When it comes to productivity applications, Microsoft Word takes the cake. In fact, I’d even go so far to say that Microsoft Word is more than a productivity app; it’s a utility. A necessity for anyone who owns a computer—and yes, even if you own a Mac.

• Word Is Running Slow
• Microsoft Word Slow To Load
• Microsoft Word Running Slowly
• Microsoft Word Slow On Mac

I use Microsoft Word every day. I used Word for writing blog posts like these (yes, including this one), for taking notes, writing video scripts, jotting down ideas, and so much more. And I’m not alone—according to Microsoft, the number of Word users out there is easily in the millions. In fact, Word is so popular that it’s difficult for anyone to use another word processor if it doesn’t allow you to save it as a .doc. This in particular is one reason so many Mac users need Windows—for must-have applications like Microsoft Word and the rest of Office Suite.

Word Is Running Slow

Thankfully, we already know how easy it is run Microsoft Word on Mac with Parallels Desktop. Yes, you could fire up Pages or download Office 2016 for Mac with a subscription to Office 365, but sometimes, the original can’t be beat.

How meta is this screenshot of this exact blog post in Microsoft Word?

If you’re not sure how to get started, here’s where you can learn more about Parallels Desktop and how to run Windows on Mac. Bonus: you can even try it for free.

Sep 03, 2019 However, slow performance of Microsoft Word is quite common on many computers due to various reasons. This may result in reduced productivity for business professionals and normal computer users. In this article let us explain how to fix slow Word when opening, typing and saving documents to speedup productivity. To work around this behavior, add the EnableShellDataCaching value to the Microsoft Windows registry. To do this, follow these steps: Close your Office programs. Click Start, and then click Run.

Do you use Microsoft Word on your Mac? Tell us whether you prefer the Windows version or Office for Mac in a comment, or reach out to us on Facebook or Twitter.

Note

Office 365 ProPlus is being renamed to Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise. For more information about this change, read this blog post.

Symptoms

When you try to open a file from a network location in one of the Microsoft Office programs such as PowerPoint 2003 , Excel 2003, Publisher 2003 or a later version of them, the Office program may run very slowly or may appear to stop responding (hang).

Microsoft Word Slow To Load

Cause

This behavior may occur if the connection to the network location is lost during the time that your Office program is opening the file.

Workaround

Important

This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, see How to back up and restore the registry in Windows.

Microsoft Word Running Slowly

To work around this behavior, add the EnableShellDataCaching value to the Microsoft Windows registry. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Close your Office programs.

2. Click Start, and then click Run.

3. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.

4. Locate, and then click to select one of the following registry keys accordingly:

   

   • Office 365, Office 2019 and Office 2016:

     HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftOffice16.0CommonOpen Find

   • Office 2013:

     HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftOffice15.0CommonOpen Find

   • Office 2010:

     HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftOffice14.0CommonOpen Find

   • Office 2007:

     HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftOffice12.0CommonOpen Find

   • Office 2003:

     HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftOffice11.0CommonOpen Find

5. After you select the key that is specified in step 4, point to New on the Edit menu, and then click DWORD Value.

6. Type EnableShellDataCaching, and then press ENTER.

7. Right-click EnableShellDataCaching, and then click Modify.

8. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.

   Note

   Any non-zero number in the Value data box will turn on caching. A zero number or blank (default) will turn off caching.

9. On the File menu, click Exit to quit Registry Editor.

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More information

Microsoft Word Slow On Mac

This situation may occur after you click Open in the Open dialog box (on the File menu, click Open) to open a file from a network location (for example, a network server). During the process of opening the file, you lose your network connection or the network location that contains the file that you are trying to open goes down. During the process of opening the file, your Office program tries to add the file name and the path information of the file that you are trying to open to the Windows recent file list. Because the network location (path) does not now exist, the Office program may run slowly and may appear to stop responding (hang).

Note

This situation may also occur if your connection to your network is slow because your Office program has to make multiple queries to the network to obtain the correct file information.