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Spinning wheel keeps popping up (Word for Mac)

Anonymous
2024-01-15T15:03:47+00:00

I've read on this issue on other questions, but they have not been updated. I keep running into a significant problem when working in large documents in Word where the spinning wheel will start in the middle of typing/working on the document. This can happen every 2-3 minutes. Then I have to sit for 10 second to a full minute until it stops. I first thought that this was because of autosave, which I don't use but sometimes keeps coming back on for some reason. But that isn't it. I wonder if it has anything to do with Time Machine, although it doesnt run, sometimes my TM Backup drive will fire up for some reason (shouldn't; does). But this isn't all the time and the spinning circle happens when the drive doesn't fire up.

This is a real problem. I've run into this for the past 2-3 years. It costs me hours of time. I am in a 146 page document right now; a report due today. And here I am looking for solutions because it is devouring my time.

I haven't gone in safe mode because I don't want to take the time. Someone else said it didn't happen in safe mode. I don't have any add-ins, as was also mentioned. So that isn't the problem.

Thoughts? This isn't a new thing. This has happened on several computers. M1s, my current M2. New installs. It keeps happening so it is something on Word and the OS.

Microsoft 365 Insider | Word | MacOS

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-01-27T18:00:35+00:00

    This is a within app issue. When it happens, I can toggle to any other open program and everything‘s just fine. But word is frozen for about a minute and it’ll do it every few minutes. It’s just something about large documents with a lot of stuff in them. It’s not the processor. It’s not the OS. It’s word. This is a Microsoft issue.otherwise, every other app would be having some type of issue at the same time, and that does not happen. I can easily toggle into another app. But within word I can’t change page or anything until the circle goes away. That cuts out all the other issues as suggested.

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-01-28T18:35:22+00:00

    Well, it is on a bunch of other chats around the internet. That's how I found out it was more of a widespread issue. I don't count on Microsoft always exploring technical issues. This is "out there," for sure.

    Also, even amongst myself, this has happened on several computers, various versions of Word, and different setups and apps. I truly do not think this is something outside of Word. I think Word can't handle too many challenges in a file. Word is the most powerful word processor on the planet, but that brings a host of other issues. This is one of them.

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-01-26T15:14:54+00:00

    Yes, but this isn't the issue. When things are normal it is taking about 60 seconds of circling for me to move a cursor in the document. It isn't hogging at that time (Activity Monitor). There is something inherent in Word that is causing a lag. It isn't the processor (as stated, I am M2 and a ton of resources).

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-01-17T16:32:47+00:00

    Yes, but it isn't a beta build issue. It has been happening for several years on various computers and in several OS versions (and Word versions). It isn't new.

    Regarding CPU usage, I don't have CPU usage or memory issues. I'm running 24GB of RAM and never get below 6GB remaining. Funny, the biggest user of memory and CPU are almost always MS products, including Word and OneDrive. The other would be Chrome, of course, because its Chrome.

    3 people found this answer helpful.
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  5. Anonymous
    2024-04-13T15:47:39+00:00

    Hi Watson, this exact issue had also plagued me years ago, and just started happening again today (how I stumbled upon your post). From what I understand, large files can corrupt the template, which causes Word alone to hang just as you described.

    Anyway, the solution has always been to simply find and delete the "normal.dotm" file. While I tried that just now and it didn't fix the problem after a new normal.dotm was created, I then did these three things and restarted the computer, one of which solved the issue:

    1. deleted normal.dotm (again)
    2. deleted linkCreation.dotm
    3. Tools > Templates and Add-Ins... > Organizer... > on the right, click "Close File"

    Hope that helps. Running mac Word Version 16.83 (24031120)

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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