Word as Editor in Outlook
So, I have been using a new install of Windows - Windows Arthritis seems to have killed off my last Windows instance - it simply stopped connecting to the LAN, though Internet connectivity worked just fine. I generally start out with all the defaults when I install stuff, and in general that works well.
In this case, when I installed Outlook 2003, it used Word as an editor, something I normally don't do, but never really found a reason why I did not like it. I discovered the reason yesterday.
I was writing an email to explain to very non-technical users how to use a Word .dot (template) file. I of course was following the steps the users would need to follow, and each time I got to the point where the macro started in Word, I would go back to my email to write down the exact text on the buttons, and Outlook would be locked up. I have noticed sporadic delays as the PC tries to read the network, and so I figured that was the problem. Turns out, no matter how long I waited, it never freed up. When I finally tried to close down the window that contained the text of my detailed email (that I figured I was kissing goodbye), the system told me it could not shut down Word while a dialog was open. Doh! The Macro opened up a Modal dialog, and even though the email looked like Outlook, it really was Word, and Word could not react until the dialog in the macro was cleared.
This is why sharing components (like Word inside Outlook) is not always a good idea, and a less good idea these days, as disk space is cheap. I see the value of Word acting as your editor in Outlook, but problems like this argue against the benefit...