Outlook Stops Responding (Hangs) When You Reply to an Email Message

When you click Reply to respond to an e-mail message, Microsoft Outlook may stop responding (hang). This symptom may occur if all the following conditions exist:

• The message you reply to is a Rich Text message.
• Outlook is configured to use Word to edit e-mail messages.
• Outlook is configured to use Word to read Rich Text e-mail messages.
• The e-mail message contains the HTML code "A" tag with an empty name string such as <A name=></A>.

Service Pack Information

This problem is corrected in Office XP Service Pack 3.To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft Office XP. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Hotfix Information

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem.

If the hotfix is available for download, there is a "Hotfix download available" section at the top of this Knowledge Base article. If this section does not appear, submit a request to Microsoft Customer Service and Support to obtain the hotfix.

Note If additional issues occur or if any troubleshooting is required, you might have to create a separate service request. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for this specific hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Customer Service and Support telephone numbers or to create a separate service request, visit the following Microsoft Web site: Note The "Hotfix download available" form displays the languages for which the hotfix is available. If you do not see your language, it is because a hotfix is not available for that language.

The Global version of this fix should have the following file attributes or later: After the hotfix is installed, the Global version of this fix will have the file attributes (or later) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel. This fix is a post-Office XP Service Pack 2 (SP-2) fix. To install the fix, you must have Office XP SP-2 installed. For additional information about Office XP SP-2, click the following article number to see the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Additionally, you may have to install Windows Installer 2.0 to install this fix. For additional information about the Windows Installer requirement for post-Office XP SP-2 fixes, click the following article number to see the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was first corrected in Office XP Service Pack 3.

To configure Outlook to use Word to edit your e-mail messages or to read Rich Text r-mail messages:

1. Start Outlook.
2. On the Tools menu, click Options.
3. On the Mail Format tab:
   • To set Word to edit E-mail messages, click to select the Use Microsoft Word to edit E-mail messages check box.
   • To set Word to read Rich Text e-mail messages, click to select the Use Microsoft Word to read Rich Text E-mail messages check box.
4. Click OK.