This is a question I've struggled with too. For the long run I think your best solution is to bite the bullet and provide a nice web based configuration. Until that time you obviously have more limited options. I have no idea what to do with the people who cannot get it through their head that a Word document is not a plain text file, but for the rest perhaps just providing a lot of examples would help. It's often a lot easier to grasp a concept when you see it rather than just reading about it,