How to Switch from MAPI to VIM Electronic Mail Support

ID: Q109833

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Office for Windows, versions 4.2, 4.3
Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 6.0, 6.0a
Microsoft Windows 3.11

SUMMARY

This article describes how the Word for Windows Setup program installs support for electronic mail (email) programs and how you can modify your Windows settings to support one of two different electronic mail interface protocols: messaging application programming interface (MAPI) and vendor independent messaging (VIM is used by the Lotus cc:Mail electronic mail program).

MORE INFORMATION

All of the Microsoft Office for Windows programs (namely, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Mail, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Microsoft Access) support the MAPI interface protocol by default. To support VIM electronic mail systems, they use a MAPI-to-VIM translation DLL (MAPIVIM.DLL). The following two diagrams show the route Word uses when you send electronic mail using the Send command on the File menu:


   Microsoft Mail                Lotus cc:Mail
   ------------------------------------------

   File Send                     File Send
       |                             |
   MAPI.DLL                      MAPIVIM.DLL
       |                             |
   Microsoft Mail                VIM.DLL or SMI.DLL
                                     |
                                 cc:Mail

How Word Installs Electronic Mail Support

The Word Setup program searches the Windows WIN.INI file for the following setting, which indicates that a VIM-compliant email program (such as cc:Mail) is installed on your computer
```
      [Mail]
      MAPIDLL=<WINDOWS>\SYSTEM\MAPIVIM.DLL 
```
where <WINDOWS> is the location of your Windows program directory (for example, "C:\WINDOWS"). If Setup finds this setting, it copies the MAPIVIM.DLL file to your <WINDOWS>\SYSTEM subdirectory and updates the MAPIDLL setting in your WIN.INI file to reflect the location of the new MAPIVIM.DLL file.

If the MAPIDLL setting points to a different .DLL file, Microsoft Office programs use the MAPI functions in the specified .DLL instead of MAPI.DLL.

If Setup does not find the above MAPIDLL setting, it searches the WIN.INI file for the following setting, which indicates that a MAPI-compliant email application (such as Microsoft Mail) is installed on your computer:
```
      [Mail]
      MAPI=1 
```
NOTE: If Setup installs MAPI support, it deletes any MAPIDLL entry from your WIN.INI file, if one exists.

If Setup detects both MAPI and VIM on your system, it prompts you to select which messaging system to support.

How Word Determines Whether to Add Mail Commands to Menus

When you start the program, Word uses the following criteria to determine whether to add electronic mail commands to your menus (mail commands include the Send and Add Routing Slip commands on the File menu and the Merge To Electronic Mail selection in the mail merge helper):

When you start Word, it checks for the MAPIDLL= entry in the [Mail] section of your WIN.INI file. If Word finds this entry, it attempts to load the .DLL file from the listed location. If the MAPIDLL setting is invalid, or if the .DLL file is missing, Word looks for the .DLL file on the PATH (for Lotus CC:Mail, Word loads MAPIVIM.DLL if it finds VIM.DLL on the PATH). If Word cannot load the .DLL, it concludes that electronic mail functionality is unavailable, so it does not add mail commands to your Word menus.

If Word does not find the MAPIDLL= entry, it looks for the MAPI=1 entry in the [Mail] section of your WIN.INI file. If Word finds this entry, it attempts to load MAPI.DLL from a directory on the PATH. If Word cannot find MAPI.DLL or if the MAPI= setting is 0 (zero), Word concludes that electronic mail functionality is unavailable, so it does not add mail commands to your Word menus.

If the electronic mail commands are missing in Word, check the following:

Make sure the MAPIDLL= OR MAPI=1 setting is present in the [Mail] section of your WIN.INI file and that it points to a valid file in a valid location on your PATH statement. Add or correct the entry if necessary.

Check the PATH statement in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file to be sure it includes the location of the MAPIDLL file or MAPI.DLL.

If the problem persists, replace your existing .DLL file with a fresh copy. This rules out the possibility that the .DLL file is damaged.

How to Switch from One Mail System to Another

When you access email from Word, Word searches first for the MAPIDLL setting. If it finds this setting, Word supports VIM-compliant email systems. If it doesn't find it, Word then searches for the MAPI=1 setting and, if it finds it, it supports MAPI-compliant email systems.

If you work on a network that uses both MAPI- and VIM-compliant email programs, you may want Word to be able to switch back and forth between the two applications. To do this, add both of the above settings to the [Mail] section of your WIN.INI file. When you want to use a MAPI-compliant email program, comment the MAPIDLL line to deactivate it (to comment a line in the WIN.INI file, type a semicolon [;] at the beginning of the line). The following sample WIN.INI entries demonstrate this procedure:

To use a MAPI-compliant email program (such as Microsoft Mail), comment the MAPIDLL line:


   [Mail]
   ;MAPIDLL=<WINDOWS>\SYSTEM\MAPIVIM.DLL
   MAPI=1

To use a VIM-compliant email program (such as cc:Mail), remove the semicolon (;) from the MAPIDLL line to reactivate it:


   [Mail]
   MAPIDLL=<WINDOWS>\SYSTEM\MAPIVIM.DLL
   MAPI=1

NOTE: If Word Setup did not install the MAPIVIM.DLL file (this happens if there was no MAPIDLL line in your WIN.INI file), you must copy it from the original Word disks and decompress it in your <WINDOWS>\SYSTEM subdirectory. For instructions on manually decompressing a file, see pages 11-12 in the Microsoft Word 6.0 "Quick Results" manual. If you have 3.5- inch disks, MAPIVIM.DLL is located on Disk 7; if you have 5.25-inch disks, MAPIVIM.DLL is on Disk 8.

For more information on using cc:Mail with Word for Windows, query on the following words in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

cc:mail and mapivim.dll and lotus

The cc:Mail products included here are manufactured by Lotus Development Corporation, vendors independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding these products' performance or reliability.

REFERENCES

"Quick Results," for Microsoft Word version 6.0, pages 11-12

Additional query words: kbsetup w4wnetwork msmail e-mail ccmail winppt officeinterop smartsuite 6.00a word6 send routing available file menu can't mail macppt email


Keywords          : offwin 
Version           : WINDOWS:3.11,4.2,4.3,6.0,6.0a
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        :

Last Reviewed: April 26, 1999