Word opens when I start Outlook

[Lindsay Bryceson]

I will endeavour to explain accurately what occurs.

Description:
I have three places where I can start Outlook 2003. When I right click and
select properties they each offer different information:
1. The one that is on my Start Menu offers "Mail Setup - Outlook" window
with options
2. The one my task bar offers "Launch Microsoft Office Outlook Properties"
with typical short cut information including "Target: "C:\Program
Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\OUTLOOK.EXE" /recycle". This window has
three tabs "General" "Shortcut" and "Compatibility"
3. The short cut in All Programs offers a short cut window with "General"
and "Shortcut" tabs.

When I select any one of these Outlook seems to start as normal. A split
second after this Word opens in full screen mode over the top of Outlook.
When it opens it does not do so in a normal fashion. There are no menu
items. There is not "white" work place to start entering text. It is just
a grey screen. There
IS a Microsoft Word title on the top (with minimise, windows, and exit
options on the right). I can also see the typical bar acros the bottom
(inc. Page Sec At Ln Col REC TRK EXT OVer) but they are greyed out.

Thank you for still addressing yourself to my problem.

Tom

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

This sounds like a registry corruption issue. Sometimes, you can correct
such issues by making a change to the settings. This then causes Outlook to
overwrite the corrupt section, thereby fixing the problem.

In Outlook, if Word is set as the email editor, I'd try turning that setting
off (Tools - Options - Mail Format, remove both Word-related checks),
closing Outlook, completely closing Word (use the Task Manager's process
list to verify that winword.exe is not running; End the process if it is),
restarting Outlook, then (if desired) turning the Use Word... setting(s)
back on.

Sometimes this works... sometimes not. Let us know!

 

[Lindsay Bryceson]

Hi Herb,

I followed your instructions and there is no change. When I switch the Mail
Format Setting back to Word and close Outlook and restart Word opens with
Outlook as before.

One thing I noticed:

When I close Outlook with the Word option in Mail Format checked Outlook
remains in memory. In fact twice. Both take about 13,000KB of memory. (I
terminated these two processes before restarting.)

When I close Outlok with the Word check OFF and close down Outlook then
Outlook closes completely leaving no processes running. This may be many of
reasons for this but I just fund it curious.

Tom

 

[Lindsay Bryceson]

I've just noticed something else.

When I close Word after it has incorrectly opened, though not avialbe from
the desktop, it still remains present in memory (as seen by the Process
tab). When I close Outlook the Word process terminates but Outlook stays in
memory.

To end this I have to go to the Task Manager and remove it as a process.

Tom

 

[Lindsay Bryceson]

AND something else.

It hadn't occurred to me before that this machine is setup with 2 users. I
went to the other user (who hasn't used Outlook) and start Outlook up. The
problem was not present. I went back to the user I have traditionaly had
access and the problem still occurs.

I also used the removed program clean up utility I downloaded from
Microsoft. I was optimisitic becuase it forced a clean install. But no
improvement. I also removed the PST file with no benefit (then put the old
one back in place).

Tom

 

[Lindsay Bryceson]

Well, though I don't know what caused the problem I have worked a solution.
I created a new user where Outlook starts without fault. I migrated
settings and files and started again.

All is okay now.

Thanks for your help.

Tom