Microsoft Word 2004 extreme lag.

[adrian.ngin]

Version: 2004 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) I'm experiencing an extreme lag when I open, type, delete character in word document.

I'm using the latest Macbook, with Snow Leopard Version 10.6.1. The Word 2004 has been updated to version 11.5.7, the latest one. It has been having this problem even before the update when it was still version 11.3.8.

It took 3 minutes just to open a document. Whenever I type or delete something, it took 5 to 10 seconds to response.

I had tried quitting the program and reopen it several times, same problems happened over and over again.

I even tried restarting my computer, but the problem still persists.

Anyone knows how can I rectify the problem? Please let me know asap.

Thanks,
Adrian

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Adrian:

There can be many causes of this: the first one to look for is Tracked
Changes.

Go to Tools>Tracked Changes>Accept or Reject... And Accept All (if it says
it can't find any, then that was not the cause...)

If that wasn't the cause, then Start Activity Monitor and let's see what's
happening in there:

Post the figures for "Free Memory", and CPU "% idle" so we get an idea where
the trouble lies.

Either the document is too complicated, or you're out of memory, or
something is hogging the CPU.

Cheers

Version: 2004 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) I'm experiencing
an extreme lag when I open, type, delete character in word document.

I'm using the latest Macbook, with Snow Leopard Version 10.6.1. The Word 2004
has been updated to version 11.5.7, the latest one. It has been having this
problem even before the update when it was still version 11.3.8.

It took 3 minutes just to open a document. Whenever I type or delete
something, it took 5 to 10 seconds to response.

I had tried quitting the program and reopen it several times, same problems
happened over and over again.

I even tried restarting my computer, but the problem still persists.

Anyone knows how can I rectify the problem? Please let me know asap.

Thanks,
Adrian

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

 

[adrian.ngin]

Hello John

I had tried to find the changes, but no changes were made.

The figures for "Free Memory" is 40 MB and CPU "% idle" is 42.00

I don't think that the document is complicated, it is just a 2 pages text document without pictures or graphs. Even if I open a new document, same problem occurs.

I'm not sure what is hogging, even if all the programs are closed, it still happens.

Just in case you need to know the specification of my computer, it still has 203.7GB of space.

The Hardware Overview:

Model Name: MacBook
  Model Identifier: MacBook6,1
  Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
  Processor Speed: 2.26 GHz
  Number Of Processors: 1
  Total Number Of Cores: 2
  L2 Cache: 3 MB
  Memory: 2 GB
  Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz
  Boot ROM Version: MB61.00C8.B00
  SMC Version (system): 1.51f53
  Serial Number (system): WQ9413JH8PW
  Hardware UUID: 1E998532-0A88-5A9D-9667-A3D5A515FFD7
  Sudden Motion Sensor:
  State: Enabled

Please advice.


Thanks,
Adrian

 

[CyberTaz]

One point that I picked up on is your OS X update level... Snow Leopard has
been at 10.6.2 for some time now. It may help a bit to fetch the COMBO
update from the Apple Downloads site, apply that & repair disk permissions
followed by a restart.

Also, although 2GB sounds like a lot of RAM it really is minimal by today's
requirements. If there's any way you can boost it to 4GB you'll undoubtedly
experience a significant performance increase. On that same note, if only
40MB is free it suggests that you have other programs & processes running in
addition to Word. What happens if you shut them down?

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[adrian.ngin]

Hello Bob,

I have upgraded to Snow Leopard 10.6.2. Restarted the comp, repaired the disk. Everything is OK. Same thing happens, it spends 3 to 4 mins just to open a 2 pages word doc. Even when I tried to type, delete, scroll down or clicking on the word window, it is still lagging.

I'm not sure if the 2MB RAM is insufficient, I got no problem running Adobe Photoshop, Indesign and Illustrator at the same time with multiple files in each program.The rest of Microsoft Office programs like Powerpoint and Excel run perfectly except for Word.

Right now, the only programs I run are Activity Monitor, Finder, Firefox and Word. The Word program is still lagging or not responding at all.

Here is the status of the Activity Monitor with only these four programs are running:
"Free Memory" is 672 MB and CPU "% idle" is 91.00

Adrian

 

[John McGhie]

Yeah, you have the same model MacBook as this one, and it's maxed out at 2
GB of memory (you can actually put 3 in, but that won't make much
difference).

If the CPU is 91 % idle and you have 672 MB fee memory, the problem has to
be disk I/O.

Please carry out the following test:

1) Create a new blank word document.

2) In it, type one line of text. No formatting, just one line of text.

3) Save the document and quit Word.

4) Double-click that document and time the time until you can type in it.

I want to find out whether it is "all" documents that are experiencing this,
or just "one particular" document.

Now, Restart the computer. Don't start any other applications.

5) Repeat Step 4, and compare the time.

6) Close the document, but not Word.

7) Repeat Step 4 again.

You will get three times. I want to measure whether the problem involves
the "First Launch", "Warm Start" or "Hot Start". The difference will give
me an idea of where the problem lies.

On this MacBook (which is the same model as yours, but with the 2.16 GHz
processor) the timings are 18 seconds, 10 seconds, and 5 seconds.

Mine is a little slower, because I have macros in the Normal template that
need to be compiled. I am running OS 10.6.2.

Cheers

Hello Bob,

I have upgraded to Snow Leopard 10.6.2. Restarted the comp, repaired the disk.
Everything is OK. Same thing happens, it spends 3 to 4 mins just to open a 2
pages word doc. Even when I tried to type, delete, scroll down or clicking on
the word window, it is still lagging.

I'm not sure if the 2MB RAM is insufficient, I got no problem running Adobe
Photoshop, Indesign and Illustrator at the same time with multiple files in
each program.The rest of Microsoft Office programs like Powerpoint and Excel
run perfectly except for Word.

Right now, the only programs I run are Activity Monitor, Finder, Firefox and
Word. The Word program is still lagging or not responding at all.

Here is the status of the Activity Monitor with only these four programs are
running:
"Free Memory" is 672 MB and CPU "% idle" is 91.00

Adrian

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

 

[adrian.ngin]

I had done step 1 to 3. It took 11 secs.

Step 4. It took 11 secs.

Step 5. It took 14 secs.

Step 7. It took 11 secs.

All the lines are created using the same sentence, same number of characters.

Any word document has the same problem, the longer the text, the longer it lags.

Adrian

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Adrian:

OK, so I created a 1,000-page document of 8.2 MB on this MacBook and then
did the tests with Word 2004 as the only application running.

My times were: Cold Launch 12 secs, Re-launch 9 secs and already running 4
secs.

So our next step is to replace your Normal template and try again. Your
Normal template should be in the Microsoft User Data folder in your
documents folder, unless you have moved it (in which case, you will know
where it is...) The file is simply called Normal and has no extension.

Quit Word, then delete the Normal template and empty the trash.

Now try...

The Normal template is the model from which Word creates its blank
documents. If there is a corruption in yours, that can mean that every
document you create is corrupt.

Hope this helps

I had done step 1 to 3. It took 11 secs.

Step 4. It took 11 secs.

Step 5. It took 14 secs.

Step 7. It took 11 secs.

All the lines are created using the same sentence, same number of characters.

Any word document has the same problem, the longer the text, the longer it
lags.

Adrian

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

 

[adrian.ngin]

Hey John,

Thanks for that advice. It really works!!! I have to delete the Normal template and empty the trash, then when I open any word document, it just runs smoothly.

Now, the next problem arises. After I quit the Word program, it is back to the lagging mode. I have to delete and empty the Normal template in order to run smoothly.

Is there anyway I can fix this automatically without having to delete and empty the Normal template all the time?

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Adrian:

This means one of two things happened:

1) Word was still running (or some other part of Microsoft Office was) when
you deleted the Normal template

2) Your system Administrator is replacing your Normal template at login
with a broken one.

Try again, this time, quite Word and reboot before you delete the Normal
template.

Word loads the normal template at startup, and holds it in memory. When you
quit, it re-writes the one on disk with the one in memory, so you have to
ensure Word is really gone, or like Jason, it will just keep coming
baaaaak....

Oh: There is one other possibility, which is extremely unlikely. If there
is more than one copy of Normal on the system, and one was created in an
older version of Word, when Word re-starts in can find and use the old
version. Make sure there is only ONE version of Normal visible to Spotlight
before Word restarts ...

If it's your system administrator that's doing this, well, you know what to
do... Young and inexperienced system administrators often do not understand
that the Normal template is Word's personal and private scratch-pad for each
user. Any attempt to share it, lock it, or replace it causes endless user
problems.

Most system administrators are capable of learning this: the ones destined
to become Chief Information Systems Officers in major corporations can often
learn this with a gentle suggestion. Others may require encouragement, and
sometimes, you need to employ a baseball bat as a learning aid...

Now, if the problem comes back, we will have to go looking for rogue add-ins
that are damaging the Normal template.

Cheers

Hey John,

Thanks for that advice. It really works!!! I have to delete the Normal
template and empty the trash, then when I open any word document, it just runs
smoothly.

Now, the next problem arises. After I quit the Word program, it is back to the
lagging mode. I have to delete and empty the Normal template in order to run
smoothly.

Is there anyway I can fix this automatically without having to delete and
empty the Normal template all the time?

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

 

[adrian.ngin]

I had tried quitting Word and reboot before I delete the Normal
template.

After I restart my macbook, the same problem happens again. I always have to delete and empty the Normal Template in order for the word to function properly.

I'm the only user for my macbook and I tried the spotlight, there is only 1 Normal Template.

I guess I will need some add-ins to fix my Normal Template.

 

[CyberTaz]

Hello Adrian;

I'm afraid the Normal template can't be 'fixed' ‹ having Word build a new
one is the only fix there is. However, if you're constantly having to have
that done it suggests that there is something else lurking in the background
that is causing the template to corrupt.

Spotlight is not as effective as Apple would have us believe It might
not be a bad idea to do some nosing around to see if you can find any other
copies yourself. Start by having a look at Word> Preferences> File Locations
to see what's specified there. Also, take a look at Tools> Templates &
Add-Ins to see what might be loaded...

The first thing to suspect is any add-ins, utilities or 'haxies' you may
_already_ have. Apps of that nature could be writing something to your new
Normals which shouldn't be there. Try launching Word while holding the Shift
key then Quit & launch again to see if the problem continues.

If so, log out then hold Shift while you log in & see how Word does. You
might also try running Word in a different User Account to see if you have
the same situation there.

Reply with the results of each of those troubleshooting steps.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[John McGhie]

I agree with Bob: The cause is a program, it's not Word, and it's already
on your machine somewhere.

Chances are, there is another copy of Normal somewhere hat you haven't found
yet.

Or: It could be that Word was NOT actually quit when you replaced your
Normal Template. Quit and minimised are not the same thing: if you hit the
red button, Word closes the open document and minimises, but it continues to
run and holds Normal in memory.

Cheers

Hello Adrian;

I'm afraid the Normal template can't be 'fixed' ‹ having Word build a new
one is the only fix there is. However, if you're constantly having to have
that done it suggests that there is something else lurking in the background
that is causing the template to corrupt.

Spotlight is not as effective as Apple would have us believe It might
not be a bad idea to do some nosing around to see if you can find any other
copies yourself. Start by having a look at Word> Preferences> File Locations
to see what's specified there. Also, take a look at Tools> Templates &
Add-Ins to see what might be loaded...

The first thing to suspect is any add-ins, utilities or 'haxies' you may
_already_ have. Apps of that nature could be writing something to your new
Normals which shouldn't be there. Try launching Word while holding the Shift
key then Quit & launch again to see if the problem continues.

If so, log out then hold Shift while you log in & see how Word does. You
might also try running Word in a different User Account to see if you have
the same situation there.

Reply with the results of each of those troubleshooting steps.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

 

[adrian.ngin]

sorry for the long reply. It had been a busy week.

These are the items in
Under preference>file location>
documents
clipart pictures
user template
workgroup templates
user option
autorecover files
tools
startup

Tools>Template and add-ins
PDFMaker.dot (only)

I tried holding on to Shift, the Word runs smoothly. After I quit and launch Word again without holding Shift, the lagging problem comes back again. Then I tried holding Shift and relaunch it, Word runs as per normal. That concludes it works only if I hold on to Shift.

I tried logging out and log in again, the result is the same. The problem is as usual.

I created a guest account and logged in as guest. To my surprise, the Word loading time is immediate. Everything runs smoothly without any lag at all. I quit the Word and relaunch it, it has no problem running it.

When I log into my account, at first launch, the Word has no problem running. I relaunch it without holding on to Shift, the problem comes back again.

 

[John McGhie]

There you go! Get rid of PDFMaker.dot, which can not work in Word 2008, and
your troubles will be over...

PDFMaker.dot causes more trouble than it cures, even on Windows where it
does work. Always get rid of it. And prevent Adobe from putting it back ‹
it's toxic!

Cheers

sorry for the long reply. It had been a busy week.

These are the items in
Under preference>file location>
documents
clipart pictures
user template
workgroup templates
user option
autorecover files
tools
startup

Tools>Template and add-ins
PDFMaker.dot (only)

I tried holding on to Shift, the Word runs smoothly. After I quit and launch
Word again without holding Shift, the lagging problem comes back again. Then I
tried holding Shift and relaunch it, Word runs as per normal. That concludes
it works only if I hold on to Shift.

I tried logging out and log in again, the result is the same. The problem is
as usual.

I created a guest account and logged in as guest. To my surprise, the Word
loading time is immediate. Everything runs smoothly without any lag at all. I
quit the Word and relaunch it, it has no problem running it.

When I log into my account, at first launch, the Word has no problem running.
I relaunch it without holding on to Shift, the problem comes back again.

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

 

[adrian.ngin]

hey John,

I had remove PDFmaker.dot. I deleted it and emptied the trash, there's no more add-ins. But the problem is still the same.

 

[adrian.ngin]

I'm using Word 2004 by the way.

 

[John McGhie]

Next step is to disable all your font managers. When Word first loads, it
checks the Microsoft Office Font Cache against the OS Font Cache. If they
are different, Word builds a new font cache every time. If you have more
than about 200 fonts loaded, this can take quite a while

I'm using Word 2004 by the way.

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

 

[John McGhie]

Sorry: I meant to explain: Some font managers allow you to enable or
disable fonts dynamically, application by application. If you do this, the
appearance of the system font cache varies constantly, moment by moment, as
applications start and stop. Which means the Office Font Cache is
permanently out of date, and always needs to be rebuilt, so Word always
starts slowly.

If you have fewer than a thousand fonts, why not just load them all up and
leave them that way: Word will start in three or four seconds every time.

Hope this helps

I'm using Word 2004 by the way.

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

 

[adrian.ngin]

how should I disable the font manager?