You may receive the "Word could not load the e-mail envelope" error message when you try to send an e-mail message from Word 2003 (829061)

SYMPTOMS

If you use one of the following methods to try to send an e-mail message from Microsoft Office Word 2003

You click E-mail on the Standard toolbar.
You point to Send to on the File menu, and then click Mail Recipient.

you may receive the following error message:

Word could not load the e-mail envelope. This could be caused by a network connection problem or a problem with your Office installation.

Note If you repeat either one of the previously mentioned methods to send an e-mail message from Word 2003, you can send the e-mail message from Word 2003 as expected.

CAUSE

This problem may occur if one of the following conditions is true:

You installed a Microsoft Outlook COM add-in that opens a message box in the OnConnection event of the add-in. This action causes the OnConnection event to run when Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 starts.
You implemented a Microsoft Outlook Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)code that displays a message box in the Application_StartUp event.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, use one of the following methods:

Start Outlook 2003 before you try to send an e-mail message from Word 2003.
Do not use the Outlook COM add-in or the VBA code that is causing the message box to appear when Outlook 2003 starts.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section of this article.