Cannot open word as email editor

I use office 2003 and just today I cannot open the email editor in Outlook.
Get the error message included in many other posts. The editor opens, but
cannot send an email - error message is "unpecified error". I have tried to
do the run a repair, but no improvement. In my programs, there is just
something for office, not the separate programs - word, outlook, etc. So, do
I reinstall MS office. If I do this, will my data in outlook all be lost?

I am not a programer, so please be as detailed as possible in any response
you might have.