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
	{font-family:"Cambria Math";
	panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
	{font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";
	panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;}
@font-face
	{font-family:Calibri;
	panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
	{font-family:"\@Arial Unicode MS";
	panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
	{margin:0cm;
	margin-bottom:.0001pt;
	font-size:11.0pt;
	font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
	{mso-style-priority:99;
	color:blue;
	text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
	{mso-style-priority:99;
	color:purple;
	text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle17
	{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
	font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
	color:windowtext;}
.MsoChpDefault
	{mso-style-type:export-only;}
@page WordSection1
	{size:612.0pt 792.0pt;
	margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt;}
div.WordSection1
	{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext=3D"edit" spidmax=3D"1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext=3D"edit">
<o:idmap v:ext=3D"edit" data=3D"1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=3DEN-US link=3Dblue vli=
nk=3Dpurple><div class=3DWordSection1><p class=3DMsoNormal>AA and Aaa,<o:p>=
</o:p></p><p class=3DMsoNormal>I&#8217;m not sure if you saw this last week=
end in the Sddddddddd.&nbsp; It&#8217;s an interview of xxxxx xxxxxx from x=
xx x by xxxxx xxxxxx.&nbsp; She xxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx a lot about xxxxx and =
&#8220;the xxxxxxxxxxx&#8217;s&#8221; xxxxxxxx.&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></p><p cla=
ss=3DMsoNormal>I xxxx we don&#8217;t do this but it&#8217;s a xxxxxx xxxx x=
xxxxxxx of xxx xx don&#8217;t and xxx we xxxxxx xxxx to that xxxxxxxxxx as =
the xx xx xxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxx.&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></p><p class=3DMsoNormal>=
I look xxxxxxx to hearing how xxxxxxxxxx goes this morning.&nbsp; <o:p></o:=
p></p><p class=3DMsoNormal>xxxx xxxxx is very xxxxxxxxxx in the xxxxxx the =
xxxxxxxx is having on xxxxxx at the xxxxxx and likely to have in the future=
 &#8211; so that is something that might come up tonight.&nbsp; Also he is =
very focused on xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx and what the xxxxxxx xxxx is up to &#821=
1; which he touched on in his xxxxxx today.&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></p><p class=
=3DMsoNormal>All the best,<br>xxxx<o:p></o:p></p><p class=3DMsoNormal><o:p>=
&nbsp;</o:p></p><p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'text-autospace:none'><span st=
yle=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"'>xxxxx =
xxxxxx&nbsp;&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'text=
-autospace:none'><span style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode=
 MS","sans-serif"'>xx November 2010<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=3DMsoNorm=
al style=3D'text-autospace:none'><span style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-famil=
y:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"'>xxx xxxxxxxxxx<o:p></o:p></span></p><p c=
lass=3DMsoNormal style=3D'text-autospace:none'><span style=3D'font-size:10.=
0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></=
p><p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'text-autospace:none'><span style=3D'font-si=
ze:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"'>The xxxxxxxx xxxxx h=
as xxxxx xxxx in the past xxxx years<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=3DMsoNor=
mal style=3D'text-autospace:none'><span style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-fami=
ly:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p><p class=3D=
MsoNormal style=3D'text-autospace:none'><span style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;fon=
t-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"'>xxxxxx<o:p></o:p></span></p><p cl=
____=3DMsoNormal style=3D'text-autospace:none'><span style=3D'font-size:10.0=
pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p=
><p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'text-autospace:none'><b><span style=3D'font-=
size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"'>xxx x</span></b><s=
pan style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"'>=
 boss xxxxx xxxxxx is staring down a resurgent xxxxx, confident xxx chain's=
 focus on xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx and xxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxx will allow it to=
 xxxxxxxx its xxxxxxxx as xxxxxxxxx's xxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxx.<o:=
p></o:p></span></p><p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'text-autospace:none'><span=
 style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"'><o:=
p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p><p class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'text-autospace:none'=
><span style=3D'font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif=
"'>Walking through the xxxxxxx's xxxxx xxxxxx xxxxx xxxxx in the xxxxxxxxx =
xxxxxx of xxxxxxxx, xxxxxx pauses before the ``xxxxxxx and xxxx'' xxxxxxx, =
which xxxxxxxx a xxxxx xxxxxxxx, including xxxxx, xxxxxxxx and xxxxxxxxxx n=
ext to xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx from xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p =
class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'text-autospace:none'><span style=3D'font-size:10=
0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"'>d<o:p></o:p></span></p><p=
 class=3DMsoNormal style=3D'text-autospace:none'><span style=3D'font-size:1=
0.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"'>Unsurprisingly, given <b=
>xxx x</b> xxxxxxxxxx have chosen which xxxxx to xxxxxxxxx, their xxxxxx ar=
e xxxxxxx on xxxxx xxxx.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=3DMsoNormal><o:p>&nb=
sp;</o:p></p></div></body></html>
------=_NextPart_000_0044_01CB9274.5BF95680--

Notice the 8th last line has

font-size:10=

And the line following

0pt;font-family

The "." has been lost.

On another forum

http://www.microsoftoffice2010forums.com/microsoft-outlook-2010/font-size-changing?page=1#comment-1221

there is the suggestion that virus software might be partly to blame.  This might be true for us.  We use CA Internet Security and did an upgrade right about the time this problem started occurring for us.

Right now we need an urgent fix or we will have to consider using a different mail program.  About 10-20% or our outgoing emails are suffering this issue (obviously longer emails are much more likely to result in the font size just at that point of a line somewhere in the email) and it looks very unprofessional for our company.

 

Good work narrowing it down.

Have you contacted CA already? If the antivirus software is on the client workstation, in the meantime you can temporarily install a different antivirus program (such as the free Microsoft Security Essentials), remove CA, and test to see if the problem continues. If not, you would need to contact CA to advise them of the issue that may have been recently introduced.

If the antivirus software integrates with Exchange and is installed on the server, then you still need to contact CA, although posting in the Exchange Antivirus forum may yield some answers, too:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/exchangesvrantivirusandantispam/threads

Abdias Ruiz [MSFT]

So which end is causing the problem, sending or receiving. If it is receiving then it's a bigger problem. If it's sending I've seen it happen on Outlook 2003,2007 and 2010. We use NOD32 as out AV.

 

 

It happens on sending.  It doesn't matter what program the receiver is running or even what OS (I use Linux and still see the enlarged fonts on part of the text).

CA claims that they don't have an issue here and recommend removing and re-installing office.

Does anyone know whether that might work or would it be a waste of time?

I have spent a day on this.

I:

• spoke to CA - they have no knowledge of this issue.  We removed CA and then installed a newer version.  The problem still occurs
• Uninstalled Office 2007
• Re-installed Office 2007
• The problem was fixed
• Then Windows did a number of updates relating to Office 2007
• The problem is now occurring again.

How can I now uninstall all the updates that occurred?  I could then install them one by one to see which one causes this issue?

VERY frustrating (and a waste of time and money).

Once we discover which update is the culprit, how can we uninstall just that update and ensure that it never gets installed again?

I have found the culprit.

I worked out how to remove individual updates - using Add/Remove programs and tick the "Show updates" box.

I then removed updates testing the email until the problem no longer occurred.

The update that causes this issue is KB2289158.

To make completely sure, I re-installed this update, and sure enough the problem started occurring again.

Removing it again fixes the problem.

This is a High-priority update.  How can I prevent it installing again without disabling the whole of automatic updates?

I wonder if it's a combination of the change to mso.dll in the security update and the AV software. Reason being is that if it was the update itself, I would think we would have more customers reporting the issue. Were you able to perform the temporary test I recommended earlier of using a different AV?

If it still occurs with a different AV program, then you should contact our support team to assist. The reason being is that even if you kept the security update from installing, since it's a core Office dll (mso.dll), any future cumulative updates/security updates that include that file, would result in the same issue. Being a core dll, the likelihood of that file being a future package is high.

Abdias Ruiz [MSFT]

• Marked as answer by Sally Tang Wednesday, December 15, 2010 9:03 AM
• Unmarked as answer by Abdias Ruiz [MSFT]Microsoft employee, Moderator Monday, March 07, 2011 3:32 PM

I wonder if it's a combination of the change to mso.dll in the security update and the AV software. Reason being is that if it was the update itself, I would think we would have more customers reporting the issue. Were you able to perform the temporary test I recommended earlier of using a different AV?

If it still occurs with a different AV program, then you should contact our support team to assist. The reason being is that even if you kept the security update from installing, since it's a core Office dll (mso.dll), any future cumulative updates/security updates that include that file, would result in the same issue. Being a core dll, the likelihood of that file being a future package is high.

Abdias Ruiz [MSFT]

• Marked as answer by Sally Tang Wednesday, December 15, 2010 9:03 AM
• Unmarked as answer by Abdias Ruiz [MSFT]Microsoft employee, Moderator Monday, March 07, 2011 3:32 PM

This thread just made my Christmas.  I have searching for a solution to this problem for about three weeks.

 

I had reinstalled Ca Internet Security

Office 2007

Outlook 2007

then I tried Office 2010 with Outlook 2010.

Next I changed from Windows7 32 bit to Windows 7 64 bit and did a fresh install of everything

With the fresh install I went back to Outlook 2007 and Office 2007

I ran Outlook in safe mode.

I went to msconfig and unchecked all of the startup boxes

Every time I still had the problem.

 

I just uninstalled KB2289158 and now it is working perfectly.

 

I believe KB2289158 is the source but I have only seen the problem on machines running CA Internet Security.

Machines running other virus software do not appear to be having the problem.

I decided to take this a step further.

 

Outlook 2007 worked fine when I uninstalled KB2289158 but still had CA Internet Security installed.

 

With in about 5 minutes Windows reinstalled Kb2289158 and Outlook start failing again.

 

I uninstalled CA Internet Security and Outlook worked fine.

 

I installed Microsoft Security Essentials with KB2289158 and Outlook still worked fine.

I uninstalled Microsoft Security Essentials and reinstalled CA Internet Security and Outlook start failing.  KB2289158 still installed.

I uninstalled CA Internet Security, reinstalled Microsoft Security Essentials and Out now works fine again.

 

There is a connection between CA Internet Security and KB2289158 that is causing the fonts to change size. 

 

Hi,

If you or DJMills could call CA to determine if they're aware of this issue, I think that would be most helpful. If CA needs to engage us, I believe that can be done. If necessary, you can contact us to open a support case - I'm sure that either way, you would not be charged for opening a case on this issue.

If you decide to open a case with us, see http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?id=fh;en-us;offerprophone for your options.

Thank you for testing and narrowing down the issue.

Abdias Ruiz [MSFT]

On Mon, 27 Dec 2010 16:05:37 +0000, Abdias Ruiz [MSFT] wrote:

If you or DJMills could call CA to determine if they're aware of this issue, I think that would be most helpful. If CA needs to engage us, I believe that can be done.

Good luck.  As someone who once worked at CA, I can tell you it's not
easy to get CA to talk to anyone except CA, and even THEN only
grudgingly. :)

-- /Steve/

I look after some 40 machines in 3 locations and this problem has developed recently.

All machines are running Windows 7. Some have office 2007 and some have Office 2010. All have CA but not all machines exhibit the problem.

Some of these machines have been running the above software for over 6 months but it's only recently (one to 2 months) that the problem has developed and seems to be getting worse.

One of the users (most recent machine) has informed me that emails sent by her to her mobile phone occasionally show the problem.

On my own machine (Win 7 Office 2010) I only see problems when emails are sent or forwarded to me for examination. As far as I'm aware no emails sent by me have exhibited 100point fonts - once the size is set is becomes permanent so it would become evident in replies to my emails... no such occurance can be found for any email I sent.

I've looked at my setting for updates and the only difference between my machine and the others is that I refuse to update some of the optional updates (I accept all critical/important updates). Missing from my system are: Windows Live KB2434419, KB2488113 and some drivers.

From all the above I doubt that is a CA issue. The most likely cause is some MS update.

Some source code showing the font size jump:

style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">I just want to
confirm if the leak is fixed or does it need further work?<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 100pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Thanks Joe!!!
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN

The bold in the above is to used highlight the change in size.

I've also noticed that all the machines that show such occurrences have a signature followed by a graphic at the end of the email - could this be triggering the effect?

Has anyone found a solution?

Is MS aware of the issue?

 

Hi Cherna,

 

After fighting this problem back in December and getting absolutely no help from CA I uninstalled CA and went to Microsoft Security Essentials.  I have not had the problem since.  I am also not aware of anyone having the problem with any of the other Anti-virus programs.

 

See my two posts above.

Many. many, many thanks for your reply.

Hate to be pedantic but my frustration is at breaking point.

Please confirm that its CA that causes the problem.

Did you at any stage talk to CA about the issue? If so what did they say?

Thanks once more...

 

Thanks to everyone for their help so far.

The problem is not confined to CA as we use NOD32 and have the problem.

You are correct Cherna that the problem only surfaced a few months ago, and is getting worse.

We did uninstall update 2289158, which seemed to help, but only in some instances. I guess the other end has to uninstall it as well.

We use Mail Marshal to archive our emails and the HTML code shown in that is correct, the HTML code shown in the reply is modefied from 10.0 to 100.0

If it is indeed a MS problem (which I believe it is), then they will  need to issue a fix that everyone gets.

Currently we are using plain-text email which is not very good.

 

 

 

Thanks nzgisdmp for your reply - do you think a forum moderator could remove the answered tick as its becoming increasingly evident that this issue is by no means answered. I'm new to the Forum and don't quite know how this could be done otherwise I'd ask myself.

In a test conducted today I sent emails  from a Windows 2000 machine; a machine that has not had updates from MS for several years (the update facility stopped working a couple of years back). Its my main machine used primarily for sending and receiving thousands of business  emails without displaying the problem. That is until today.

Today, by way of the test, I sent 3 people the same email with a request for a reply. One of the 3 emails came back showing a trigger showing one sentence with a tenfold increase in the font size. The other 2 emails came back unaffected!

Going through the steps taken it would appear that the trigger is most probably not my local machine but from the remote machine ... The question now becomes why is it a random occurrence as I would expect it to be on all the emails being the same email was sent and received.

I was going to tear into CA today but your reply and Gacinaz's caused me to pause.

Do you think MS are aware of the problem?

My clients refuse to switch to plain text as a temp measure! More frustration as they are collectively screaming blue murder!

 

The second paragraph of my earlier post applies:

If it still occurs with a different AV program, then you should contact our support team to assist. The reason being is that even if you kept the security update from installing, since it's a core Office dll (mso.dll), any future cumulative updates/security updates that include that file, would result in the same issue. Being a core dll, the likelihood of that file being a future package is high.

Of course, what will be required is finding a specific set of steps to reproduce the issue. If anyone here is pretty certain they'll be able to reproduce, please call us before doing so, that way we can attach a debugger to either your Outlook client (or the replying recipient's, or both) and capture the failure.

Thank you,

Abdias Ruiz [MSFT]

My company as well has been fighting this problem for many months.  We don't use CA software.  We use McAfee for Antivirus.  I'm sure we could reproduce the problem if you tell me what number to call, etc...

Greg

Thank you Greg,

Please visit the below link to see the various support options - http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?id=fh;en-us;offerprophone. Remember that if the issue is found to be a code defect in Outlook or other Microsoft software, the fees are waived.

Abdias Ruiz [MSFT]

I'm sure we could reproduce the problem if you tell me what number to call, etc...

Greg

One of the things that would concern me, if I was asked to reproduce the problem, is that I find that the enlarged font does not occur on the local machine but something triggers the enlargement on the remote machine (person receiving). The Outlook debugger would need to be on the receiving machine.

Greg, if you are prepared to run the test do so on a local network, and send emails to a person on the network so that you have a measure of control on both the source machine and the receiving machine... As the process is random the test may need to be conducted several times until the problem triggers... again using local machines would save time and effort.

 

Interesting developments.

We have never been able to reproduce the problem with internal email.

Interesting developments.

We have never been able to reproduce the problem with internal email.

Could someone from Microsoft please identify that this is an issue that needs to be escalated?

The issue is happening outside of our network - so it is not related to any software we run on our network. All email internally on our Exchange network is not affected.
However, it appears that a large number of clients we are in contact with via email receive emails from us with the fonts modified into 100pt font.
I have forced all new emails to be created in Rich Text format, however if staff reply to an html email from outside, and forget to change the format to RTF... then there is a chance of this happening.

I've had to send a fair number of apology emails to our clients who have been insulted by the random large text. Obviously they think our staff are either joking, or worse are being insulting(i.e. appears to be shouting) or patronising. Totally unprofessional.

Not a good look. Microsoft - the problem may well not be your software - but it would be good if you could use your influence to get the offending 3rd party(AntiVirus?) vendor to fix this issue!

This has been happening for months and nothing seems to be getting done about it.
With respect, telling us to change our AntiVirus is not going to fix the problem as it's not occuring in our WAN - it's happening out on the Internet somewhere.

Interesting developments.

We have never been able to reproduce the problem with internal email.

 

I may have misled you - there are 16 machines in one office. The email server is external to the office so any email sent is whizzed off to the external server (2 states away) and then sent on (or back to the office if the recipient is a member of the office)

As all 16 machines are configured this way emails sent from one member in the office to another member do the round trip as of course would the reply. The nature of the business (real estate) requires heavy email traffic between members of the office (modern day memo) ... On occasion an email received would show the large font; on other occasions a reply to an email triggers a large font.

As its internal testing it will be confined to a group in one location making it easier to observe and control.

Next week, with approval from the office manager, I'll select 2 or more members, uninstall CA on these test machines, install Microsoft’s Security Essential and get these members to send, receive and reply to a bunch of emails to see if the problem appears. If the problem does not manifest itself then CA would become the most probable culprit...

 

If you read a few posts up, I already stated this needs to be escalated. For this to occur, someone would have to contact our support team. If you'll read the follow up post, Greg has agreed to do this.

Either I or Greg --once provided with some guidance-- will post here with our findings.

Abdias Ruiz [MSFT]

Your concern is noted - that is why I advised that tracing may need to be done on both the receiving and sending workstations.

Anyone contacting us to assist in getting this issue traced will need to have any external recipients/senders agree on a time to work with Microsoft to trace the issue on both ends.

Thanks,

Abdias Ruiz [MSFT]

 

Hi Abdias Ruiz,

Could you please change the status of the thread from "answered" to a "question".

• Edited by Cherna Friday, March 04, 2011 2:48 AM

Hi Abdias Ruiz,

Could you please change the status of the thread from "answered" to a "question".

• Edited by Cherna Friday, March 04, 2011 2:48 AM

Thinking laterally.

I was putting together a web page and CSS coding was throwing up some strange and inconsistent results in the display of the page for various users. This started me searching through how outlook handles HTML messages.

Within Outlook 2010: I found 2 options related to formatting, by default both are set to enabled. These 2 options can be found here:

Outlook2010> File > Options > Mail > in the Mail window go down the page to Message Format > see the 2 checkmarks against > 1) Use cascading style sheet (CSS) for appearance of Messages and 2) Reduce message size by removing format information not necessary to display the message.

Has anyone tried switching these off? If so to what effect? If you've done this test what was the result?

Just a thought.

 

Don't feel like you need to wait for me -- someone else feel free to call Microsoft support and work through this.  I'm swamped with other things at the moment and probably won't have time to call until next week.

Dont give up yet everyone, you are so close to solving my problem.

We need:

Cause =

Solution=

Agreed, is there someone that is taking next steps? It sounded like Abdias or Greg? Is there any new status?

Someone that can reproduce this issue with a specific sender/recipient pair needs to contact Microsoft to open a case to perform additional data gathering. So far, I see that a customer in Germany opened a case, but they were unable to reproduce the issue at will and the case was temporarily archived.

Abdias Ruiz [MSFT]

We actually opened a case with Microsoft but then determined the problem lies with our Hosted Exchange provider.  They have a ticket open with Microsoft Premier Support which closed our ticket.  They have not resolved the issue.  Once they do and I find out what they did, I will update this.

Greg

• Proposed as answer by Cherna Friday, April 15, 2011 7:34 AM

We actually opened a case with Microsoft but then determined the problem lies with our Hosted Exchange provider.  They have a ticket open with Microsoft Premier Support which closed our ticket.  They have not resolved the issue.  Once they do and I find out what they did, I will update this.

Greg

• Proposed as answer by Cherna Friday, April 15, 2011 7:34 AM

Sorry hit the wrong button as proposed Answer above!

===================================

I look after some 40 machines spread over 3 locations. When emails started to show up with randomly large fonts, and when the problem got worse I asked that affected emails be forwarded to me for examination.

After some failed attempts (turning Outlook switches on or off) I realised that the singular common factors affecting all emails was that only mail that went through a mail sever 2 states away was affected. Clients not using this server were unaffected.  

All the clients affected were on a specific domain set up by a franchisor, let’s call it rwrealestate.com.  As the franchisor is a large operation it required many mail server to cope with the mail traffic generated by the sum total of franchisees.

Being a support tech for one of the franchisees I could only request that the Administrator of rwrealestate.com examine a set of emails that I provided to see if they might find if all went through a common server or servers. Report came back that all their servers are functioning correctly and they could not find a problem.

In the meantime the problem got worse to the point where where an already enlarged font, in subsequent/further mail, would expand by another factor of 10 – resulting in one or 2 letter filling the screen. In the first occurrence a 10 point font increased to 100point and in a second occurrence, if it affected the already enlarged font, increase by a further x10 making the font 1000 point!  It was near impossible to read these emails. With this development drastic action was taken.

I still was of the opinion that one or more servers handling incoming and outgoing mail at rwrealestate.com were responsible and found a way to bypass SMPT mail generated at the clients computer  (POP3 could not be changed for obvious reasons).  All work stations using rwrealestate.com now had these settings:

POP3 = mail.rwrealestate.com
SMTP= email.myInternetISP.com

9 Days now and not one occurrence of large fonts (considering I was looking at least 5 a day – I’m gaining confidence that the problem is at the rwrealestate.com server end).

I’m reluctant to say it’s nothing to do with Microsoft as it just might be a combination of how the server is set (OS, programs, diagnostics in the background, SPAM + Virus detection software …. Etc )

The trigger could be some upgrade by MS in combination with something as simple as the version of Linux being used or…. Keeping in mind I have other clients with machines set up by me identically without problem as they do not use rwrealestate.com servers.

It’s still early days but right now my client is delighted. I sure would like to look at the servers being used by rwrealestate.com but I doubt that they would allow me this privilege; but from a pragmatic point of view: the problem has gone away so it matter not.

I for one will be having the first worry free weekend insofar as large fonts go.

Moderators and forum administrators please do not mark this as Answered until some-one else does a similar trial to confirm my experience. Could one of you please re-set the the icon back to a question mark as being un-answered.

It's now 19 Days and there has not been one instance of randomly generated large fonts...

I propose that the occurrence is a result of an interaction between the OS, Office and some specific OS + program configuration on the Mail Server.

Can anyone else confirm on my findings?

We're now over a month without large fonts in any emails.

To conclude the test we switched one machine back to Outlook with the settings that produced large fonts in emails.

The result: within a day that change produced large fonts! Then changing the SMTP field to an alternate Server (see above) the problem disappeared. As the problem can be switched on and off at will, to me its conclusive proof that the problem is within the mail server and not at the local machine.

I sure would like to know the cause/circumstance at the server that causes the problem. As I can’t get at the server could some-one else come up with an answer

This thread should now be closed as solved (?)

 

• Proposed as answer by Cherna Thursday, June 02, 2011 12:48 AM

We're now over a month without large fonts in any emails.

To conclude the test we switched one machine back to Outlook with the settings that produced large fonts in emails.

The result: within a day that change produced large fonts! Then changing the SMTP field to an alternate Server (see above) the problem disappeared. As the problem can be switched on and off at will, to me its conclusive proof that the problem is within the mail server and not at the local machine.

I sure would like to know the cause/circumstance at the server that causes the problem. As I can’t get at the server could some-one else come up with an answer

This thread should now be closed as solved (?)

 

• Proposed as answer by Cherna Thursday, June 02, 2011 12:48 AM

Finally getting close to a resolution on our end.  Unfortunately I don't have all of the details because we use a hosted exchange provider but... The hosting provider identified their issue in a piece of email processing software from Microsoft (not sure if it's part of exchange, but I believe it's a connector of some type).  Microsoft has released a patch for it, but unfortunately because I don't know the details I don't know what the KB number is.  I'm just waiting now for my provider to apply the patch.

So for us, that's the issue.  Hope this helps someone.  Microsoft support...  I would think you'd be able to find the patch I'm talking about in your systems.

Good stuff Greg USA and Cherna.

I'll see if i can find said patch KB******** to fix the problem at our end.

Good to know the cause finally.

Thanks

The broken-lines issue is most likely an issue with a mail proxy. Very old versions of sendmail will break lines when they exceed a configurable length. Many HTML writers don't put line breaks in at all. 

The original RFCs for mail specified that the body content of  email should have a reasonable maximum line length, although implementers were left to their own devices to determine what "reasonable" was. Older versions of sendmail would limit maximum line linges to 2,000 or 5,000 characters, and would insert linebreaks at the 2,000 or 5,000 character mark if lines were found to exceed that limit when storing or forwarding email. 

Needless to say, that tends to break many MIME-encoded mail messages. 

I don't think it's Exchange that's doing this. But I have seen the issue on old versions of UNIX/Linux sendmail. Modern versions of sendmail don't have the problem.

 

 

The broken-lines issue ... 

 

 

Is this in the correct thread? This thread is  about Randomly Large fonts being generated in emails.

We are experiencing the exact same issues listed above. We only have been notified of the issue over the last few days and we are based in the UK.

Our mail server is Exchange 2010 SP1 RU3 so fully patched, and the clients are a mixture of Outlook 2003, 2007 2010. They all seem to be having the same issue.

We do run Exclaimer which I have wondered if this might be causing an issue but will be disabling shortly to test. Also the AV we run is Symantec Endpoint.

 

I know the above is no help, but wanted to keep the thread alive that we also have the issue....

Struggled with this for months until I discovered it was the attributed to the Mail Server tho I've not been able to determine what it was on the mail server that was causing the problem (see my posts above).

Suggest that you conduct a test: use your ISP's mail provision and switch all outgoing mail to this server. It should eliminate the problem which will allow you to pinpoint your own server as the culprit and enable you to start looking at what on your server is actually causing the problem...

If you find the module let us know what it is as I for one cannot get at the offending mail server (see above) to establish the module/program that is causing the problem...

Has any one else found the exact cause of the problem? So far bypassing the sever and using another seems the only solution - it would be nice to isolate the cause so we can remedy and get back to normal...

Cherna

 

Deleting the Normal.dotm templates resolved my issues.

I have had this exact same issue ( Outlook 2007 and CA).I use both Earthlink and ATT as email hosts.

I think, but not sure, that this only starting happening when I switched over to ATT. So if it is a mail server issue, it looks as if I have to contact ATT ( & maybe Earthlink) to see if they have it fixed. But as I have no idea if my emails travel through other servers along the way, I cannot be sure it's their problem.

As a very simple fix, if I switch to 12 point does this work? Or will it just expand from 12.0 to 1200?

When affected your 12 point text will increase by a factor of 10 to 1200

Furthermore once the increase occurs I've seen instances where the 1200 font increased to 120000 in subsequent replies!

 

I use Outlook 2007, CA security, and Time Warner Cable.  I have the exact same issues - and very, very frustrated with the issue- along with many others.  Obviously - it is bigger than MS thinks it is.

There seems to be 2 result yielding solutions shown here: one is the email server, the other is a conflict in the security program.

I am currently with Time Warner Cable but have several other emails through various other providers making this an even more frustrating issue - if the mail server is the problem? 

On the security program issue - it appears that it is not limited to CA so this opens the issue up further.

I am not all that tech savvy so if and when there is a final resolution could someone please put the solution in a step by step process. 

Realistically,

• since it is a known MS Outlook email issue,
• and something that directly affects their (MS) software
• and this being the primary common denominator...

MS really should investigate, find a resolution for their product, and issue a fix as soon as possible. 

This issue has been around for several years (yes - I have been researching it that long) - it's time to PLEASE resolve.

Thanks to all of you who have found the time to investigate - I am sure there are thousands of people who are following this thread and hanging on to some slither of hope that this is finally getting closer to a resolve. 

 

• Proposed as answer by Vacula Monday, September 26, 2011 7:50 PM
• Unproposed as answer by Vacula Monday, September 26, 2011 7:51 PM

I use Outlook 2007, CA security, and Time Warner Cable.  I have the exact same issues - and very, very frustrated with the issue- along with many others.  Obviously - it is bigger than MS thinks it is.

There seems to be 2 result yielding solutions shown here: one is the email server, the other is a conflict in the security program.

I am currently with Time Warner Cable but have several other emails through various other providers making this an even more frustrating issue - if the mail server is the problem? 

On the security program issue - it appears that it is not limited to CA so this opens the issue up further.

I am not all that tech savvy so if and when there is a final resolution could someone please put the solution in a step by step process. 

Realistically,

• since it is a known MS Outlook email issue,
• and something that directly affects their (MS) software
• and this being the primary common denominator...

MS really should investigate, find a resolution for their product, and issue a fix as soon as possible. 

This issue has been around for several years (yes - I have been researching it that long) - it's time to PLEASE resolve.

Thanks to all of you who have found the time to investigate - I am sure there are thousands of people who are following this thread and hanging on to some slither of hope that this is finally getting closer to a resolve. 

 

• Proposed as answer by Vacula Monday, September 26, 2011 7:50 PM
• Unproposed as answer by Vacula Monday, September 26, 2011 7:51 PM

I am declaring victory on the large font issue that we have seen sporadically over the past month or so. I followed an almost yearlong thread with 12 different contributors on MS Tech Net and there still was no resolution for the issue but it did lead me to suspect our GFI Mail Security AntiVirus as the problem.

 

It looks like this “Large Font” issue has been going for at least a year or more at many companies and MS apparently does not have a published fix for it as evidenced by the fact that I opened a MS ticket for this and their resolution was to uninstall one KB and install another KB which is not the real fix because I do not have the KB and I still got large font emails. After asking in leadership meetings for large font examples it became apparent that this was not an isolated incident at my company because I received many examples from multiple sending domains. It is a GFI bug with HTML Sanitizer which correlates with what I have been seeing. This only happens with HTML messages sent to my company from external domains. The problem never occurred internally because the email never went through GFI (only on SMTP gateways). This is not strictly limited to GFI users. It was reported by CA, Postini, Nod32, and others.

I tested with an two other external email domains and was able to reproduce the issue then whitelisted the email addresses on the HTML Sanitizer and the large font issue went away. Since I have seen so many large font examples from various external email domains I chose not whitelist just the two external domains. I temporarily disabled HTML sanitizer on both SMTP gateways. We are reporting the problem to GFI to see if they have a fix for this issue but I have not seen a fix so far.

 

 

Vacula: Thanks for the post as it corroborates my finding but goes one step further in pointing at the offending software on the server that triggers the large font problem. I have sent your post to our domain administrator who, in some strange wisdom, suggested that the problem was not at his end!

I established that it was the outgoing mail server quite some time back but as I had no acces to examine the server I could not pinpoint the actual program/module that triggered the increase in font size.

On two separate trials I switched back and forth on 2 SMTP servers and able to isolate the offending server. Better still I was able to duplicate the problem at will. Now maybe the domain administrator will take a closer look - well I hope that will be the case...

Thanks Once More - Cherna

• Edited by Cherna Monday, October 03, 2011 6:32 AM

Vacula: Thanks for the post as it corroborates my finding but goes one step further in pointing at the offending software on the server that triggers the large font problem. I have sent your post to our domain administrator who, in some strange wisdom, suggested that the problem was not at his end!

I established that it was the outgoing mail server quite some time back but as I had no acces to examine the server I could not pinpoint the actual program/module that triggered the increase in font size.

On two separate trials I switched back and forth on 2 SMTP servers and able to isolate the offending server. Better still I was able to duplicate the problem at will. Now maybe the domain administrator will take a closer look - well I hope that will be the case...

Thanks Once More - Cherna

• Edited by Cherna Monday, October 03, 2011 6:32 AM

After removing KB2289158 this issue went away for us for some time.  Then it reappeared.  I discovered that now KB2553089 also introduces the issue.  I then removed this update from all our computers.  That too fixed the issue for a while.

But now 2 of our computers have begun exhibiting this problem yet again.  One of the 2 (Windows 7) does not appear to have ANY MS Office updates installed.  I even completely removed MS Office 2007 and re-installed it.  That did not remove the issue.

I found another web page that discusses this issue: http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/email/large-fonts-in-messages/#.Tq546ryf19o

Not sure what action I can take now except perhaps move to another email program or another Anti-Virus program or both.

Reply To: djmills32 (above):

You are looking at your local machine as the problem. Just because the large fonts are observed on your local machine does not mean that i'ts to blame.

As mentioned previously your out going mail server's settings or its mail sanitising programs are the most likely culprits. Changing to an appropriate ISP for the SMTP value resolves the issue completely (now 7 months without the problem occurring):

My tests for Pop & SMTP Account Settings show:

CONDITION 1:
POP = emailRealwstate.com
SMTP = emailRealwstate.com
Random emails show large fonts on one line or more. Always triggered in the reply.

 

CONDITION2:
POP = emailRealwstate.com
SMTP = mail.bigpond.com
NO large fonts! Problem solved.:

Toggling the settings at will toglles the result. Hence it's conclusive that the outgoing mail server is to blame. Now try and explain this to your outgoing mail server's administrator...

 

• Edited by Cherna Tuesday, November 01, 2011 4:24 AM

Reply To: djmills32 (above):

You are looking at your local machine as the problem. Just because the large fonts are observed on your local machine does not mean that i'ts to blame.

As mentioned previously your out going mail server's settings or its mail sanitising programs are the most likely culprits. Changing to an appropriate ISP for the SMTP value resolves the issue completely (now 7 months without the problem occurring):

My tests for Pop & SMTP Account Settings show:

CONDITION 1:
POP = emailRealwstate.com
SMTP = emailRealwstate.com
Random emails show large fonts on one line or more. Always triggered in the reply.

 

CONDITION2:
POP = emailRealwstate.com
SMTP = mail.bigpond.com
NO large fonts! Problem solved.:

Toggling the settings at will toglles the result. Hence it's conclusive that the outgoing mail server is to blame. Now try and explain this to your outgoing mail server's administrator...

 

• Edited by Cherna Tuesday, November 01, 2011 4:24 AM

If our mail SMTP server is the problem, why then does the problem no longer occur when I find and uninstall EITHER the culprit Microsoft update OR CA Internet Security?

We have now decided to uninstall CA and purchase and install an alternative AntiVirus product - probably Kaspersky - it seems to get the best overall reviews.

With CA now uninstalled mail is now going out without the font issue appearing.

In answer to a few of the above replies asking for me or others to raise the issue with MS and/or CA I have done both.  About 6 months ago I did attempt to raise this as a fault report with Microsoft.  They rang me back and a few times.  But after confirming that the removal of CA was one of the ways to fix the issue they then decided that the issue wasn't theirs and that no further action would be taken.

CA, also on confirming that one of the fixes is to remove MS updates, decide that the problem is not theirs and that no further action will be taken on their part either.  I tried to raise the issue again with CA yesterday.

So the problem remains in no-mans land.  Hence our decision to ditch CA.

My experience is removing CA only works for a while - the problem then returns and with a vengeance.

As for the MS update: this update could not be found on any of the 16 computers that were exhibiting the problem; on that basis I can't see that it is a problem on its own (maybe in some combination with other factors?).

The only definitive and proven method was for us was to change the outgoing mail server - and it worked to date (7months since the change was made). I think we're the only ones to post a solution that has worked over an extended period of time. Many have removed CA but still had the problem come back.

As I made our mail server administrator aware of the problem I do check from time to time by reverting to his outgoing mail server - almost instantly large fonts re-appear in email. Guess he's still unconvinced but I suspect in reality he doesn't care!

Please keep us informed on how you go with un-installing CA and using Kasperensky... Tho' I've solved the problem for my client I'm still very interested in solutions that work as not every one can use alternate SMTP servers....

Looking forward to your results.

• Edited by Cherna Tuesday, November 01, 2011 11:42 PM

My experience is removing CA only works for a while - the problem then returns and with a vengeance.

As for the MS update: this update could not be found on any of the 16 computers that were exhibiting the problem; on that basis I can't see that it is a problem on its own (maybe in some combination with other factors?).

The only definitive and proven method was for us was to change the outgoing mail server - and it worked to date (7months since the change was made). I think we're the only ones to post a solution that has worked over an extended period of time. Many have removed CA but still had the problem come back.

As I made our mail server administrator aware of the problem I do check from time to time by reverting to his outgoing mail server - almost instantly large fonts re-appear in email. Guess he's still unconvinced but I suspect in reality he doesn't care!

Please keep us informed on how you go with un-installing CA and using Kasperensky... Tho' I've solved the problem for my client I'm still very interested in solutions that work as not every one can use alternate SMTP servers....

Looking forward to your results.

• Edited by Cherna Tuesday, November 01, 2011 11:42 PM

So the problem remains in no-mans land.  Hence our decision to ditch CA.

Any update on the result now that you've ditched CA... Has the problem gone away?

 

Hi all

Does anyone have an update on this?

Am just about to remove the CA software, as my end user says that this exact same problem occurred after they installed the CA software, and those two updates aren't on their PC

Regards

Tony

I've completed a test by removing CA and installing Norton's 360 in its place. Large fonts have gone. Seems CA is one of 2 reasons for large fonts - removing one or the other eliminates the problem.
 
Does not require the updates to be present as the test was done on machines without the updates.

The 2nd reason is sanitising software installed on the mail server (SMTP or outgoing mail server) I've had success, without removing CA by changing this value (see above) but as its more difficult to do I'm sticking with the above option (remove CA and replace with Norton's 360 for the remaining machines on the network.

• Edited by Cherna Wednesday, December 21, 2011 2:40 AM

I've completed a test by removing CA and installing Norton's 360 in its place. Large fonts have gone. Seems CA is one of 2 reasons for large fonts - removing one or the other eliminates the problem.
 
Does not require the updates to be present as the test was done on machines without the updates.

The 2nd reason is sanitising software installed on the mail server (SMTP or outgoing mail server) I've had success, without removing CA by changing this value (see above) but as its more difficult to do I'm sticking with the above option (remove CA and replace with Norton's 360 for the remaining machines on the network.

• Edited by Cherna Wednesday, December 21, 2011 2:40 AM

I've only just been referred to this forum. I'm working on a stand-alone PC, and so there is no network or external server. I do have CA, but don't appear to have the KB2289158 update. I've had the problem for about 3-4 months, although I've had this system for a couple of years before the gigantic fonts started occurring. (They got me into trouble with my employer who thought I was being intentionally rude.) I'll try uninstalling CA and see what happens.

Is there a solution to this madness? We are running Outlook 2010, Symantec Brightmail and Microsoft Forefront for Exchange. Most of our workstations are running Windows XP SP3. Im currently using Windows 7 Pro SP1. The large font issue has been going on for some time but there appears to be no consistency on our end. Meaning it may or may not rear its ugly head when sending or receiving message. I have read through numerous blogs but so far there is no clear solutions to this problem. I am new to this company and would like to resolve this solution as quickly as possible. The users go restless and the IT staff is nervous.

• Edited by 501Blues Wednesday, January 04, 2012 10:25 PM

Is there a solution to this madness? We are running Outlook 2010, Symantec Brightmail and Microsoft Forefront for Exchange. Most of our workstations are running Windows XP SP3. Im currently using Windows 7 Pro SP1. The large font issue has been going on for some time but there appears to be no consistency on our end. Meaning it may or may not rear its ugly head when sending or receiving message. I have read through numerous blogs but so far there is no clear solutions to this problem. I am new to this company and would like to resolve this solution as quickly as possible. The users go restless and the IT staff is nervous.

• Edited by 501Blues Wednesday, January 04, 2012 10:25 PM

Came across this forum when searching for answers to same problem, I have a client with 2 computers both with fault as described and random. Today I managed to send an email back to the same address as sent from. I then forwarded back to myself and then replied back with some more text. Eventually the fault appeared. Every time I replied with same text problem occurred now to start fault finding. I put CA into snooze however fault remained, may need to be totally removed. Anyway started looking through some options under tools/options removed tick from (reduce the file size of the message by removing formatting information that is not necessary to display the e-mail message) under mail format. Did another reply problem not occurring changed from ticked to unticked 20 times every time problem came back and disappeared like clockwork. These computers are on a standalone network no servers or exchange. Just direct to ISP. Will see how it goes over time. At least I can now produce the problem on command if it returns.

Tthe switch on Reducing the file size will not work as I've tried it and it eventually failed.

I removed CA completely and that worked.

Replaced CA with Norton's 360 on some machines and Nortons 2012 on the others. Since removing CA and replacing with Norton's Have not had the problem for 3 months on 40 odd machines.

This has proven to be the easiest fix so far.

There is a more complicated fix but it should be considered only if changing your virus program to one that works fails...

• Edited by Cherna Tuesday, January 17, 2012 12:19 AM

Tthe switch on Reducing the file size will not work as I've tried it and it eventually failed.

I removed CA completely and that worked.

Replaced CA with Norton's 360 on some machines and Nortons 2012 on the others. Since removing CA and replacing with Norton's Have not had the problem for 3 months on 40 odd machines.

This has proven to be the easiest fix so far.

There is a more complicated fix but it should be considered only if changing your virus program to one that works fails...

• Edited by Cherna Tuesday, January 17, 2012 12:19 AM

... We are running Outlook 2010, Symantec Brightmail and Microsoft Forefront for Exchange ...

If you are running CA on your work stations and server remove it and the problem will go away.

If there is no CA on any of your machines then the problem is a bit more difficult as it will require you to look at your outgoing mail server. Start by looking at what mail sanatising programs are installed (look for known ones that trigger this problem such as the GFI bug with HTML Sanitiser, Postini, Nod32, and others); then one by one uninstall these to find the offending software...

We're running Exchange 2010 SP2 and still seeing this. Email comes through Ironport which uses Sophos antivirus scanning engine and random html elements within a message will intermittently drop the decimal point. We've tested disabling Sophos scanning and can still observe the problem. Anyone find any new options or workarounds?

Ivan,

What are your work stations using as virus protection? Trial Norton's 360 on a station and it should resolve the issue...

cherna

Add another organisation having this problem, it's been happening for the last couple of years and is driving me crazy. We use AVG for Antivirus and Microsoft blaming this on various AV companies is just not good enough. The one thing common in all these cases is Outlook and MS should just fix the problem because Lord knows it's not difficult to recreate.

Hi TheMingKey

Im able to recreate the problem at will.... I have been unable to establish any blame to Outlook.

I established one of two conditions need to be present to trigger the problem: 1) Anti Virus Software (known culprits AVG and CA) 2) Email sanitising software such as Postini, Nod32, and others - removing either one of the two will eliminate the problem. As the virus program is easier to change than examining the sanitising software I Suggest you buy three current Norton Symantec 360 Licences (about $20 each); load on three workstations and see if it resolves the problem by examining only the email exchange between the three machines ...

In other words: look only at the exchange between the three specific machines ignoring any large font that may have been introduced from outside the 3 machines...

Cherna

• Edited by Cherna Thursday, March 15, 2012 1:28 AM

Hi TheMingKey

Im able to recreate the problem at will.... I have been unable to establish any blame to Outlook.

I established one of two conditions need to be present to trigger the problem: 1) Anti Virus Software (known culprits AVG and CA) 2) Email sanitising software such as Postini, Nod32, and others - removing either one of the two will eliminate the problem. As the virus program is easier to change than examining the sanitising software I Suggest you buy three current Norton Symantec 360 Licences (about $20 each); load on three workstations and see if it resolves the problem by examining only the email exchange between the three machines ...

In other words: look only at the exchange between the three specific machines ignoring any large font that may have been introduced from outside the 3 machines...

Cherna

• Edited by Cherna Thursday, March 15, 2012 1:28 AM

I had this issue two years ago. And then it popped up again last week.  The email goes out fine, it comes back in with the 10.0 font in a line being replaced with 100.  the "period" is stripped out.

Microsoft should be able to say why that period is stripped out. In the first case it was an old novel gateway with an old dll that did the coding and unencoding of the MIME email. Search for RFC and soft line breaks and you will see the standard. What was happening was whenever  a period occured in the 76th spot on the line the old dll could remove it but it couldn't put it back and left it out.

I'd suggest that wherever this issue occurs there is some old piece of code in operation.  We changed Novell gateways to a more modern interpretation of the SMTP gateway and the issue went away.

But today it is back, the only recent change I know of is that we are now AV scanning with an enterprise Microsoft product.

The overall cause of this seems to be poorly implemented email standards.

I don't know whether to be elated that after years of being mystified by the spurious large font problem in my email, I have finally found some reference to the issue and even the results of some diagnostic investigations, or to be furious that a problem that has been known for at least five years still has not been fixed.

From the discussion here, it's clear that there is no one single cause. Rather, there is something about the way that Outlook formats email that results in various entities (mainly anti-virus and email servers) modifying the email content so that decimals in font sizes are stripped out.

Given that Microsoft has no control over those third-party entities, and even if they did, they have no control over all of the users of those entities (i.e. to force them to upgrade to newer versions which have fixed the issue), it seems obvious to me that Microsoft should be pursuing a more holistic solution, at both ends of their involvement: on the email composition side, figure out a way to format email such that the bug in the third-party software is not triggered; and on the email recipient/display side, add a heuristic to detect these spurious font-size increases (after all, a short section of text with a font size 10x larger than the adjacent or other nearby text is almost certainly a manifestation of this bug), so that the font-size is either displayed as 1/10th the specified size, or the size is simply ignored altogether.

Come on! I have been tearing my hair out since closer to 2007, when I first saw this receiving email on a Mac. I have since switched to a Windows with Outlook 2010, and then later to Outlook 2013, and I continue to suffer this problem. It is only gradually that I've even been able to figure out what's going on, as it's just uncommon enough to dissuade me from spending very much time investigating. It is only in the last few months that I've finally learned enough about the problem that I could even find this discussion (i.e. lack of complaints about the specific issue is not any indication that it isn't experienced by a large number of people).

The fact that it originates outside of my computer is no reason to just ignore it on the Outlook email client side. It's too common, too important, too disruptive a problem to just let it keep happening.

We are having this issue as well. The dropped decimal seems to occur only in the signature field and isn't consistent or giving any indication why. I have been scouring these blogs and not found any reference that works. Some blame email scanned by antivirus (we are using two different scanners on machines it's happening on). We are having it happen on Windows 10 running Office 2013 and Windows 7 running Office 2007. The only common point is the Exchange server 2007 the messages run through. Would be good to find a solution.