What exactly does OfficeClickToRun.exe do?

Question

Good afternoon.

I know that the executable is included as part of Office 365. But can somebody tell me exactly what it does?

I notice that it is extremely resource-draining on one of my computers in particular. It's a W7-Home-64bit laptop

with 4GB RAM and 500GB hard drive. I have significantly more Office files on this computer than others. This

makes me wonder whether the OCTR binary is performing a scan of my drive and doing some kind

of processing for each file it finds.

The program appears to be driven by a service and some scheduled tasks. Assuming that it must be preserved for

normal O365 functionality, can I re-configure it somehow to be less invasive and, perhaps, to run on a far less frequent

basis?

Thanks in advance.

S

Answer 1

Hi Slls1961,

Based on my research, the officeclicktorun.exe runs as a service named 'Microsoft Office ClickToRun Service' (ClickToRunSvc). It helps manage resource coordination, background streaming, and system integration of Microsoft Office products and their related updates. This service is required to run during the use of any Microsoft Office program, during initial streaming installation and all subsequent updates. If this process consumes a lot of CPU or system resources, you can try the following steps and see if it helps:

1. disable service click-to-run (in services - set disabled)
2. restart computer (click-to-run will be not loaded)
3. open C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\Spw and delete all files
4. open C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\16.0\OfficeFileCache and delete all files
5. enable service click-to-run (set automatic)
6. restart computer

Regards,

Huni

Answer 2

I still have concerns, yes.

I have used Office for decades. Frankly, this "service" and supporting scheduled tasks strikes me as rather invasive.

I am happy to check for updates manually. Once the software is activated, and assuming my updates are delivered when I request them, the only other intrusion I expect is, perhaps, a periodic licence check (I have a 5-device licence) and annual subscription alert. What is the justification for hogging my system resources for minutes on end?

Thanks

S

PS. I don't need to "repair" my installation. I did try that once, and it decided to re-install the entire package.

Answer 3

I repeat:

But can somebody tell me exactly what it does?

Answer 4

Hi Slls1961,

Sorry for the delay, I was out of office in the last two days. Since this service also related to other services except update which is mandatory for Office programs to normally run, hence it cannot be disabled or manually modified. Given the situation, you may send us a feedback if you'd like us to improve the pattern how the background programs work with the Office apps. Uservoice website: https://office365.uservoice.com/forums/264636-general Many features of current programs might be designed and upgraded based on customers’ feedback. Your voice is important for us to improve our products.

Besides, this program is only supposed to run with a little RAM space and low CPU usage at background, if it always occupies a lot of system resources on your PC, there could be an issue with the program. To further check it, may I ask:

1)How many system resources does it occupy? Please collect a screenshot of the result from your Task Manager.

2)What is the current version of your Office suite? Open Word> File> Account, it's like Version XXXX (Build XXXX.XXXX).

3)Is it always happening on your PC?

Regards,

Leo

Answer 5

Running the latest version with all updates applied.

I would appreciate specific answers please.

Thanks

S