word becomes unresponsive every few minutes

Question

Word becomes unresponsive every few minutes. Contacted Microsoft support a couple of months ago. The agent had me reinstall office. It worked for a while but the "unresponsive" pauses are reoccurring.... Have "repaired" the app, have reinstalled word, have tried what's available on your website. nothing seems to work

Answer 1

If Microsoft Word becomes unresponsive every few minutes, it could be due to several reasons. Here are some steps you can take to troubleshoot the issue:

1. Excessive Tracked Changes or Comments: If your document contains a lot of tracked changes or comments, this can slow down Word. Consider accepting or rejecting changes and removing comments periodically. You can follow these steps:
   • Close all instances of Word.
   • Restart Word and open a new blank document.
   • On the Review tab, select All Markup in the Tracking group.
   • Set Balloons to Show only comments and formatting in balloons.
   • Open the problematic document and check if Word is responsive.
2. Graphics Driver Issues: Sometimes, outdated graphics drivers can cause performance issues. Check if you have an affected Intel graphics driver and update it if necessary. You can find the driver version in the Device Manager under Display adapters.
3. Office Updates: Ensure that your version of Office is up to date. Sometimes, updates include fixes for performance issues. You can check for updates through the Office application or via the Microsoft website.
4. Online Repair: If the standard repair option did not work, try performing an Online Repair of your Office installation. This can often resolve deeper issues that a quick repair might miss.
5. Reinstallation: If the problem persists, consider completely uninstalling Office, restarting your PC, and then reinstalling Office from your Microsoft account.

If none of these steps resolve the issue, you may want to reach out to Microsoft support again for further assistance.

---

References:

• Word slows or stops responding if there are excessive tracked changes or comments
• Some Office applications are not responding
• Troubleshoot problems that occur when you start or use Word