Is there anything more frustrating than typing lag or slow-loading documents when you’re on a deadline? While Microsoft Office is one of the most widely used application suites for all kinds of projects in the modern office, it doesn't always show excellent performance.

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When Microsoft Office slows down, showing you spinning wheels and requiring long wait times, it breaks your flow and concentration, ultimately affecting your productivity.

For a possible solution, see Installation of Office hangs at 90%. Restart your computer and check if Office installed. The Office installation may have completed. So, after you've restarted your computer, go to Can't find Office applications in Windows 10, Windows 8, or Windows 7? To see if Office actually did install. Use a wired connection.

Thankfully, there are a few proven ways to speed up Microsoft Office on your Mac, and most of them are as simple as tidying up. If Marie Kondo has taught us anything, it’s that clutter can cause unnecessary stress in life. And this applies to hard drives as well!

Why is Microsoft Office slow?

While there are a few different symptoms indicating that Microsoft Office isn’t doing its best, such as a painfully slow opening of a program or Microsoft Word slow typing, the question stands: why is Microsoft Word so slow?

There are a variety of reasons Microsoft Office may run slowly, freeze, or cause the much dreaded typing lag. Often, the issue stems from a build-up of corrupted or temporary files that are meant to be automatically deleted but, for whatever reason, have failed to do so. The application suite could also be out of date or attempt to load corrupted files. Very likely it’s just a large number of small problems that have snowballed and are now causing noticeable issues. Here’s how you can fix it.

Refresh go-to templates

The template file normal.dot is created by Microsoft Word and stored automatically on your computer. It saves all the default settings of the application. So each time you change your settings, the preference is added to normal.dot. This way, the next time Microsoft Word opens a new document, your preferred settings load automatically. If your normal.dot file becomes corrupted or too complex to load, it can make Microsoft Word slow.

Deleting the existing normal.dot file will force Microsoft Word to create a new one. Starting fresh will be easy for most users, as the majority of us don’t stray too far from the default settings. For those that change their default settings in complex ways, make sure you back up your normal.dot files to a flash drive to avoid losing important settings permanently.

To find and delete normal.dot manually:

1. Quit MS Word and open Finder.
2. Type normal.dot into the search field.
3. Wait for all results to load. It’s not uncommon to have more than one normal.dot file. They may also appear as normal.dotm.
4. Select all normal.dot and normal.dotm files and delete them.
5. Empty your Trash.

Finally, reload the application and see if the process has managed to speed up Microsoft Word.

Delete temporary files

All Microsoft Office programs will create temporary files to prevent you from losing your work. However, if the automatic removal of these files fails, they can build up and make Microsoft Office slow.

You can easily seek out and remove these files:

1. Determine which temporary files you want to delete. Microsoft’s website lists different types of temporary files that Microsoft Office produces automatically. Likely the files you are looking for will be searchable using the trine sign ~*.doc, ~*.dot or ~*.tmp.
2. Use Finder to search for files with ~*.doc or another marker.
3. Select files to delete.
4. Drag them to the Trash and empty it.

Once you are done, reload the application to see if that did speed up Microsoft Word.

Keep Microsoft Office updated

Having an outdated version of Microsoft Office will eventually cause it to run slowly. Luckily, updating the suite is very easy:

1. Open Microsoft Word.
2. In the top tool-bar, select Help and click “Check for Updates.”
3. Install the update if detected.

Additionally, you can turn on Microsoft auto-updates using the same dialogue box, so that whenever Microsoft Office detects a new version it will offer you an opportunity to install it.

Another way to update Microsoft Office is to directly download the latest one from the Microsoft website. But before you do, check that it’s fully compatible with your version of macOS.

Reset the application to default settings

Over time, all Mac apps accumulate lots of unneeded preferences that constantly rewrite each other. A good way to rule out that there’s anything wrong with the app is to do a factory reset — bring the app back to the state when it was brand new.

You can do a factory reset in two ways:

1. Go to Finder and search for ~/Library
2. Look for Microsoft Office files in the results
3. Delete all of them but the app itself

Alternatively, you can do the same thing quicker and more thoroughly with the CleanMyMac X uninstaller utility:

1. Download CleanMyMac X with a free trial.
2. Go to Uninstaller tab.
3. Select Microsoft Office and choose Reset.
4. Click on the Reset button.

Delete and reinstall Microsoft Office

The old IT adage “have you tried turning it off and back on?” applies here, but in this case, it’s about deleting the application and reinstalling it. To completely delete Microsoft Office, you will need to remove files from two different places on your computer: delete the app first and then find your Library folder in Finder to see the associated files that need to be removed.

1. Head to the Applications folder and move Microsoft Office to the Trash
2. Find your Library folder in Finder by navigating to your computer in Locations and then clicking on your hard-drive (e.g. Macintosh HD)
3. Open System then Library, and find the folder Containers
4. From Containers, move the following associated files to the Trash:
   • com.microsoft.errorreporting
   • com.microsoft.Excel
   • com.microsoft.netlib.shipassertprocess
   • com.microsoft.Office365ServiceV2
   • com.microsoft.Outlook
   • com.microsoft.Powerpoint
   • com.microsoft.RMS-XPCService
   • com.microsoft.Word
   • com.microsoft.onenote.mac
     
5. Open Group Containers folder as well and remove the following files:
   • UBF8T346G9.ms
     
   • UBF8T346G9.Office
   • UBF8T346G9.OfficeOsfWebHost
     
6. Finally, remove Microsoft Office from the Dock and restart your Mac.

Once removed, head back to the Microsoft website, sign in to your account, and install the latest version.

Optimize documents for storage

Keeping Microsoft Office functioning properly means saving documents in their most optimized state. Resizing large images or graphics and not overloading your files with macros will help you maintain speedy performance in the long run.

Speed up Microsoft Office automatically in minutes

While all the above maintenance will help you speed up Microsoft Office, it can be time-consuming and finicky. Troubleshooting your app version, deleting and refreshing templates, and searching for temporary files is all manual work and could eat up a few hours.

To make things easy, you can use optimization software like CleanMyMac X, which will automatically detect and remove temporary as well as unused files to get your Microsoft Office running smoothly. Here’s how to do it:

1. Download CleanMyMac X.
2. Drag it into your Applications folder.
3. Open it and run a general Smart Scan to start.
4. Then run Optimization and Maintenance scans (which you can choose from the left-side panel) to target specific areas, such as freeing up RAM and reviewing your login items
5. Repeat the process every month or so.

While following the above method of optimizing your Mac with CleanMyMac X is enough to remove any unnecessary clutter, the app’s sidebar menu offers even more options for increasing the speed of your Mac as well as a handy uninstaller for quick and thorough uninstallations of apps you don’t need anymore.

Ultimately, there are a number of ways to get Microsoft Office to run smoothly again. And although it’s entirely possible to do most of the cleanup manually, using an app like CleanMyMac X is a much faster and easier way to get rid of junk and ensure that your Mac is performing at top speed.

Too often people upgrade only to find their problems begin, or persist.

If you need help with a slow Mac running a Mac operating system, please be prepared to answer these questions, or find out how to get the answer to these questions.

Etrecheck, a software written by one of our fellow contributors, is a software that has been useful in isolating many of the issues below:

Look at these troubleshooting steps. Find

1. If MacKeeper was installed, and if it is, remove it with the instructions in this tip:

2. If any other system cache cleaner is installed. If there is, contact the vendor on how to remove it.

3. If the possibility your hard drive is over 85% full exists.

4. If Spotlight hasn't finished indexing. (does not apply to 10.3.9 or earlier). Clicking on the icon in the upper right that looks like:

(it may have a different color), will reveal if Spotlight is indexing, or is ready to search. Going to Apple menu -> System Preferences -> Spotlight -> Privacy will show if a specific folder or drive is ignored by your last Spotlight index.

5. If you are attempting to multitask with a Time Machine backup going on. (does not apply to 10.4.11 or earlier)

6. If permissions are damaged. Often a problem when using pre-2006 Classic environment on PowerPC Macs. See #10 how to identify Macs.

7. If third party software or drivers hasn't been tested with your installed operating system.

8. If You migrated data from a different Mac CPU type. I.e. from PowerPC to Intel, or Intel to PowerPC. See 10 on how to identify Macs.

9. If energy saver isn't giving some peripheral problems, because the peripheral doesn't understand low power mode.

10. If the possibility exists that there is marginal hardware on

Intel Macs or PowerPC Macs

Use: https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6413 to determine if you have PowerPC or Intel.

11. If you have had 4 language screens forcing you to restart your Mac, that's significant, and indicates what is known as a kernel panic.

Usually an issue relating to the hardware, though sometimes a directory may be damaged, or sometimes a bad or incompatible driver is installed.

Running the hardware test for Intel Macs or PowerPC Macs

will indicate if some RAM is bad, but not all RAM. Any errors found with it are significant.

Why Is Microsoft Office So Slow On My Mac Youtube

12. If you don't have a current system, find out if a website you are visiting needs a newer plugin for Java, Flash, etc...(10.7.2 or earlier do not run a current Java. 10.6.7 or earlier do not run a current Flash. But updating to those is only necessary for a few websites. Check before updating to ensure you don't make yourself incompatible in other ways). Before updating to 10.7 or later, be sure to read this tip about compatibility first: https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6271

13. If your data is backed up from before or after the upgrade, and we can isolate other issues. Without a backup, we can't say if the solution might be worse than the problem.

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-1992 - tells you how to backup a functional system.

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-1689 - tells you how to recover a system that is not functional or able to boot so at least other issues can be

isolated.

14. Slowdown to internet applications may be due to third party router firmware not being up to date, too many machines using the router, an insecure router not using WPA2 connectivity (802.11b original Apple Airport can't use it, and it is better to get a WiFi ethernet bridge with at least 802.11g), proxy servers, and bad DNS issues which http://www.opendns.org/ can resolve. Additional WiFi related issues are documented on this tip:

15. A bad iTunes install, or one that isn't properly updated for the system may cause slow down. If you are trying to isolate that as a possibility, note the path to the iTunes Helper which is loaded in your System Preferences -> Accounts (Users and Groups in some versions of Mac OS X), Login Items (startup items in other versions of Mac OS X)

/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/Resources

You can use the Finder's Go to Folder command in the Go menu to reload that program after removing it from your Login Items and troubleshooting the situation.

16. Peer2peer sharing software, torrent software, both make your machine into a software server. This can slowdown your overall internet. Do not get software from such sources, as most are illegal. If you have trouble finding software for your operating system, visit http://www.roaringapps.com/ if using Mac OS X 10.7 or later, or ask on this board where to find software that is legal that does what you need.

17. If your Mac is backed up, then's the time to see if a directory repair is necessary:

18. Often times, you will see the system slowdown and get a spinning color circle indicating it is busy. After a certain amount of time, if you can risk losing the data that has not been saved on the application, force quitting the application with command-option-escape key sequence is a possibility.

If command-option-escape does not work, it may indicate one of the aforementioned issues is happening. Command and Option keys may look like some variation of:

On non-Apple keyboards the Windows key usually takes the place of the Command key, and the Alt key usually the Option key. Though Microsoft has made a patch for its keyboards that forces the two keys to switch their assigned Apple keystroke, since they are in reverse orientation of the Apple keyboard. The Escape key is typically just labelled ESC.

19. You may not experience any of the above issues with games or high end graphics applications. The graphics processor unit (GPU) recommended by the developer should be the one you have installed on your computer. Any others, and speed may be an issue with those programs. It is not to be confused with RAM or your CPU.

20. Migrating data from PowerPC Macs. See first #10 to see if you had a PowerPC Mac you were migrating from. If you did, you may have brought over some drivers the Intel Mac does not understand in the Migration or Setup Assistant. If there is a chance this may have happened, you should see this tip on migration which avoids the issue:

Why Is Microsoft Office So Slow On My Mac Download

21. Notifications can slow Mac OS X 10.9 down. Go to Apple menu -> System Preferences -> Notifications to disable those notifications you don't need.

Microsoft Office Is Slow On Mac

22. iCloud syncing (in 10.7.2 and later) can slow things down. Manage iCloud through the System Preferences to ensure syncing only happens when you need it. iSync in Mac OS X 10.6 and earlier can also slow things down when you don't need it.