Where does Outlook look for Word?

[lookout]

Although Word is installed on my XP, and is selected as the default email
editor, when I compose a new email I get an error message that states: "Word
is either busy or can't be found". Since it is certainly busy, I was
wondering if anyone know where it can be found?

 

[_Vanguard_]

Although Word is installed on my XP, and is selected as the default
email
editor, when I compose a new email I get an error message that states:
"Word
is either busy or can't be found". Since it is certainly busy, I was
wondering if anyone know where it can be found?

What happens if you make sure all instances of Word are closed BEFORE
loading and using Outlook (which will call Word as its compose editor)?
Look in Task Manager and check there are *no* instances of winword.exe
still loaded. Both Outlook and Word are defective in that they may hang
during their exit to leave themselves in memory, and these instances can
screw over when you try to open new instances. So with all instances of
Outlook and Word unloaded, check Task Manager and kill any remnant
instances of outlook.exe and winword.exe, and then try loading Outlook
and composing a message using Word.

It's a bug that has been around for several versions and continues to
their latest version. The typical excuse is that some add-in to Outlook
causes the remnant hang but I've seen it under a pristine install of
just Windows 2000 (or XP) followed only by an install of MS Office 200x
(Windows XP now has the problem showing up with explorer.exe, too).
Check the Processes tab in Task Manager to ensure that Outlook (and
Word) actually got removed from memory.

 

[lookout]

First, thank you for taking the time to post. When Word is not active,
winword.exe does indeed show up in the "processes" tab in Task Manager. So I
then ended that process and relaunched Outlook. I then tried to compose a
new message and got the same error (Word is either busy or cannot be found).
Outlook then defaults to its editor. This is occuring on a brand new laptop
right after I installed Microsoft office XP edition. Do you have any other
suggestions?

 

[_Vanguard_]

First, thank you for taking the time to post. When Word is not
active,
winword.exe does indeed show up in the "processes" tab in Task
Manager. So I
then ended that process and relaunched Outlook. I then tried to
compose a
new message and got the same error (Word is either busy or cannot be
found).
Outlook then defaults to its editor. This is occuring on a brand new
laptop
right after I installed Microsoft office XP edition. Do you have any
other
suggestions?

Do the versions of Outlook and Word match? They will not work together
unless they are the same version. For example, you cannot use Word 2000
as the compose editor for Outlook 2002/2003. You mention installing MS
Office XP but maybe you only installed some of its components (i.e., you
installed Outlook 2002 but didn't install Word 2002 and are trying to
use an old Word 2000). Did you ever have a prior version of MS Office
installed on your host?

What happens if you open Word, compose a message, and then use its
File -> Send To -> Mail Recipient? Does your message appear within the
email.dot template that should load?

 

[lookout]

They were installed at the same time from the same Office (XP) disk. The
disk is XP Pro and the OS is XP Home, but I do not think this should make a
difference.

When I try to send an email from Word I get the following error message:
"Word cannot load the email envelope. This could be caused by a network
connection problem or a problem with your office installation." I am
contemplating reinstalling Office however I have already imported all of my
email contacts and files (via pst) and do not want to have to re-do this.

 

[_Vanguard_]

They were installed at the same time from the same Office (XP) disk.
The
disk is XP Pro and the OS is XP Home, but I do not think this should
make a
difference.

When I try to send an email from Word I get the following error
message:
"Word cannot load the email envelope. This could be caused by a
network
connection problem or a problem with your office installation." I am
contemplating reinstalling Office however I have already imported all
of my
email contacts and files (via pst) and do not want to have to re-do
this.

Sounds like the email.dot template file is screwed up. Have you tried
using the Detect and Repair under the Help menu yet?

 

[Brian Tillman]

I am contemplating reinstalling Office however I have
already imported all of my email contacts and files (via pst) and do
not want to have to re-do this.

Save your PST to be safe, but reinstalling should not delete your current
items.