Word and Excel files opening extremely slow

[Holcomb.frank]

We have a Dell laptop running Windows XP SP2 and the machine is all patched
and up to date. We have office 2003 on this machine and this is in regards to
local files only, the pc is not used on a network. Recently what has started
happening is if you go to my documents and click on a word or excel file it
will take an extremely long time for the application to open and then finally
after another short period the file will appear. Where as if I go to
Microsoft Word first, it opens immediately and then if I go to my documents
and select a word file, it will also open immediately. This is also true for
Excel. Other then that, the computer is running great. We have run defrag,
chkdsk /r, system file checker, detect and repair in Office and everything is
fine. We use symantec for spyware and virus' and we have tried it with it
enabled, and disabled, and it made no difference. We have also scanned the pc
for virus' and spyware using other products as well and the machine comes up
clean everytime. Any suggestions as to what may be causing this, please
advise?

 

[cybo01]

same here, on two laptops, workstations are working fine.
anybody an idea ?

grtz/sbk

 

[Bob I]

Version? And what happens if you open the application first, and then
open the file?

 

[Lupo_Chuck]

I have the same problem. The only solution I have found has been to quick
launch the app and then open the file. Opening the file first takes 15-30
seconds, which is crazy. Most likely the reason there isn't an Office quick
launch.

 

[cybo01]

we're using office 2003 pro (dutch) sp3.

gr/sbk

 

[Bob I]

And what happens if you open the application first, and then open the file?

And

 

[Bob I]

Office 2003 and 2000, it could be DDE has be messed up, it can be fixed
by reinstalling, OR this workaround.

Go to Control Panel, Folder Options, File Types, scroll down to and
select (DOC for Word files) or XLS (for Excel files), click Advanced,
select Open entry, click the edit Button.
Now uncheck "Use DDE" and then put your cursor in the Application box,
arrow all the way to the right and put in "%1" (include the quote
marks), IF there is /dde remove it. Then OK your way out. Things should
work quickly again.

 

[JC]

I am using Office 2007 home and student. have it on two desktops and a
laptop. I have this problem with the slow opening for the laptop but not the
desktops.

files take about 30 seconds to open when clicked on but open instantly if i
open word then click "open" and browse to the file.

Help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance

 

[SarahB]

Hi

I'm running XP SP2, and had the same problem with Word taking ages to
open when I wanted to open a document (usually from Outlook Express). So
I followed your instructions and unchecked DDE, deleted /dde and added
"%1".

Word now opens really quickly, which is great. But instead of opening
the file, I get a new blank document. Help!

Sarah

 

[SarahB]

I've just checked - I can't open any of my own Word docs either - I just
get the blank new doc. Double help!

Sarah

 

[SarahB]

but I can if I open from within Word.

Sarah

 

[xrotaryguy]

I am running Vista on my Laptop and am having a similar problem. Th
problem started when I had to reinstall Vista. Word and Excel worke
fine prior to the reinstallation. Neither Word not Excel will open i
less than 2 minutes at this time.

If I attempt to open a file from the directory, I will wait for severa
minutes with before seeing a message that says Word was shut dow
improperly last time and that I should consider starting in safe mode
The program will run just fine whether I chose safe mode or not.

Word and Excel both take a long time to open if I open them first an
then open a file from within the program. Only this time, the status ba
at the bottom of the screen says that Word is checking for viruses
Obviously a virus check of a single file should not require more than
minute.

I was running Office 2003, but I uninstalled it thinking that Offic
2007 might work better. Unfortunately, Office does the same darn thing
Bummer.

Any suggestions? I am getting tired of using OpenOffice.org

 

[Bob I]

For one thing your Anti-virus is causing you grief. Open it's settings
panel and DIS-able any option that is named similar to Office Plugin.
That feature is useless and causes plenty of grief. After you get that
problem out of the way, UNinstall Office, reboot, and then install
without that adding.

 

[xrotaryguy]

Thanks Bob I. I'll give it a try.

 

[margaretb888s]

Hello --

My slow-opening problem began when I downloaded and installed XP'
Service Pack 3, although a friend has had this problem for a very lon
time. I have made no changes to my firewall or virus software. I did tr
the fix in Control Panel, disabling DDE, and now cannot double click o
any Word document to open, nor can I open a Word attachment to email
But Word docs DO open that are hyperlinks in IE. The only other chang
to my computer is adding PC Tuneup, which recently did a registr
cleanup.

I don't really think this is a virus program or firewall issue

 

[Bob I]

Sorry to hear that you did a registry cleanup. Perhaps if you are lucky,
you may uninstall and then reinstall Office to correct the issue now.

 

[Jaye K]

Not sure if you resolved this but I had the same issue.

Make sure you did not put a space before the "%1" and that the "Use DDE" is
still unchecked.

Hope this helps