KB178218 - You receive the "The message could not be sent because an e-mail address was rejected but the server" error message when you send an e-mail message in Outlook Express

Article ID: 178218

Article Last Modified on 1/22/2007

Microsoft Outlook Express 5.5
Microsoft Outlook Express 5.01 Service Pack 2
Microsoft Outlook Express 5.0
Microsoft Outlook Express 4.01
Microsoft Outlook Express 4.0
Microsoft Outlook Express 5.5
Microsoft Outlook Express 5.01
Microsoft Outlook Express 5.5
Microsoft Outlook Express 5.01 Service Pack 1
Microsoft Outlook Express 5.0
Microsoft Outlook Express 5.5
Microsoft Outlook Express 5.01
Microsoft Outlook Express 5.0
Microsoft Outlook Express 4.01
Microsoft Outlook Express 4.0
Microsoft Outlook Express 5.5
Microsoft Outlook Express 5.01 Service Pack 2

This article was previously published under Q178218

SYMPTOMS

When you send an e-mail message in Outlook Express, you may receive the following error message:

The message could not be sent because an e-mail address was rejected by the server. Subject '<title>', Account: '<name>', Server: '< WWW.XX.YYY.ZZZ >', Protocol: SMTP, Server response: '553 malformed address: <John Smith <JSMITH@XYZ.COM>>', Port: 25, Secure(SSL): No, Server Error: 553, Error Number: 0x800CCC6E

CAUSE

This error message can occur if you use either of the following formats to address your e-mail message:

   Format                        Example
   ----------------------------------------------------------------
   name <username@domain>        John Smith <JSMITH@XYZ.COM>
   name <"<first>last"@domain>   John Smith <"<John>Smith"@XYZ.COM>

Outlook Express version 4.0 does not support these additional RFC 822 formats for one-off addressing and personal address book (PAB) addressing.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, use one of the following methods:

Address the message using the Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP)addressing format <username>@<domain> (for example, jsmith@xyz.com).

Install Outlook Express version 4.01. Outlook Express version 4.01 is included with Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 and can be obtained from the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/ie/

MORE INFORMATION

Outlook Express version 4.01 supports the additional RFC 822 one-off addresses and personal address book (PAB) addresses in the following formats:

   Format                        Example
   ----------------------------------------------------------------
   name <username@domain>        John Smith <JSMITH@XYZ.COM>
   name >"<first>last"@domain>   John Smith <"<John>Smith"@XYZ.COM>

Outlook Express version 4.01 also supports using these formats when you define a new PAB entry. The address is parsed by Outlook Express when it is first typed and the e-mail address is stored as an SMTP address in the format <username>@<domain>. For example, if you type "John Smith <jsmith@xyz.com>," the name is resolved to:

   jsmith@xyz.com

Additional query words: 4.00

Keywords: kberrmsg kbtool KB178218