OL2000: You Cannot Shut Down Your Computer Correctly When You Use Word as Your Outlook E-mail Editor (262992)



The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Outlook 2000, when used with:
    • the operating system: Microsoft Windows NT

This article was previously published under Q262992

SYMPTOMS

When you use Microsoft Word as your e-mail editor in Outlook 2000 (you have selected the Use Microsoft Word to edit e-mail messages check box) and you start a new message, Microsoft Windows may not shut down correctly and you are prompted to close all open Outlook windows when you try to shut down your computer. This problem only applies to Microsoft Windows NT.

CAUSE

The way that the shut down process works in Windows NT is different from the way that the shut down process works in Microsoft Windows 95 and Microsoft Windows 98, and this does not allow Windows NT to shut down correctly.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, close all open Outlook windows before you shut down your computer.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT have different shutdown sequences. The three events that are involved in each sequence are the WM_QUERYSHUTDOWN event, the WM_SHUTDOWN event, and the process that is being stopped. When Windows processes these events, no OLE calls can be made, so Word and Outlook cannot communicate. Therefore, Windows cannot save any WordMail items or even determine if you have modified any WordMail items. Any program can stop the shutdown sequence if the program returns a FALSE value from the WM_QUERYSHUTDOWN event.

In Windows 95 or Windows 98, Windows sends the WM_QUERYSHUTDOWN event to all programs in turn, sends the WM_SHUTDOWN event to all of the programs, and then stops processes. This procedure works correctly. If you have modified the body of a WordMail item, Word can stop the shutdown process; if you have modified the header of a WordMail item, Outlook can stop the shutdown process.

Windows NT handles one program at a time (for performance reasons). It sends the two shutdown events and ends the first program before moving on to the next program. This causes a problem because if Word is the first program to be shut down, it cannot determine if you have changed the header of the message in Outlook.

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:8/15/2005
Keywords:kbbug kbnofix KB262992