Dear Microsoft,

I thought we had come to an understanding.

For quite a while now, we have had a live and let live relationship. Now you seem to be returning to your previous masterful role.

Look, MS Word, I ask you one more time: Will you please stop fiddling with my email editor? I chose Word a long time ago to be my editor. Now you incessantly erase the X I put there. You stop the use of Word as my editor, and you send me irrational messages, such as:

Microsoft Word is set to be your email editor. However, Word is unavailable, not installed, or is not the same version as Outlook. The Outlook Editor will be used instead.

Then you give me no option but to say OK. Let me make it clear, MS. It is NOT OK with me. Don’t force me into having to check OK when it’s not OK.

Then you say some more nonsense:

This error message may appear if:

You have Word configured as your e-mail editor and Word is no longer present on the computer.

The form is corrupt.

Word has faulted.

You are running a version of Word that does not support e-mail editing.

This can also occur if Microsoft Office Outlook was started in Safe mode (achieved by pressing and holding the CTRL key while starting Outlook).

To work around this problem:

Start Outlook in normal mode.

-Or-

Configure Outlook to use the Outlook editor as the e-mail editor.

On the Outlook Tools menu, click Options.

On the Mail Format tab, set Use Microsoft Office Word to edit e-mail messages to unchecked and click OK.

-Or-

Reset Word (reboot may be needed or Detect and Repair should be run).

-Or-

Reinstall Word.

-Or-

Upgrade Word.

Does this really make sense to you?

Looky here, MS, no matter how many times I go to Tools/Options and check Word as my email editor, you ignore me. What you do is even more insidious. You take away the check I put inside the little box as fast as I put it up. Even when I reboot, you keep on with your tricks.

Also, if you think I should run Detect and Repair, could you have the courtesy to tell me where to find it?

I’ll say it one more time. I LIKE Word as my email editor. I have from the beginning. Give me a break, and believe me when I check OK to Word as my email editor. Stop upsetting the apple cart.

By the way, I have rebooted three times, and still you persist.

Then, you have the colossal nerve to say:

More information about this error message online.

I go to the trouble of pressing the link, and then guess what? You have a neat little message that says:

There is no more information about this error message.

Do you begin to see what I mean?

Let’s make it simple. Stop doing this to me. Stop making our relationship hard. Once and for all, stop. Cease and desist now, and for all eternity.

Sorry for such a strong letter to you. I am just trying to get you to listen to me. At the same time, I must point out that you have never once apologized to me.

Sincerely yours,

Gloria

P.S. It was hard work, but, finally, I got Word back as my email editor.  I don’t know if I should send this email or not — or if it makes any difference at all.