XP Pro Outlook Express problem driving me nuts!!!

[murph]

This is a minor thing but I'm ready to pull my hair out over it!!!!

Just installed XP Pro, it's working great. But now in Outlook Express I can't COPY any words etc in an email message, or select something to delete etc. It's either right-click and select all or else it's nothing.

Sounds minor but I cut, paste, copy etc snippets of emails from one to another all the time. I have a whole folder of basically "stock" type emails for my business which I copy and paste into a new email and then just cut various words or lines and refill with the pertinent info for that customer. Now I can't do that!

If I click in an email (old or new) and then try to run my mouse across a word, nothing at all happens - i.e. nothing gets highlighted and you can't select anything. So now I'm typing out lengthy emails to various people that are basically identical and I'm ready to lose it.

Can anyone please help me????!!! I have gone thru all options and basically every file in the outlook express toolbar and just can't find anything that applies to this problem. It must be somewhere in my XP settings? P.S. I can cut, paste, highlight etc everywhere else on the computer and on the internet, just NOT in outlook express!

[glc]

I don't know how to fix it, but do you have MS Office 2000 or newer on that computer? If you do, migrate your e-mail to Outlook - and consider setting Outlook to use Word for its e-mail editor. Outlook is a far more robust tool for e-mail than OE anyway.

A thought - are you trying to copy from the preview pane, or are you opening the message into its own window?

[murph]

Hi, nope don't have MS Office. Any ideas as to why this might be happening or where I might look to fix it?

Should I maybe download/reinstall Explorer or something? (Doesn't that update OE as well?)

Oh, and it doesn't matter if I try to copy from previous window/pane, open the message etc etc. Or if I "select all" and paste that into a new email I still can't highlight/select/cut etc just part of it. Just doesn't work.