OL2000: Error Message "This Form Requires Word as Your E-mail Editor..."

ID: Q223934

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Outlook 2000

SYMPTOMS

If you install and use Outlook in an environment where components of both Microsoft Word 97 and Word 2000 are installed, you may receive the following error if you select Word to edit e-mail messages:

This form requires Word as your e-mail editor, but Word is either busy or cannot be found. The form will be opened in the Outlook editor instead.

If you click OK, an Outlook Plain Text message form opens. Additionally, the Use Microsoft Word to edit e-mail messages check box, on the Mail Format tab is cleared by this action.

CAUSE

Word 97 was started after Word 2000 was used, and before Outlook was started.

RESOLUTION

Start Word 2000 before starting Outlook.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

The behavior described will occur while both Word 97 and Word 2000 are installed on the computer. Word 2000 must be the most recently used version of Word if you wish to use Outlook with Word as the e-mail editor. Word does not need to remain running when you start Outlook.

If either version of Word is removed from your computer, the error will not occur. If you wish to use Word 97 only, after removing Word 2000 the extended features of the Microsoft Office 2000 mail envelope are not available.

NOTE: If Word 2000 is removed, the option to use Word to edit e-mail messages will not be present on Mail Format tab. To add this option, run Word 97 once.

REFERENCES

For additional information on using Word to edit e-mail messages, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q195773 OL2000: Editor Differences Between Outlook 97 and Outlook 2000

Q230710 OL2000: Outlook Can Use Word 97 as E-mail Editor

Additional query words: OL2K

Keywords :
Version : WINDOWS:2000
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbbug