# Outlook 2003 with Word 2007 not working



## nhvideoguy (Jan 15, 2008)

I searched, and was surprised to see that this was not covered yet - unless I missed it :smile:

I installed Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) over Microsoft Office 2003 Professional (Word, Excel, Outlook, etc.)
Prior to this I was using Word 2003 as my email editor, ideally I would like Word 2007 to now be my email editor, but I would be happy if Word 2003 still worked for email in Outlook. But now I get the following error:

_Microsoft Word is set to be your e-mail editor. However, Word is unavailable, not installed, or is not the same version as Outlook. The Outlook e-mail editor will be used instead.
_
I used “custom upgrade” when installing the 2007 SW – I think upgrade way the only choice.

Word 2003 is still installed – both Word 2003 and 2007 work fine. I can get Word 2003 to work as the email editor if I run this:
Regsvr32.exe %Windir%\System32\Ole32.dll
and it fixed things (as does “detect and repair Word 2003), but after starting Word 2007 it does some “configuring” when it starts and that broke Word 2003 from working in Outlook again.

There has got to be a way to fix this.


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## azmak (Jun 19, 2008)

if you have 2 versions of office on the system you will get this error.
work around you can try is install office 2003 on a different drive.and office 2007 on different.
but its advisable to keep only one version of the office program. like if you have word 2007 installed then dont use word 2003.


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## nhvideoguy (Jan 15, 2008)

I don't want to use Word 2003, but I kept it because Outlook used it for composing emails (because it's my preference setting to do that). Outlook 2003 seems to have no way to discover Word 2007.

I don't think installing them on different drives will help - since they both work fine on the same drive. Even Microsoft says you can do this. It's possible because some time ago MS office versions install into different directories
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11 - for Office 2003
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12 - for Office 2007

I really think it has to do with registering DLLs. I think if this can be fixed it will probably be some registry fix/hack.

One other piece of information... When I do a "repair Office 2003" things will work (Outlook uses Word 2003 for email - and I can use Word 2007 for everything else) - but that working state goes away when the system reboots.

\Dave


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## rbalaji (Dec 12, 2008)

I think your problem occurred because you tried installing one on top of the other without uninstalling one first. You should either install them in separate directories on your hard drive (and they will coexist perfectly peacefully if you do that) or uninstall one and then install the other. When you put them in the same folder, I have no idea what got overwritten with what to create the problems you are having.


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## nhvideoguy (Jan 15, 2008)

Well I believe they do get installed into separate directories:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11 - for Office 2003
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12 - for Office 2007

Do you think that is not separate enough?

I think I read that MS uses this convention now Office 11 = 2003, 12=2007 so that there would be no issues with multiple versions.
\Dave


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## rbalaji (Dec 12, 2008)

Yes, if they were installed in separate folders and you installed the later version after the earlier version, there should be no problems. It does look from your first post that you are trying to use them in an unusual way by trying to use word 2003 as the email editor in outlook 2007. That may be why you need to jump through hoops everytime you reboot to get that setup to work.


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## nhvideoguy (Jan 15, 2008)

Nope that is not what I'm trying to do - other way around. Trying to use Word 2007 with Outlook 2003. 

Word 2003 is still installed – both Word 2003 and 2007 work fine outside of Outlook. In fact I can get my desired result (Word 2003 for Outlook email – Word 2007 for everything else) by doing the following:
I do a “repair” of Office 2003 (from add/remove programs) – then reboot although I don’t know that it matters… Then Word 2003 works in Outlook 2003. After doing this, the first launch of Word 2007 goes through a “configuring” stage – but after that it always starts normally. So at this point – everything works the way I want it – So I know it can work. ---------- The problem is, after a reboot, the error in Outlook 2003 (above) comes back.

So it must be that whatever Word 2007 does when it starts up, part of it (the part that breaks Outlook 2003) does not take effect till the next reboot. 

So given I can get it working, (prior to reboot), there has got to be some registry hack I could run to get it into this state again after a reboot – right?


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## rbalaji (Dec 12, 2008)

Perhaps. Unfortunately, I couldn't tell you what it would be because I don't even have office 2007 on my computer. I will wait for someone else to come along and weigh in with their expertise.


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## rbalaji (Dec 12, 2008)

Perhaps. Unfortunately, I don't have any expertise in that respect, so I will wait for someone else to weigh in with their expertise.


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## Anne Troy (May 1, 2006)

Outlook will not work with a different version of Word. Don't bother trying. Balaji is absolutely right in that you must install in different directories, but OUTSIDE of th programs folder. Here's my dissertation on it:
http://www.officearticles.com/misc/best_install_procedures_for_microsoft_office.htm


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## nhvideoguy (Jan 15, 2008)

Well OK. I'll give up on it. So let me ask you (everyone) this... Aside from not wanting to purchase it, the other reason I did not want to install Outlook 2007 is because of all the reports that Outlook 2007 is so slow. As they say, just google "outlook 2007 slow' to see all the stories (can't keep up with typing, Microsoft is knows and is working on a fix, etc.). I realize there are lots of variables out there (upgrade or not, add-ins, etc). 
But is Outlook 2007 apples to apples slower then 2003?
\Dave


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## Anne Troy (May 1, 2006)

I have to say that it has NOT been my experience.


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## nhvideoguy (Jan 15, 2008)

Thanks for the info... Any recommendations about the switch from 2003 to 2007?

I imagine there is an 'upgrade' option, but some have said you should save all your PST files someplace, uninstall Outlook and install new and then import the old stuff into new 2007 PST files. Seems like a lot more work, but if it would really help, I would be willing to do it.


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## Anne Troy (May 1, 2006)

Absolutely that is how you should do it. The other thing is to convert your file types. Make sure your pst file types are all the same. My article discusses that. Personally, I wouldn't use 2007 if I didn't have to. If I had my way, I'd have Word and Excel 2000, and Outlook 2003.


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## nhvideoguy (Jan 15, 2008)

Well, what does that mean? In particular about Outlook...

I really like a few of the new features in Word/Excel to upgrade Outlook to get back Word for email. BUT I use Outlook a lot and don't want to be sorry I upgraded it.

Do you have an article specific to upgrading? I think what I would like to do is the free trial - with the thought I will purchase - so I want to do the upgrade the best way. I have no exchange server just a small home office network with Outlook on just one machine.

Thanks,


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## azmak (Jun 19, 2008)

download Office 60 day trial, install it on your system. Check the performance of outlook...


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## azmak (Jun 19, 2008)

download Office 60 day trial, install it on your system. Check the performance of outlook...:normal:


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