OT: Exchange strips formatting off of messages via IMAP

[Kurt Granroth]

I need to connect to an Exchange server for email at work but, having a 
Linux desktop, I do so via IMAP using Thunderbird (or KMail and, every 
so often, Evolution).  This works mostly okay.  The one part that 
doesn't work is that the IMAP server part of Exchange completely strips 
off all formatting in the messages.

Now this is fine 90% of the time but every so often, a message will have 
very specific formatting for a specific reason (passages highlighted, 
tables, formatted code, etc). That message will look fine in Outlook but 
will be stripped down to plain-text when viewed via IMAP.

This is *not* Thunderbird.  I've verified that it's the IMAP server by 
doing a quick telnet to 443 and seeing the raw output.

My question (and what makes this OT) is this: is there any way to 
configure the Exchange IMAP server to not strip off formatting?  If so, 
I may be able to suggest that our admins do whatever steps are necessary.

Any ideas?
Kurt