Word Documents with Broken Links Taking Too Long to Save

Question

We frequently receive Word documents (.doc or .docx format) in emails via Outlook, and some of these documents contain broken links. The issue arises when we make changes to these documents and try to save them—it takes over 30 seconds, probably because Word is trying (and failing) to access the content from these broken links online.

Through trial and error, I discovered that manually removing the broken links significantly reduces the save time. However, this isn’t practical given the volume of emails we handle daily. Interestingly, this problem seems to affect only .doc files, not .docx.

I also tried using the "Break Links" feature in Word, but it causes Word to freeze temporarily (showing "Not Responding"). When the links finally load, breaking them not only removes the links but also deletes images and other graphics in the document, which I don’t want.

I’ve tried running Word in offline mode, and even upgraded from Word 2007 to Word 2019, but the issue remains the same.

Is there any way to adjust timeout settings in Word/Office to stop it from trying to load broken links? Or any other suggestions to fix this problem without manually removing the links every time?

Answer 1

Hi @Researcher

I have some questions:

• Are these links hyperlinks or OLE links that were insert Objects from other files and "link to their source files?
• Where is the link target, cloud, network shared folder or others?
• Have these files been downloaded locally?
• Will the same problem occur if the document you create locally contains broken links?
• Do colleagues encounter the same problem?

Here is a way to remove all hyperlinks in a file, but it cannot remove broken links.

• Press Ctrl+A to select all text.
• Press Ctrl+Shift+F9.

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