Sudden loss of Word as Outlook editor

[Mike F from TN]

Windows XP MC
MS Office Professional 2003

Word has been my email editor for months. Today, after replying to several
emails with no problems, I was trying to reply to the last received email for
today and got this message "Microsoft Word is set to be your email editor.
However, Word is unavailable, not installed, or is not the same version as
Outlook. The Outlook email editor will be used instead."

What happened? Word is available, is installed and is the same version as
Outlook, as far as I can tell. It has always worked before. Any idea what is
going on?

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

Have you installed all service patches? Run Detect and Repair?

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact.

After furious head scratching, Mike F from TN asked:

| Windows XP MC
| MS Office Professional 2003
|
| Word has been my email editor for months. Today, after replying to
| several emails with no problems, I was trying to reply to the last
| received email for today and got this message "Microsoft Word is set
| to be your email editor. However, Word is unavailable, not installed,
| or is not the same version as Outlook. The Outlook email editor will
| be used instead."
|
| What happened? Word is available, is installed and is the same
| version as Outlook, as far as I can tell. It has always worked
| before. Any idea what is going on?

 

[Mike F from TN]

No, I guess not. I'm a user, not very sharp on such things. How do I find the
service patches, and how do I run Detect & Repair?

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

Service patches = Microsoft Update.

Detect and Repair - Help->Detect and Repair.

I suspect your machine is badly out of compliance with the latest patches for both Windows and Office, and probably your AV as well. Patch ASAP - being "just a user" is no excuse for not maintaining your computer.


--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, Mike F from TN asked:

| No, I guess not. I'm a user, not very sharp on such things. How do I
| find the service patches, and how do I run Detect & Repair?
|
| "Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]" wrote:
|
|| Have you installed all service patches? Run Detect and Repair?
||
|| --
|| Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]
||
|| Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact.
||
|| After furious head scratching, Mike F from TN asked:
||
||| Windows XP MC
||| MS Office Professional 2003
|||
||| Word has been my email editor for months. Today, after replying to
||| several emails with no problems, I was trying to reply to the last
||| received email for today and got this message "Microsoft Word is set
||| to be your email editor. However, Word is unavailable, not
||| installed, or is not the same version as Outlook. The Outlook email
||| editor will be used instead."
|||
||| What happened? Word is available, is installed and is the same
||| version as Outlook, as far as I can tell. It has always worked
||| before. Any idea what is going on?

 

[Mike F from TN]

Milly, when I click on Check for Updates in Word, nothing happens. No
messages, nothing.

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

Sorry about that tone - it burns me when people who use a computer (not you) give the excuse that they are just a user and did not know their computer was part of a malicious botnet and never bothered to update anything. People know to maintain a car, why is a computer any different?

Anyway, back to the matter at hand. What do you show under Outlook's Tools->options->mail format tab? If you uncheck using Word as the editor, okay out, shut down and reboot Windows, can you again select it?

In the meantime, see if this article applies:

"You receive the error message "Word is unavailable, not installed, or is not the same version as Outlook" when you try to create, to edit, or to reply to an e-mail message in Outlook 2003:"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/906307/en-us


--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, Mike F from TN asked:

| Ease up Milly, I do the best I can. You don't see me on this forum
| often, do you? I certainly appreciate your help. Ran Detect & Repair
| about 2 hours ago, and will go to Microsoft Update soon as I send
| this reply. Updated XP yesterday to SP 3. Perhaps the update brought
| on the loss of Word as editor, since it occurred after the update.
| I've been on Auto Updates for a long time, so cannot figure out why
| pc would be out of compliance. Any thoughts on that. Thanks again.
| Mike
|
| "Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]" wrote:
|
|| Service patches = Microsoft Update.
||
|| Detect and Repair - Help->Detect and Repair.
||
|| I suspect your machine is badly out of compliance with the latest
|| patches for both Windows and Office, and probably your AV as well.
|| Patch ASAP - being "just a user" is no excuse for not maintaining
|| your computer.
||
||
|| --Â
|| Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]
||
|| Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
|| unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
|| reading.
||
|| After furious head scratching, Mike F from TN asked:
||
||| No, I guess not. I'm a user, not very sharp on such things. How do I
||| find the service patches, and how do I run Detect & Repair?
|||
||| "Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]" wrote:
|||
|||| Have you installed all service patches? Run Detect and Repair?
||||
|||| --
|||| Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]
||||
|||| Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact.
||||
|||| After furious head scratching, Mike F from TN asked:
||||
||||| Windows XP MC
||||| MS Office Professional 2003
|||||
||||| Word has been my email editor for months. Today, after replying to
||||| several emails with no problems, I was trying to reply to the last
||||| received email for today and got this message "Microsoft Word is
||||| set to be your email editor. However, Word is unavailable, not
||||| installed, or is not the same version as Outlook. The Outlook
||||| email editor will be used instead."
|||||
||||| What happened? Word is available, is installed and is the same
||||| version as Outlook, as far as I can tell. It has always worked
||||| before. Any idea what is going on?

 

[Mike F from TN]

Milly, thanks! Word is once again the Outlook editor. After following your
instructions, I was able to check Word as editor and it's now working fine.
Also, I looked at 906307 and found that none of the scenarios fit except for
the one about using Detect & Repair, which you suggested I do earlier. As you
know, I ran it, but did not think to go to Outlook and choose Word again. All
is well. Bye. Thanks again.

Sorry about that tone - it burns me when people who use a computer (not you) give the excuse that they are just a user and did not know their computer was part of a malicious botnet and never bothered to update anything. People know to maintain a car, why is a computer any different?

Anyway, back to the matter at hand. What do you show under Outlook's Tools->options->mail format tab? If you uncheck using Word as the editor, okay out, shut down and reboot Windows, can you again select it?

In the meantime, see if this article applies:

"You receive the error message "Word is unavailable, not installed, or is not the same version as Outlook" when you try to create, to edit, or to reply to an e-mail message in Outlook 2003:"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/906307/en-us


--Â
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, Mike F from TN asked:

| Ease up Milly, I do the best I can. You don't see me on this forum
| often, do you? I certainly appreciate your help. Ran Detect & Repair
| about 2 hours ago, and will go to Microsoft Update soon as I send
| this reply. Updated XP yesterday to SP 3. Perhaps the update brought
| on the loss of Word as editor, since it occurred after the update.
| I've been on Auto Updates for a long time, so cannot figure out why
| pc would be out of compliance. Any thoughts on that. Thanks again.
| Mike
|
| "Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]" wrote:
|
|| Service patches = Microsoft Update.
||
|| Detect and Repair - Help->Detect and Repair.
||
|| I suspect your machine is badly out of compliance with the latest
|| patches for both Windows and Office, and probably your AV as well.
|| Patch ASAP - being "just a user" is no excuse for not maintaining
|| your computer.
||
||
|| --ÂÂ
|| Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]
||
|| Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
|| unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
|| reading.
||
|| After furious head scratching, Mike F from TN asked:
||
||| No, I guess not. I'm a user, not very sharp on such things. How do I
||| find the service patches, and how do I run Detect & Repair?
|||
||| "Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]" wrote:
|||
|||| Have you installed all service patches? Run Detect and Repair?
||||
|||| --
|||| Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]
||||
|||| Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact.
||||
|||| After furious head scratching, Mike F from TN asked:
||||
||||| Windows XP MC
||||| MS Office Professional 2003
|||||
||||| Word has been my email editor for months. Today, after replying to
||||| several emails with no problems, I was trying to reply to the last
||||| received email for today and got this message "Microsoft Word is
||||| set to be your email editor. However, Word is unavailable, not
||||| installed, or is not the same version as Outlook. The Outlook
||||| email editor will be used instead."
|||||
||||| What happened? Word is available, is installed and is the same
||||| version as Outlook, as far as I can tell. It has always worked
||||| before. Any idea what is going on?

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

Glad you have it working and thanks for reporting back to the group.

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact.


Milly, thanks! Word is once again the Outlook editor. After following your
instructions, I was able to check Word as editor and it's now working fine.
Also, I looked at 906307 and found that none of the scenarios fit except for
the one about using Detect & Repair, which you suggested I do earlier. As
you
know, I ran it, but did not think to go to Outlook and choose Word again.
All
is well. Bye. Thanks again.

Sorry about that tone - it burns me when people who use a computer (not
you) give the excuse that they are just a user and did not know their
computer was part of a malicious botnet and never bothered to update
anything. People know to maintain a car, why is a computer any different?

Anyway, back to the matter at hand. What do you show under Outlook's
Tools->options->mail format tab? If you uncheck using Word as the editor,
okay out, shut down and reboot Windows, can you again select it?

In the meantime, see if this article applies:

"You receive the error message "Word is unavailable, not installed, or is
not the same version as Outlook" when you try to create, to edit, or to
reply to an e-mail message in Outlook 2003:"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/906307/en-us


--Â
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, Mike F from TN asked:

| Ease up Milly, I do the best I can. You don't see me on this forum
| often, do you? I certainly appreciate your help. Ran Detect & Repair
| about 2 hours ago, and will go to Microsoft Update soon as I send
| this reply. Updated XP yesterday to SP 3. Perhaps the update brought
| on the loss of Word as editor, since it occurred after the update.
| I've been on Auto Updates for a long time, so cannot figure out why
| pc would be out of compliance. Any thoughts on that. Thanks again.
| Mike
|
| "Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]" wrote:
|
|| Service patches = Microsoft Update.
||
|| Detect and Repair - Help->Detect and Repair.
||
|| I suspect your machine is badly out of compliance with the latest
|| patches for both Windows and Office, and probably your AV as well.
|| Patch ASAP - being "just a user" is no excuse for not maintaining
|| your computer.
||
||
|| --Ã,Â
|| Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]
||
|| Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
|| unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
|| reading.
||
|| After furious head scratching, Mike F from TN asked:
||
||| No, I guess not. I'm a user, not very sharp on such things. How do I
||| find the service patches, and how do I run Detect & Repair?
|||
||| "Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]" wrote:
|||
|||| Have you installed all service patches? Run Detect and Repair?
||||
|||| --
|||| Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]
||||
|||| Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact.
||||
|||| After furious head scratching, Mike F from TN asked:
||||
||||| Windows XP MC
||||| MS Office Professional 2003
|||||
||||| Word has been my email editor for months. Today, after replying to
||||| several emails with no problems, I was trying to reply to the last
||||| received email for today and got this message "Microsoft Word is
||||| set to be your email editor. However, Word is unavailable, not
||||| installed, or is not the same version as Outlook. The Outlook
||||| email editor will be used instead."
|||||
||||| What happened? Word is available, is installed and is the same
||||| version as Outlook, as far as I can tell. It has always worked
||||| before. Any idea what is going on?

 

[Musicker]

Mike - I've seen this quite a bit lately and you are likely going to run into
it again at some point.

From what I have seen so far, if you are conversing (using Outlook with Word
as your email editor) with someone who is using Yahoo email client *or* if
someone in the thread has used Yahoo email client at any point, when the
thread reaches a certain length the error you experienced occurs. I have not
seen it with other webmail clients but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen.

I have been able to verify without question that email threads using Yahoo
email client are one cause of the error, I was very thorough about testing
this. After each crash I would reset Word as my editor and go back and try to
reply to a different email in the thread, and only the last one (the one that
caused the original crash) would again cause the error you experienced. I
have never experienced the error when replying to email threads that do not
have any connection to the Yahoo email client, no matter how long the threads
get.

It took us a while to figure this out, I'm a desktop tech at a large company
and I went back and forth with one of our Exchange Server admins for almost
two weeks trying to find out where the error was coming from on one of our
users' computers. I only figured out the Yahoo email connection when it
happened on my own computer and I realized I had been emailing back and forth
with someone outside the company. That it could be a webmail client issue was
something we had not even considered up to that point.

I hope this helps if others run into the same issue in the future, it was
certainly a head-scratcher for me for a while.

Eric

Milly, thanks! Word is once again the Outlook editor. After following your
instructions, I was able to check Word as editor and it's now working fine.
Also, I looked at 906307 and found that none of the scenarios fit except for
the one about using Detect & Repair, which you suggested I do earlier. As you
know, I ran it, but did not think to go to Outlook and choose Word again. All
is well. Bye. Thanks again.

Sorry about that tone - it burns me when people who use a computer (not you) give the excuse that they are just a user and did not know their computer was part of a malicious botnet and never bothered to update anything. People know to maintain a car, why is a computer any different?

Anyway, back to the matter at hand. What do you show under Outlook's Tools->options->mail format tab? If you uncheck using Word as the editor, okay out, shut down and reboot Windows, can you again select it?

In the meantime, see if this article applies:

"You receive the error message "Word is unavailable, not installed, or is not the same version as Outlook" when you try to create, to edit, or to reply to an e-mail message in Outlook 2003:"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/906307/en-us


--Â
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, Mike F from TN asked:

| Ease up Milly, I do the best I can. You don't see me on this forum
| often, do you? I certainly appreciate your help. Ran Detect & Repair
| about 2 hours ago, and will go to Microsoft Update soon as I send
| this reply. Updated XP yesterday to SP 3. Perhaps the update brought
| on the loss of Word as editor, since it occurred after the update.
| I've been on Auto Updates for a long time, so cannot figure out why
| pc would be out of compliance. Any thoughts on that. Thanks again.
| Mike
|
| "Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]" wrote:
|
|| Service patches = Microsoft Update.
||
|| Detect and Repair - Help->Detect and Repair.
||
|| I suspect your machine is badly out of compliance with the latest
|| patches for both Windows and Office, and probably your AV as well.
|| Patch ASAP - being "just a user" is no excuse for not maintaining
|| your computer.
||
||
|| --ÂÂ
|| Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]
||
|| Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
|| unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
|| reading.
||
|| After furious head scratching, Mike F from TN asked:
||
||| No, I guess not. I'm a user, not very sharp on such things. How do I
||| find the service patches, and how do I run Detect & Repair?
|||
||| "Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]" wrote:
|||
|||| Have you installed all service patches? Run Detect and Repair?
||||
|||| --
|||| Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]
||||
|||| Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact.
||||
|||| After furious head scratching, Mike F from TN asked:
||||
||||| Windows XP MC
||||| MS Office Professional 2003
|||||
||||| Word has been my email editor for months. Today, after replying to
||||| several emails with no problems, I was trying to reply to the last
||||| received email for today and got this message "Microsoft Word is
||||| set to be your email editor. However, Word is unavailable, not
||||| installed, or is not the same version as Outlook. The Outlook
||||| email editor will be used instead."
|||||
||||| What happened? Word is available, is installed and is the same
||||| version as Outlook, as far as I can tell. It has always worked
||||| before. Any idea what is going on?

 

[6t5]

WOW! I had this same issue, did all kinds of fixes and stuff found o
the net and found this thread. This was happening on a user here in th
office who uses email to chat back and forth with his spouse and low an
behold it was yahoo she uses and of course those get pretty long. Th
error always popped up when replying to her, but worked on most othe
emails. So now I know why.

Thanks again for your assistance and information