Hi Chris. Using Jaws 9 try the following. Hit insert plus the letter V to bring up the Jaws options including Outlook options. Check the following if you would like Outlook to read more like Outlook express. By this I mean Outlook will not read headers and subject lines and will automatically read the email body text. Message Header Fields With Message Announcement - Turn Off When turned on, JAWS announces the sender's e-mail address and the subject title of the message. Messages automatically read - Turn on. When turned on, JAWS reads the message when you open an e-mail. Chris, you might wish to check into some of the other verbosity settings and see what else might work for you. I see you are using plain text. Try html text as a format, rather than plain text and see if it works for you when opening an email. As to the bong? Well Outlook is king of the bongo bong when it comes to Jaws. I think it's a glitch with Jaws9. But if you stop speech with the control key before hitting control M, it often helps. Peter Logue ** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe] ** If this link doesn't work then send a message to: ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ** and in the Subject line type ** unsubscribe ** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the ** immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq] ** or send a message, to ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq