Word 2004 painfully slow on G5

[tuqqer]

I'm wondering how many others are experiencing this.

Since upgrading from Office 2001 to 2004 the week it came out, I have
been writing in Word 2004 every day (I'm an author). I'm now convinced
it is the worst upgrade I've done since, well, Word 6.

Granted, I'm on a G5 with 1.5 gigs of RAM, and Word may need the new
liquid cooled Macs in order to operate as fast as the 2001 version
did. But what a frustrating experience. Bolding or deleting a word
takes just over 1 second each time. Deleting an entire sentence takes
a bit longer, as does changing a Style.

I've tried a variety of experiments, from restarting, starting from a
new test User account, running Onyx, permissions, Tech Tools Pro, Disk
Warrior, zapping PRAM, quitting all apps except Word, removing the
Office fonts (I have just 4 other fonts aside from the ones Panther
installed) and starting up in Safe Boot. I'm using OS 10.3.4, with all
updates.

I have no doubt that the Office mac team are working on an update, and
I look forward to that.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

I'm wondering how many others are experiencing this.

Well, I'm certainly not.

Since upgrading from Office 2001 to 2004 the week it came out, I have
been writing in Word 2004 every day (I'm an author). I'm now convinced
it is the worst upgrade I've done since, well, Word 6.

That's saying an awful lot. I can't imagine what you're having to go
through that would lead to that evaluation.

Granted, I'm on a G5 with 1.5 gigs of RAM, and Word may need the new
liquid cooled Macs in order to operate as fast as the 2001 version
did. But what a frustrating experience. Bolding or deleting a word
takes just over 1 second each time. Deleting an entire sentence takes
a bit longer, as does changing a Style.

For me, using either a 450MHz G4 or a 1.33GHz G4, on a 1500+ page
document, words are bolded or deleted in the time it takes to release
the CMD-B or Delete keys, and a sentence takes a barely perceptible
moment longer.

Are you working with a large document in page layout view with lots of
graphics and automatic repagination turned on?

If so, what happens when you work in Normal view? or turn automatic
repagination off? or use picture placeholders?

Is it a single document or all your documents? If only one, try copying
all but the last paragraph mark to a fresh document. The last paragraph
mark is the GUI representation of the container for document info. If
that's gotten corrupted, copying the remaining info should fix it.

I've seen one particular document that slows down to a crawl while
scrolling, but deleting and bolding are fast as ever.

I've tried a variety of experiments, from restarting, starting from a
new test User account, running Onyx, permissions, Tech Tools Pro, Disk
Warrior, zapping PRAM, quitting all apps except Word, removing the
Office fonts (I have just 4 other fonts aside from the ones Panther
installed) and starting up in Safe Boot. I'm using OS 10.3.4, with all
updates.

Have you tried, with Word closed, renaming the Normal template, and
moving your Microsoft preferences folder?

I have no doubt that the Office mac team are working on an update, and
I look forward to that.

They're certainly working on an update, but it seems to me your setup is
significantly out of norm.

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur [MVP]]

Well, I'm certainly not.

Same thing here.

That's saying an awful lot. I can't imagine what you're having to go
through that would lead to that evaluation.

To me it certainly is the sign of something awfully wrong with the install.
Word is working just fine on my G5.

For me, using either a 450MHz G4 or a 1.33GHz G4, on a 1500+ page
document, words are bolded or deleted in the time it takes to release
the CMD-B or Delete keys, and a sentence takes a barely perceptible
moment longer.

No such problem here either.
I would recommand a serious cleanup:

uninstall the app through the uninstaller (make sure to backup your custom
files like Normal etc.)

- check the hard drive for damage
- repair the permissions and reboot
- check the fonts for damages

then re-install (you can re-repair permissions, but I'm not sure that would
be necessary)
- deactivate Suitcase if you have it (it's known to generates some slow-down
- at least at launch time).
- dont' re-enbale your custom Normal template yet
- move your Microsft folder out of the Pref folder for the time being
- launch Word
- create a new document and populate it with text, etc.

and then try playing around with formatting, deleting and adding whatever you
want.

This should be a rather clean setup and would reveal the *normal* spead at
which Word should operate. You can then try to re-apply customizations and
open your own documents. It could help you pinpoint what induces these
slowdowns. It could be a corrupted pref, template or document for instance.


Corentin

 

[David]

I am running the program on a 1GHz iMac with 1GHz of RAM. I have much
the same experience as you.

The program falls behind my typing quite regularly (and I'm not a
particularly fast typist). I have the same experience with deletions as you.
Several seconds sometimes.

Very, very annoying!

 

[Ron Rhodes]

I, too, am an author, and find Word 2004 unbearably slow in bolding,
italicizing, deleting, etc. I'm running it on a dual 1-gig G4 (1 gig ram).

Need that update soon!!

RR

 

[Gene van Troyer]

I, too, am an author, and find Word 2004 unbearably slow in bolding,
italicizing, deleting, etc. I'm running it on a dual 1-gig G4 (1 gig ram).

Need that update soon!!

No such problem here on either a PB G4 (1 GHz, 1024 MB RAM) or iMac 20"
flatpanel (1.25 GHz, 1024 MB RAM). Office 2004 is snappy with really long
documents.

Gene van Troyer
\\/rite 0N

 

[JE McGimpsey]

I, too, am an author, and find Word 2004 unbearably slow in bolding,
italicizing, deleting, etc. I'm running it on a dual 1-gig G4 (1 gig ram).

Need that update soon!!

I wouldn't hold my breath for an update. Since most others apparently
aren't seeing the performance drag that you're seeing, it's more likely
a problem specific to your machine/Normal template/Preferences.

Have you tried any of the suggestions in the replies to the previous
post? Can you help shed any light on the problem?