Thanks to the advanced capabilities of Outlook 2003, you can now set some options in your email application that previously were limited to Word. For example, you can create and set a default signature or stationery from Outlook if Word is set as your email editor; or you can also specify spell check options, and even apply fonts for your messages. And the bonus is that if you change these options from Word, they change the equivalent settings in Outlook, and vice versa. Even if you turn off Word as your email editor, you can use it just for viewing messages that you receive, which can preserve formatting that might otherwise be lost. This means that when you create a new mail message, you are actually using Word to create the text.

For many, using Word as the email editor, has many more advantages than using Outlook as the email editor. For many, there's simply no question over why they would use Word as the editing tool, only how they might use it.

By using Word as your email editor, you can make use of many of the powerful Word command features.

AutoCorrect, for example, is a feature used to correct spelling errors as they are typed. For example, "teh" will automatically change to "the" when space or return is pressed. And the Automatic Spelling option ensures that all incorrectly spelled words will be highlighted with wavy red lines in the document. The error can be corrected by right-clicking over the word and choosing the correct replacement from the list displayed. More advanced options include being able to convert email names and Internet addresses into hyperlinks, and smart hyperlink formatting can convert hyperlinks whose URLs contain spaces. Even the bespoke themes you use every day in Word can be applied to Outlook.

For some of us, it's crucial to be able to insert tables into our email. A Word table consists of columns, rows and cells that can contain text or graphics. Tables are used to create tabulations, to align text and images or to place boxes around key parts of a document. Although you can create bulleted lists using Outlook as the email editor, when you use Word you can customise your bullets and even use images as bullets. And this is the same with the Numbering command: when you use Word you can customise your numbering and create multi-level outlines. And Paste Options allows you the flexibility to choose the format that you use to paste new information into your email document.

When you choose to use Word as your email editor in Outlook 2003, email messages take on a different appearance and there will be more options visible on the tool bar below the subject line, including, save, print, cut, copy and font control. Something to note, however: if you often correspond with people that have email systems that cannot understand messages created using Word, you may want to set Outlook back to its own message editor. You will still be able to use all of Outlook's features in your messages, but will not be able to use the above Word features.

To do this, In the Outlook Inbox, choose Tools, Options. Now click on the Mail Format tab. Uncheck the Use Microsoft Word to edit email messages box, then Click on OK. And if you receive a message in rich text format, Outlook will automatically reply in the same format. Similarly, if you receive a message in plain text, Outlook will use this format when replying. If you want to reset Word as the default editor for email messages in Outlook, make sure the Use Microsoft Office Word 2003 to edit e-mail messages checkbox is selected.

If you want to turn Word on for viewing all Rich text formatted messages, for example, if you often receive the message "This message contains formatting that is best viewed with Microsoft Word. Click here to display in Word" then follow these steps: From the main Microsoft Outlook window, click the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Mail Format tab. Select the Use Microsoft Word to read Rich Text e-mail messages box.