Outlook 2010 Sendto ==> Mail recipient not working

[Johnny L.A.]

They gave us new computers at work a month or so ago, and I've been having a problem with Outlook 2010 running on Windows 7.

To send a file I right-click on it, click on Send to, and then click on Mail recipient. This is supposed to open an outgoing mail (in reality, a dialogue box that looks like a new mail window -- which is why you can't look at other emails while it is open; but I digress). This is not working. When I click on Mail recipient there is a little 'flash' as usual, as if the mail is opening, but it doesn't open. To send files I have to open a new mail, type the message, and then drag the file into it. Unhandy, and many times I forget to drag over the attachment. Here's the kicker: Send to ==> Mail recipient might eventually start working. It might start working after manually sending three or four files, or it might work after the second time. Or it might not start working at all.

The IT guy said this is a known problem, and he applied a patch a couple of weeks ago. The patch didn't work. I've tried using the Start ==> Find program box to type in fixmapi and double-clicking on fixmapi.exe, which I presume executes it. No joy.

This is not an 'emergency', so I'm not allowed to contact the IT guy directly to see if he's found a solution. (Funny, since it technically costs more to spend a half hour exchanging multiple emails with our 'gatekeeper' before the IT contractor is finally contacted anyway.) So I thought I'd ask here to see if anyone else has heard of this problem, and if anyone has been able to solve it.