WORD very SLOW

Question

WORD STOPPED WORKING. I TYPE and it takes minutes to write a letter, scroll down. I've checked all options, removed add-ins etc but nothing seans to work. this was after last windows update early this week.

#word

Answer 1

What happens if you start Word in safe mode?

https://support.office.com/article/dedf944a-5f4b-4afb-a453-528af4f7ac72

Is this a single document or all documents?

Which version of Word/Office are you using?
File > Account > About Word

Answer 2

The most common causes of Word suddenly becoming very slow or showing “stopped working” after an update are:

1. Problematic add-ins
2. Damaged Office installation
3. Specific document content (for example, excessive tracked changes)
4. Multiple Office language installs

Since add-ins are already disabled, follow these steps in order:

1. Check for excessive tracked changes or comments
   1. Close all Word windows.
   2. Start Word and open a new blank document.
   3. Go to Review tab → in Tracking, set All Markup.
   4. Select Show Markup → set Balloons to Show only comments and formatting in balloons.
   5. Use File → Open to open the slow document.
   6. If Word is now responsive, accept/reject tracked changes and remove comments until performance returns to normal.
2. Repair the Office installation (Online Repair)
   1. Close all Office apps.
   2. Open Start → Settings → System → Apps → Installed apps.
   3. Find Microsoft 365 / Microsoft Office, select the three dots (…) → Modify.
   4. Choose Online Repair → Repair.
   5. Let the repair complete and then restart Word and test again.
3. Remove extra Office language installs (if present)
   1. Go to Settings → Apps → Installed apps.
   2. Look for multiple entries of Microsoft 365 or Office in different languages (for example, German, French, etc.).
   3. Uninstall all extra language variants, leaving only the language actually used.
   4. Restart Windows and test Word again.
4. If Word still crashes or shows “has run into an error” If the “repair now” prompt inside Word does not help, run the Online Repair as described above. This is more thorough than the built-in quick repair and often reinstalls Office components that cause crashes or extreme slowness.

If performance is only bad with one or a few specific documents, focus on step 1 (tracked changes/comments). If it is slow with all documents, prioritize steps 2 and 3.

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References:

• Word slows or stops responding if there are excessive tracked changes or comments
• Fixes or workarounds for recent issues in Word for Windows
• I get a "stopped working" error when I start Office applications on my PC
• Microsoft Word (365) remains extremely slow - Microsoft Q&A
• How to fix my MS Word? - Microsoft Q&A
• how to fix word error - Microsoft Q&A
• How to fix MS Word has run into an error that is preventing from working properly. Word will need to be closed as a result. - Microsoft Q&A