Linda.... I know you keep telling me that I can turn off preview for a folder then afterwards the preview pane will be closed for all files in that folder - I had a look and that is so, that's great but that's not my exact problem. { I decided that we were looking at this problem in different ways.. I was not getting across what I meant... so I've spent some time in outlook ... and come up with what my exact problem is.... if you have a solution great.... if you don't... what effects can happen nowadays without outlook and preview? ...Are all the problems with oe and preview re catching a virus (if say Norton has not caught it) the same as outlook? Can I make all emails that I download from the server convert to plain text even if they are sent in html before I open them?... } However if I then go to another folder that I have not previously turned off preview it will open in preview.. if I go through all my folders turning preview off.. then work for say a day and leave a couple of folders with preview turned on... If I then close it down then come back the next day... and click on a folder that I happened to have left preview open on... it will open up with preview viewable... I would have to remember to turn off preview in EACH folder... in outlook express this can be done globally.. if I click to close preview on folder it will be then closed in <all others> that I visit. yes I can turn off preview in a folder and as long as I'm in the folder I can easily click the icon to turn off preview.. but if I leave it on.. I've no way of knowing that I did leave it on till I visit that folder again... after the fact... and I want a before the fact solution.. namely what oe gives.. me... I don't think I was getting this across before... the fact that if it's left on.. you just can't turn it off without visiting the folder first.. at least as far as I can figure out define views is not available for ALL folders in outlook - as far as I can figure out. I also could not find message source anywhere.. only headers for emails.... so if I wanted to view the message without opening it I could not.... If outlook has some kind of protection nowadays for previewing emails.. that's great... I can then use it.. but I want to be sure about this... I'm truly not asking the same question as before. I want to upgrade to ie6.. and thought now would be the time to look into this again, sorry to bug you with it again...but now I think I've articulated the problem better you might be able to tell me if there is a global (ie All folders in outlook not just All files in one folder ) solution. Thanks Tina ************************************************************* You are receiving this mail because you subscribed to mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx or MicrosoftOffice@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To send mail to the group, simply address it to mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To Unsubscribe from this group, send an email to mso-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=unsubscribe Or, visit the group's homepage and use the dropdown menu. This will also allow you to change your email settings to digest or vacation (no mail). //www.freelists.org/webpage/mso To be able to use the files section for sharing files with the group, send a request to mso-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx and you will be sent an invitation with instructions. Once you are a member of the files group, you can go here to upload/download files: http://www.smartgroups.com/vault/msofiles *************************************************************