Word beta slows dramatically upon JPEG insertion

[WH]

I've got a reasonably fast XP machine -- 2G memory, Athlon 64 (32 bit mode),
3000+ -- and Word slows to a crawl when I create this document:

Type "This is a test" in a new document.
Insert a 470KB JPG file below that line.
Type below it "This is a test."

It takes four seconds for letters in the bottom line to appear, one at a
time, after I finish typing.

Obviously, one solution would be to not insert any graphics until all the
text has been entered. But couldn't you do something to speed up text entry
following the JPEG? This is likely to be a common scenario. The text is not
being reformatted, it's merely that new characters are being added to the end
of the document, and way too much recalculation of something is going on.

In one document with multiple JPGs, the text did seem to go in faster, once
it was down a few lines, or on a new page.



----------------
This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I
Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow this
link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then
click "I Agree" in the message pane.

http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...a72&dg=microsoft.public.word.drawing.graphics

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

With a Dell Latitude D610 and 1 GB of ram, there is a performance hit,
though not as much as you mention. Once on the next page however, there
does not seem to be any problem. Another way to eliminate the delay is to
check the picture placeholders box under the Word Options>Advanced dialog.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[WH]

OK, there are a number of workarounds, including going to draft mode; perhaps
being a fast typist makes it stand out for me. And it's probably too late in
the cycle for this to be fixed in Word 2007, if it even could be. I was just
trying to give feedback as a naive user who just wants the thing to work for
him.

 

[WH]

With a Dell Latitude D610 and 1 GB of ram, there is a performance hit,
though not as much as you mention. Once on the next page however, there
does not seem to be any problem. Another way to eliminate the delay is to
check the picture placeholders box under the Word Options>Advanced dialog.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[scwimbush]

This is not just a problem with jpeg files, but with others (tiff, at least)
as well. Insertion of small (200k) images slows operation to a crawl,
sufficiently far to be unusable without a great deal of effort, particularly
if you have a picture every few pages or so. Basically, when the picture is
sufficiently far offscreen, there is no drop in performance, but as soon as
it is there, any operation becomes intolerably slow. (On my system, selecting
the image takes 5 seconds, deselecting it a further 10.)

I really hope it's not "too late" for this bug to be fixed in the release
version.

A better workaround than those suggested so far is to save your file in the
Word 2003 format. That way, the problem does not arise. A nice way to
encourage us all to maintain file compatibility with the older version...

Incidentally, while suffering in this way, Word 2007 reveals its haggard
true self, with its "skin" peeling off to reveal the standard (albeit empty)
window frame, together with a "not responding" message. Frustrated users will
then discover the "feature" endemic to most Microsoft applications of
randomly jumping to the foreground to inhibit whatever other work you may be
trying to do, while not updating their entries in the task bar, so that a
click on the app you really want to use no longer works, while attempting to
rectify the situation by clicking the offending app results in it minimising
itself...

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Is there a "Picture placeholders" option? That should help.

This is not just a problem with jpeg files, but with others (tiff, at least)
as well. Insertion of small (200k) images slows operation to a crawl,
sufficiently far to be unusable without a great deal of effort, particularly
if you have a picture every few pages or so. Basically, when the picture is
sufficiently far offscreen, there is no drop in performance, but as soon as
it is there, any operation becomes intolerably slow. (On my system, selecting
the image takes 5 seconds, deselecting it a further 10.)

I really hope it's not "too late" for this bug to be fixed in the release
version.

A better workaround than those suggested so far is to save your file in the
Word 2003 format. That way, the problem does not arise. A nice way to
encourage us all to maintain file compatibility with the older version...

Incidentally, while suffering in this way, Word 2007 reveals its haggard
true self, with its "skin" peeling off to reveal the standard (albeit empty)
window frame, together with a "not responding" message. Frustrated users will
then discover the "feature" endemic to most Microsoft applications of
randomly jumping to the foreground to inhibit whatever other work you may be
trying to do, while not updating their entries in the task bar, so that a
click on the app you really want to use no longer works, while attempting to
rectify the situation by clicking the offending app results in it minimising
itself...

http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...a72&dg=microsoft.public.word.drawing.graphics