I spoke (figuratively) too soon. The custom style sheet took effect 
after I restarted IE.

Create a file called ie.css (or anything you want) and enter the 
following code in it.

pre {
   white-space: pre-wrap;
}

Open IE's Internet Options and in the General tab click the 
Accessibility button. Check the "Format documents..." box and fill in 
the path to the style sheet. Click OK, then restart IE. Plain text files 
will now wrap lines.

Caveat -- this may have unwanted effects on Web pages having other 
styles on <pre> elements.

On 10/14/2014 12:50 AM, Andy Boze wrote:
> My first thought was to create a custom style sheet, but sadly IE
> doesn't seem to apply it to plain text files, regardless of the fact
> that IE wraps then in HTML. Of course, I've never used a custom style
> sheet with IE before, so maybe I did something wrong.
>
> Two other possibilities. Once the txt file is loaded in IE, press Ctrl-U
> to view source, which _does_ have word wrap. The other possibility, try
> a bookmarklet. Found one that works at
> <http://cerealnumber.livejournal.com/37372.html>. The only change I'd
> suggest making is to substitute _whiteSpace='pre-wrap'_ for
> _wordWrap='break-word'_.
>
> Either of these assumes your supervisor wouldn't object to an extra
> keypress or click.
>
> On 10/13/2014 10:13 PM, Matthew Sherman wrote:
>> The question was mostly if there was an easy in browser fix for word wrap
>> on txt files displaying in IE.  Sadly that does not sound like it is the
>> case.  In this instance it is related to a hire-up who only uses IE for
>> their browser requesting the files word wrap in their browser or be
>> converted to another format that does.  This issue is unique to IE since
>> all other browsers are smart enough to word wrap txt files, and that
>> these
>> are hundreds of txt files stored in DSpace not visible to the public but
>> archiving our e-mails which we obtained publisher permission for posting
>> publications of our authors.The DSpace angle also complicates things a
>> bit
>> as they do not have any built in CSS that I could edit for this
>> purpose.  I
>> am hoping they will be amenable to the suggestions to right click and
>> open
>> in notepad because txt files are darn preservation friendly and readable
>> with almost anything since they are some of the simplest files in
>> computing.  Thanks for the input folks.
>>
>> On Mon, Oct 13, 2014 at 9:24 PM, Cornel Darden Jr.
>> <[log in to unmask]
>>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>> I'm not sure I completely understand your question. In my library
>>> Internet
>>> explorer is a big no no. We haven't had anyone insist on using it. We've
>>> even tried to have out hidden but the IT gods won't upset their
>>> Microsoft
>>> masters like that.
>>>
>>> Is batch converting the emails to pdf or jpg not a solution?
>>>
>>> The point is just to see the content in IE right?
>>>
>>> If not, this is one of many IE issues that is well documented. Changing
>>> the code for all the email and putting them in an iframe might work
>>> as was
>>> mentioned earlier. I'm curious about this and would like to solve it,
>>> but
>>> opening IE is not something I'm prepared to do.
>>>
>>> It does sound like a white space issue that could be changed with
>>> some CSS
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> Cornel Darden Jr.
>>> MSLIS
>>> Library Department Chair
>>> South Suburban College
>>> 7087052945
>>>
>>> "Our Mission is to Serve our Students and the Community through lifelong
>>> learning."
>>>
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>
>>>> On Oct 13, 2014, at 8:59 AM, Matthew Sherman <[log in to unmask]>
>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> For anyone who knows Internet Explore, is there a way to tell it to use
>>>> word wrap when it displays txt files?  This is an odd question but
>>>> one of
>>>> my supervisors exclusively uses IE and is going to try to force me to
>>>> reupload hundreds of archived permissions e-mails as text files to a
>>>> repository in a different, less preservable, file format if I cannot
>>>> tell
>>>> them how to turn on word wrap.  Yes it is as crazy as it sounds.  Any
>>>> assistance is welcome.
>>>>
>>>> Matt Sherman
>>>
>