This may be easier to resolve than it seems, because right now it looks like
a tangled mess! I'm using Word, Excel, and Outlook 2000. A macro in Excel
gets or creates an instance of Word, sets an object to it, and then opens a
Word doc. The Word application object is set with late binding (Dim WD As
Object), rather than early binding to allow users of different versions to
use the macro. The object is set to Nothing at the end of the macro.

I have Outlook set to use Word as my email editor. If my Outlook is open,
Excel sees that as an instance of Word and uses GetObject to create the Word
object. I often get "leftover" Word instances that hang on when I close
Outlook or Shut Down.

Is there something peculiar to the way Outlook connects to Word that would
cause this? Is there a better termination that would resolve this?

Ed