Microsoft Word runs very slow on my Mac

I downgraded to 16.84. Every hour, it just slowed down without any warning. I had to keep quitting and reopening Word. Can Microsoft get anything right ever?

Great news! I found WORD 16.86 is out! I am presently downloading it on my Mac… Fingers crossed!

don't save the word file on your desktop , just have it anywhere else and try ..

Me too, for the past few days. I've had to put a bunch of work on hold it is just so slow and inefficient. I have logged the issue on the Microsoft side and hear it may be a known issue they are working on.

Clearing out the normal.dotm is one suggestion I found on line - that would help temporarily. Also quitting or force quitting seems to help sometimes, but not really. Likewise a complete reboot. I've read a few posts suggesting removing any Word add ins, but I don't have any add ins.

I sure hope this gets resolved on one side or the other.

This is a thread I have been following about the issue of MS Word consuming too much memory: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/word-is-laggin-on-my-mac/a520fea1-564f-4118-b73b-ada1d8a0e9ef [you can read my comments there too]

It looks like MS is already aware of the reported issue and is working on it.

Cheers,

LM

SuffolkMags wrote:

I'm having the same problem, it's very frustrating. I can be working happily for a couple of hors and then for no apparent reason it just slows right down as described by others. What is rthw answer?

The answer is to wait for Microsoft to issue an update to fix it. Microsoft is aware of the issue and is preparing an update as we type.

In Word --

Help > Check for Updates > Advanced > In "Update Channel" change to "Current Channel (Preview)" > Close Preferences window > Check for Updates again and it should be there. I just installed it, so I have no idea if it fixes the lagging issue though.

Microsoft has people going back to 16.84 on their update page they are aware

"Really hope there's a solution to this ASAP."

You’ll just have to wait for Microsoft to fix it. Microsoft has announced they are aware and are working on a fix.

That's just a coincidence. It's 100% a Microsoft issue, not a Mac OS issue.

Downgrade to the previous version.

Apparently, the problem is resolved in Version 16.85.1 However, Office has not automatically updated to 16.85.1 - does anyone know how to force a download of 16.85.1

Then you have installed a beta or unauthorized version on your system. And the fact that it doesn’t work should be a clue to you. Delete it and install the correct version which is 16.85.2

I was thrilled to find this thread… I have been pulling my hair out trying to figure out why my brand new Mac air 15 was totally freezing up word after what seemed like an hour.

In fact, I called Apple support several times and reinstalled word and reinstalled the operating system.

Finally since the laptop was brand new I just brought it back to the Apple Store and got a new one.

it turns out while I was there one of the Genius Bar folks came by. I had some extra time so I re-created the issue… He was stumped… So as I mentioned, I ended up returning my new Macair book for a replacement

Microsoft just released a new update to MS WORD 16.85.2... There are no release notes to this new update. I'm beginning my tests now.

Regarding the installation of previous versions, the original recommendation was to install 16.83 and not 16.84, as the latter also presented the same performance issues.

Crossing my fingers... Cheers

[Edited by Moderator]

JamesMullinger wrote:

I am having the same problem as everyone else here. And I am cursing Microsoft for charing me $150 a year for Word and it doesn't work! I have read every page of this but I can't see a solution yet. Does anyone have one please? Thank you! Like all of you I am getting desperate and cannot see a fix for this anywhere.

You might give the free, open-source app, LibreOffice a try. It can open, edit and save MS Office files in both the Office format or its own format (and convert later to Office as needed).