Outlook Express And Printer

[evasser]

Greetings Experts! I have looked through all the postings and haven't seen his problem mentioned so here goes...

When using OE it will not display the printer icon and seems to think I have no printer installed. All other programs that I have installed (including MS Office 97 without Outlook - Hate it) work fine with the printer.

It's rather odd - when I start OE 6. The Reply-Reply To-Forward and Printer icons all appear just as outlines of the image. Don't recall it working that way in Win98... If there are messages in the Inbox or other folders, then the Reply-et al, icons appear, but the printer icon never shows up! As it is now, if I want to print a message I have to cut-copy-paste into Word or Notepad to print it!

I'm sure there must be something I haven't done right or a fix for this - have only had XP on the computer for about a week. Love this web site!!! So much valuable information!!!

Regards,
Ed

 

[westy1]

If you right click on the tool bar and choose customise you can add the printer icon there.

 

[evasser]

westy1;

Thanks, but the icon is there but shows up only as the outline of the printer. Selecting a message and clicking on the "Ghost" icon does nothing.

I'm baffled...

evasser

 

[westy1]

When you go into Printers and Faxes, do you have a black circle with a tick in it next to the name of your printer, and underneath it says READY.

 

[evasser]

Yep, the printer is set to default and it shows ready, but OE still won't recognize it... To add insult to injury - now I've discovered that the spell check feature won't work either - guess because I have Office 97 installed instead of OfficeXP... Oh well, overall I've pleased with WindowsXP... Can always use Netscape for my primary browser and email program...

 

[damnyank]

evasser

I never noticed that before - mine is the same way - however unless I missed your point I still print messages from Outlook Express.

Once I open the message, my print icon "turns on" (no longer ghosted) and also I have Print available under File!

At least this way you would not have to copy & paste to notepad!

Any Help??

 

[westy1]

Maybe you could try and reinstall your printer drivers, or maybe visit there web site to see if you are using the latest drivers.

Then you could try reinstalling office 97, there could be some corruption somewhere.

Are you using XP drivers for your printer, or even windows 2000 drivers.

 

[evasser]

damnyank (I like that...) and westy1...

I have all the latest XP drivers for my printer, scanner, etc installed and as I mentioned earlier - I seem to be able to print from any application except Outlook Express. Also have discovered that the spell check feature will not work - gives me some sort of message about the Spelling check failed...

Once I've downed messages, all the "ghost" icons except the printer appear and the File menu Print option is disabled. Rather strange to say the least.

I've even reinstalled Outlook Express, making sure the printer is on line and ready. No changes... I guess I'm wondering at this point if there could be a registry setting that could be changed so that OE knows where the printer (and?) the spell checker are located or that these items are installed on the computer???

When I get home this evening, I'll try reinstalling Office and see if that clears up anything...

Just had another thought... Any possibility that Norton Anti-Virus 2002 could be interfering with program installations?? It was the first thing I installed in WinXP after the initial clean install I did. Haven't noticed any problems with any other programs not installing or working properly though....

Thanks...
Ed

 

[damnyank]

evasser

I am running Norton Systems Works 2002 (well the sections that work with XP) including Nav 2002 and I have not had any problems with program installations.

I did some more fooling around and reliezed that I had the preview pane disabled VIEW, LAYOUT & check show preview pain (opps - PANE) .

When I did that (as I run mine with preview pane disabled) - my print icon unghosted and Print became available in the File menu.

When I again disabled Preview Pane - the print icon and Print in the File menu ghosted.

Just to make sure we are on the same page:

I download my messages (Send/Rec)
Then I double-click on the message title
The message opens in another window
AND - both printer icon and file menu printer are enabled!

What do you get when you try the Preview Pane thingy??

 

[evasser]

damnyank;

I think you win the today's prize!!!

I too never use the preview pane (not a good idea) but when I switched it over to preview pane and sent myself a couple of test messages - by golly there was the print icon and I can print the message - either by just clicking on the message header or if opening the message the print icon is there too. The funny thing about this is that after I went back and disabled the preview pane I still have the printer icon when I open the message for viewing..

Perhaps you've discovered one of those famous Micro$oft undocumented features(????) - OE sure did not behave in this manner under Win98...

Now if only I can solve the spell check problem without having to resort to buying Office XP - I'll be one happy camper...

Thanks very much...
The South Will Rise Again!!

Ed

 

[damnyank]

evasser

So glad I could help!

Now if only I could get my System Restore problem fixed - I too would be a happy camper!

BTW - being from Pennsylvania originally - you can imagine what kind of comment I thought about when you said "the south will rise again"! Yes, something along the lines of __it floats!

Only kidding - been here for 10 years and love the nice, slow, kicked back, backwards way of life in Mississippi!

Cheers!!

 

[evasser]

damnyank;

Transpanted from Pennsylvania huh? Thought I'd let you know that I have developed quite a fondness for Pennsylvania. One of my interests (besides sitting in front of this computer for hours on end) is in the old logging companies that operated in Pennsylvania. I have a complete set of books pertaining to the hundreds of operations that one existed in Pennsylvania and have read and reread them to the point I feel like I know a lot about Pennsylvania. I'm in the process of doing something similar on the numerous operations here in Kentucky.

Thanks again for your experimenting which lead to solving that little problem that really wasn't a problem. From what I've been able to find out - the spell check problem won't see a cure unless I fork over some more bucks to Uncle Bill and get Office XP... Darn funny the spell check works with the Office 97 apps, but nothing else... Oh well... New operating system = new software!!!

Take care...
Ed