Troubleshoot sending e-mail messages and documents

To insert a Microsoft Outlook item into an HTML e-mail message, drag the item from the Inbox (or any other Outlook view) into the message.

• To use Word as your e-mail editor, you should have at least 16 megabytes of memory available.
• Before using Word as your e-mail editor, close any Word dialog boxes that are open.
• Programs that work in the background, such as virus-scanning programs, may slow down e-mail and Word in general. Use System Monitor (an optional Microsoft Windows accessory program) to see if you are running programs that slow down your computer's performance and to see which program is using the highest percentage of processor time.

Some spelling options are only shared between Word and Microsoft Outlook when you use Word as your e-mail editor. If you've turned off Word as your e-mail editor, your settings for the following options (Tools, Options, Spelling & Grammar) in Word are no longer in effect for e-mail messages:

• Always suggest corrections
• Ignore words in UPPERCASE
• Ignore words with numbers

To turn Word on as your e-mail editor, open Outlook, and on the Tools menu, click Options, click the Mail Format tab, and then under Message format, select the Use Microsoft Word to edit e-mail messages check box.

If you haven't installed an e-mail program (such as Microsoft Outlook) on your computer, the Mail Recipient and Routing Recipient commands won't appear on the Send To submenu (File menu).

If, after installing Outlook, you still don't see the Mail Recipient (as Attachment) menu item, do the following:

1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the General tab.
2. Select the Mail as attachment check box, and then click OK.

If you haven't installed an e-mail program (such as Microsoft Outlook) on your computer, E-mail will not appear on the Standard toolbar.

• Did you send an e-mail message or document in a format your recipients can read?    For example, if you send an e-mail message or document in HTML format, recipients need Microsoft Outlook 98 or later or another e-mail program that can read documents in HTML format— for example, Netscape Communicator, Eudora, or cc:Mail. Otherwise, the message or document may not be formatted correctly and the graphics may not be displayed. In this case, you might want to send the document as an attachment. That way, recipients who have installed Word 97 or later can view the document in its original format.

• Did you send an e-mail message to recipients who aren't using Word as their e-mail editor?    If you send a message in Microsoft Outlook rich text format, and your recipients are using a different e-mail editor, then some message elements may not appear correctly. For example, borders, highlighted text, tables, and bulleted and numbered lists may not appear or retain their original formatting.

In Word, you can't send a Web page as an attachment, because Word automatically converts the HTML file to Word format (.doc). However, you can send the Web page as the body of the e-mail message. Or, if you're working in Microsoft Outlook, you can send a Web page as an attachment.