Microsoft Word runs very slow on my Mac

I used MS Word 16.85.2 for 4 hours today without facing any problems - working with two documents with almost 150 pages each (one in Spanish and the other in Portuguese). This was impossible after 30 minutes with the standard 16.85. Where did you download the 16.86 release?

Similar issue on Word Version 16.85 And 14.5 on a M1 Mac Air. It seems with time the Word process has a tendency to fully utilize all available CPU until the process hangs. For some reason this does not show up as memory usage, disk usage or on the CPU Load chart. However, it does appear in the Word process % CPU as max use.

Broooook(e) wrote:

How do you install the .4? I only know how to do the last version.

You don’t. Microsoft released 16.85.2 this afternoon that fixes the issue. Use the usual update path...

Word->Help->Check for Updates

TJM814 wrote:

I am adding this image since when I recorded 16.86 still does not solve the problem I was told there is no 16.86… I assure you here is the screenshot

Are you perhaps in the Preview or Beta channel (instead of Current) for updates?

You need the Preview Channel to get the 16.85.2 update! Not the Beta!! The issue is only resolved in the 16.85.2 - that’s the one I’m using since yesterday without any problems! I’m certain MS will release a full version soon enough, but if you need it working now, then follow the instructions I gave yesterday!!

jalfaroChat wrote:

Oh my God, I am having the same problem, also working on my PhD thesis.I have lost some work already. This is really upsetting. I cleaned my mac to make sure it wasn't a malware problem and it isn't. :(

What does this statement "I cleaned my mac" mean? You can recover your files from your backup.

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.

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).

I have Office 2021 for Mac installed on my M2 Mac mini Pro (32GB). Sonoma 14.5. This is Word v16.86 and I have no performance issues working from the internal SSD. I deliberately chose to avoid using Microsoft's OneDrive Cloud solution due to inevitable Internet propagation delays that would impact document access performance.

Since I moved to 16.86, I've never faced lag issues anymore... For me, this is water under the bridge. I'm usually working with translations, which require me to work with two opened Word files (200 pages each) at the same time, and on 18.84 and 16.85, my life was a nightmare. Since the last update, my work life is back to normal.

Here's the link to the previous version (16.84).

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/update-history-office-for-mac

Scroll down - see where I've circled.

Please provide a screenshot of your About Word... We are recommending the "16.85.2"!

Cheers

I am adding this image since when I recorded 16.86 still does not solve the problem I was told there is no 16.86… I assure you here is the screenshot

[Edited by Moderator]

Word is a pig unless you have a lot of RAM installed. So is Excel and Powerpoint. Outlook isn't much better.

Read this article from 9to5Mac. Microsoft is aware of the issue and is working on a fix.

https://9to5mac.com/2024/05/23/microsoft-working-on-word-for-mac-freeze-fix/