problem opening messages

[Anne Carey]

We were running Outlook 2003 and experienced a problem that I could not
permanently resolve.

So we upgraded to Outlook 2007 and have the same problem.

We receive messages just fine, but when we try to open one, we get a new
window with the header but a transparent portion where the text should be
that shows the content of the window underneath. Same thing happens when we
click reply.

The preview pane in the Inbox window doesn't work either, except for an
annoying vertical bar.

 

[Roady [MVP]]

Such issues are very unlikely to solve themselves when upgrading to a new
version. A good rule of thumb for any software; fix it before upgrading
(unless it is a know bug which is resolved later).

Does it work correctly in Outlook Safe Mode?
Start-> Run; outlook.exe /safe

If so, it is very likely to be caused by an addin that you have installed.
Disable them all and then enable them one by one to find the culprit;
http://www.msoutlook.info/question/88

 

[Anne Carey]

Thanks for responding. Unfortunately, the problem still exists in safe mode.

I disabled all add-ins but it didn't help.

Incidentally, a similar problem exists in Outlook Express. We can open and
read a message, but if we try to reply, a transparent window opens with a
blinking cursor, but we cannot enter text.

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

Thanks for responding. Unfortunately, the problem still exists in safe
mode.

I've seen this happen when there was a problem with the video driver.

 

[Anne Carey]

Tnanks for the comment. I am not 100% sure where to go with it. The problem
does not occur in Word, Notebook or any other program. Only in Outlook and a
similar problem in Outlook Express. Is there a way that the video driver
could be changed by opening Outlook or Outlook Express?

Mt wife is a teacher and this is her computer. The school board has some
custon software for their own website with email and also for the Whiteboard
in the classroom, but we have uninstalled all that.

At one point, I trie dsome of the suggestions I read online, installed an
upgrade and the problem went away. But it was back in a few days. I didn't
keep track of what I did previously so I cannot repeat all the steps.

Very frustrating.

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

Tnanks for the comment. I am not 100% sure where to go with it.

Visit the web site of the video card vendor and download and install the
most recent driver for you card.

The problem
does not occur in Word, Notebook or any other program. Only in Outlook
and a
similar problem in Outlook Express. Is there a way that the video driver
could be changed by opening Outlook or Outlook Express?

If both Outlook and Outlook Express experience the problem, then clearly
Outlook is not the cause.