I was only able to select text if I hit reply. In the reply email composition window I could select text.
This was frustrating.
Eventually I learned that if I hot ESCape (and possibly capslock toggle), them I could get to a mode where I could select text in a reading window.
The discussion at the following MS URL helped:
Helped. Did not describe the fix precisely, although it seems that others may have followed the same path. One poster kept asking "Does your cursor look like a hand?", and then suggested hitting ESCape.
Well, my cursor did not look like a hand. But hitting ESCape fixed the problem anyway.
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Sheesh, when I think of all the time I have wasted hitting reply to select and copy text...