I have just upgraded to Windows XP from Windows 2000.
In Outlook Express under Windows 2000 if I created a new message and then
went to Insert/File Attachment and clicked on one of my desktop folder
shortcuts, it would open the folder and allow me to select something inside
the folder to attach. In other words a FOLDER SHORTCUT behaved in exactly the
same way as a FOLDER.
In Windows XP if I do the same thing, it adds the SHORTCUT file, example
FOLDERNAME.lnk, as the attachment - which is pretty useless. I can't imagine
why anyone would want to send an attachment of a FOLDER SHORTCUT.
A couple of interesting things I have discovered in trying to solve this
problem.
1. If I choose Insert/Text from File or Insert/Picture, the FOLDER shortcuts
work as they should and open.
2. A friend is using Outlook 2003 under Windows XP and the Insert/File
option in that program does NOT behave the same way - it allows the user to
open the FOLDER SHORTCUT. So why would the Microsoft program that you have to
buy behave differently from the one that you get for free with Windows XP? Is
this to try to entice us to buy Outlook.
Please note: I know I can work around this problem by opening the shortcut
and dragging the files to the message or by finding the file by going through
the C: drive. BUT that kind of defeats the purpose of using FOLDER SHORTCUTS,
which I use all the time to navigate around my computer given I have a large
number of documents stored in a very hierarchical structure.
Can anyone help with an answer to this - or is it just something I have to
put up with?