Windows 10: Mail App Emails appearing in raw HTML data

I had a Windows 10 laptop and Mail and Calendar apps has a lot of emails with only HTML code. Unable to readI got a new desktop with Windows 11 and Mail and Calendar has even more email showing up with HTML code and completely unreadable. I can see my mail on AOL website without a problem. Also on my Samsung tablet its ok. Microsoft does not want to fix this problem which has been around for quite some time. They are pushing One Outlook. What gives. If I wanted use a browser to check my mail I should have bought a Chrome Book.

:)

 

Windows 10 Mail App Emails appearing in raw HTML data

Working on this problem for a friend who uses Windows 10 Mail. In the past few days much (but not all) of his incoming email has been displayed in what appears to be raw HTML. Looks like CSS stuff.

This may have started in the past week, after I did a fresh Win10 21H2 reinstall using "in-place upgrade" (to retain all of his files, data, probrams, settings, etc.) and simply get Windows cleanly reinstalled. Or, the Windows Mail issue appearing just recently may have been a pure coincidence.

Many others around the internet have also reported this same problem starting in the past few months, so it's probably not tied to my 21H2 in-place upgrade reinstall on my friend's machine last week.

Anyway, there doesn't seem to be a well-known established guaranteed-to-succeed fix here. Windows Mail cannot be 'uninstalled" (and then reinstalled, if that would be a fix and would work) as it's pre-installed and built into Windows. On the other hand the app itself IS available for install from the MS Store (as "Mail and Calendar") but perhaps that's for other situations.

So, it's not possible to just "reinstall" from the MS store because it's already on the machine. And it's not possible "uninstall" because it doesn't show up that way on Windows.

Brink has provided his input for this identical problem reported in a similar thread about this same issue on the **************** forum, which provides a Powershell command but this isn't really complete or exactly related. The problem is not that for some reason "Mail and Calendar" will not install. The problem is that there's no way to first "uninstall" before even attempting a "reinstall".

Bottom line: Windows 10 Mail is presenting MANY (but not all) emails in raw HTML now (see attached screenshot). What is the FIX for this, if any is known???

 

Windows 10 Mail App Emails appearing in raw HTML data

Well, no reply from anybody here, though a good number of views. That's likely because based on continuing internet chatter there still appears to be no actual solution to this from MS, although they may be working on it. They're certainly aware of it, from "feedback" within the app. I have sent my own new feedback, and this issue is already present to choose as a "similar item". So my one additional report is certainly not a new one, but maybe it will reinforce the "urgency" of this defect and add to the number of affected users they are tracking.

Anyway, based on this thread on this other forum there is reference to two other threads on the MS Answers forum, namely this one and also this other one. So again, obviously I am not alone here.

Most helpfully however was a mention in those other threads of a free alternative email client software product named Bluemail which based on its website pictures seems to look very much like Win10 Mail itself. Its similar appearance is a real advantage here, since my friend is older and not a computer-savvy technician, hence is uncomfortable with other alternatives like Outoook, Thunderbird, web browsers, etc. If something could be installed that looks essentially identical to Win10 mail he would probably be able to adapt to it immediately (no doubt the intent of the Bluemail developers).

I've spoken with him and discussed my plan to at least install Bluemail on his PC to give it a try. If it works out well this will likely be the "solution", as waiting for a MS-provided fix could be a long time coming.

- - - Updated - - -

Ok. Turns out BlueMail is not quite identical in GUI appearance to Win10 Mail, but very very similar. Similar enough so that BOTH can be opened simultaneously, and really "line up side-by-side" and look like near-twins.

So that's what I've now trained him to do. Open them BOTH, and scroll through the INBOX of both in parallel. Use Win10 Mail as much as you like (i.e. for all mails that are NOT displayed in raw HTML), but whenever you run into one which displays as raw HTML just go over to near-twin BlueMail and display that same email using the alternative mail program.

I've run through a demonstration for him, and he seems totally comfortable with this... thanks really to the near-twin appearance of BlueMail. If it had been radically different I don't think I would have proposed it. Thankfully it's a near-twin.

NOTE: he rarely has to "reply", just because he doesn't actually "correspond". He only mostly receives email / ads and reads it. But if he had to reply to one of these problematic raw HTML emails, the reply would insert that same raw HTML as the quoted text which would then be seen by the recipient of the reply, which is not a nice thing to do. So I've showed him how to "reply" using BlueMail which then would have the original "good rendered" incoming email get sent back as the "quoted text", appearing perfectly normal to the recipient of the reply. All is good, just use BlueMail for these rare replies to a raw HTML email. Otherwise, Win10 Mail can be used for all other rare replies that appear rendered normally in Win10 Mail.

What a ridiculous mess caused by MS (apparently due to a Windows update that got pushed out June 2 according to others who've figured it out, although I don't have the specific KB details). It will be interesting to see if/when they ever fix it.

 

Mail App Emails appearing in raw HTML data

Having the same problem with some emails coming in windows 10 mail as raw HTML on all 3 of my windows 10 pc's. Same emails are fine on my android devices and on mail servers websites.