Scrolling In Word Office For Mac Is Slow

by

  1. Scrolling In Word Office For Mac Is Slow Free
  2. Turn Off Synchronous Scrolling
  3. Word View Side By Side
-->

The purpose of the wheel or lever is to scroll quickly through a long document. If you do not have such a mouse you can still get the benefits of automatic scrolling through an undocumented Word command. Simply follow these steps: Display the Word Options dialog box. (In Word 2007 click the Office button and then click Word Options.

  • Word for Mac crashes and slow performance. Word does not respond when using 'Save as Picture' WordRake add-in causing Word for Mac to crash since upgrading to Catalina (OSX 15.0) Problems launching Word for Mac 2016 (Version 16.11) FIXED Issues affecting Word for Mac features and add-ins INVESTIGATING Office documents are not rendering as.
  • Open any Microsoft Office program. Click on the File tab in the upper left. Select Options from the left navigation menu. In the popup window, select Advanced from the left navigation menu. Scroll down to the Display section and check the box to Disable hardware graphics acceleration. Close all Office applications.
  • Open Microsoft User Data, and then open Office 2011 AutoRecovery. On the Edit menu, click Select All. Drag all files into 'New Folder' on the desktop. The AutoRecovery folder should be empty. Open Excel for Mac 2011 and try to save a file. If you can save a file, review the contents of 'New Folder' to decide which files that you want to keep.

Note

Office 365 ProPlus is being renamed to Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise. For more information about this change, read this blog post.

Symptoms

When you try to open a PowerPoint for Mac presentation or application it either hangs with spinning wheel or does not open at all.

Resolution

Scrolling In Word Office For Mac Is Slow

To resolve this issue, follow steps in this article.

Step 1: Check Hard Disc name

Check to ensure the Hard Drive icon has a name to it. The name should not be all numbers but can have numbers in it as along as the name starts with a text character(s). There should be no special characters like, periods, commas, semi-colons, quotes, etc.

  1. Quit all applications.
  2. On the Go menu, click Computer. Your hard drive should be listed. The common name of the hard drive is 'Macintosh HD'. E.g. 'Mac HD 1' <without quotes is appropriate> '1 Mac HD' <this is not an appropriate name as the number 1 appears at the start of the name>.

To rename your hard disk:

  1. Click to select the hard disk.
  2. On the File menu, click Get Info.
  3. In the Name & Extension type or edit the name. For example, type Macintosh HD.
  4. When done, click the red circle button on top.

Step 2: Move AutoRecovery files

Important

The location of certain files are different if you have Service Pack 2 (SP2) installed. To check if it is installed, open PowerPoint, and then click About PowerPoint from the PowerPoint menu. If the version number is 14.2.0 or above, you have Service Pack 2 and you should follow the Service Pack 2 steps when provided in this article.

If there are too many PowerPoint items in this folder userDocumentsMicrosoft User DataOffice 2008 AutoRecovery or Office 2011 AutoRecovery these files will load into memory when Powerpoint launches and can cause memory issues as well as file save issues.

Move AutoRecovery files to the Desktop or another folder to see if they are causing the problem.

To empty the AutoRecovery folder, follow these steps if you have version 14.2.0 (also known as Service Pack 2) installed:

  1. Quit all applications.

  2. One the File menu, click New Folder. A new folder is created on the desktop. The folder will be called 'New Folder.'

  3. On the Go menu, click Home.

  4. Open Library.

    Note

    The Library folder is hidden in Mac OS X Lion. To display this folder, hold down the OPTION key while you click the Go menu.

  5. Open Application Support, and then open Microsoft.

  6. Open Office 2011 AutoRecovery.

  7. On the Edit menu, click Select All.

  8. Drag all files into 'New Folder' on the desktop.

    The AutoRecovery folder should be empty.

  9. Open Excel for Mac 2011 and try to save a file.

    If you can save a file, review the contents of 'New Folder' to decide which files that you want to keep.

If the problem continues to occur, go to the next method.

To empty the AutoRecovery folder, follow these steps if you do not have Service Pack 2 installed:

  1. Quit all applications.

  2. On the File menu, click New Folder. A new folder is created on the desktop. The folder will be called 'New Folder.'

  3. On the Go menu, click Documents.

  4. Open Microsoft User Data, and then open Office 2011 AutoRecovery.

  5. On the Edit menu, click Select All.

  6. Drag all files into 'New Folder' on the desktop.

    The AutoRecovery folder should be empty.

  7. Open Excel for Mac 2011 and try to save a file.

    If you can save a file, review the contents of 'New Folder' to decide which files that you want to keep.

If the problem continues to occur, go to the next method.

Scrolling

Step 3: Remove PowerPoint Preferences

Note

Scrolling In Word Office For Mac Is Slow Free

If you have used the software at all on this computer then removing the preferences may reset any customizations that you have made. These customizations include changes made to toolbars, custom dictionaries and keyboard shortcuts that have been created.

  1. Quit all Microsoft Office for Mac programs.

  2. On the Go menu, click Home.

  3. Open Library.

    Note

    The Library folder is hidden in MAC OS X Lion. To display this folder, hold down the OPTION key while you click the Go menu.

  4. Open the Preferences folder.

  5. Look for a file that is named com.microsoft.powerpoint.plist.

  6. If you locate the file, move it to the desktop. If you do not locate the file, the program is using the default preferences.

  7. If you locate the file and move it to the desktop, start PowerPoint, and check whether the problem still occurs. If the problem still occurs, quit PowerPoint, and restore the file to its original location. Then, go to the next step. If the problem seems to be resolved, you can move the com.microsoft.powerpoint.plist file to the trash.

  8. Quit all Microsoft for Mac programs.

  9. On the Go menu, click Home.

  10. Open Library.

    Note

    The Library folder is hidden in MAC OS X Lion. To display this folder, hold down the OPTION key while you click the Go menu.

  11. Open the Preferences folder.

  12. Open the Microsoft folder.

  13. Look for a file that is named com.microsoft.powerpoint.prefs.plist.

  14. If you locate the file, move it to the destop. If you do not locate the file, the program is using the default preferences.

  15. If you locate the file and move it to the destop, start PowerPoint, and check whether the problem still occurs. If the problem still occurs, quit PowerPoint, and restore the file to its original location. Then, go to the next step. If the problem seems to be resolved, you can move the com.microsoft.powerpoint.prefs.plist file to the trash.

  16. Quit all Microsoft Office for Mac programs.

  17. On the Go menu, click Home.

  18. Open Library.

    Note

    The Library folder is hidden in MAC OS X Lion. To display this folder, hold down the OPTION key while you click the Go menu.

  19. Open the Preferences folder.

  20. Open the Microsoft folder.

  21. Open the Office 2008 or Office 2011 folder.

  22. Look for a file named PowerPoint Toolbars (12) or Microsoft PowerPoint Toolbars.

  23. If you locate the file, move it the desktop. If you do not locate the file, the program is using the default preferences.

  24. If you locate the file and move it to the desktop, start PowerPoint, and check whether the problem still occurs. If the problem still occurs, quit PowerPoint, and restore the file to its original location. Then, go to the next step. If the problem seems to be resolved, you can move the PowerPoint Toolbars (12) file to the trash.

If the issue continues to occur, proceed to the next step.

Step 4: Create a New User Account

Sometimes, a user's specific information may be corrupted. To determine if this is the case, you can log on as a new user or create a new user account, and then test an application.

If the issue occurs even in new user account, proceed to the next step.

Step 5: Test saving the file in Safe Mode

For information on how to enter Safe Boot in Mac OS, seePerform a clean startup (Safe boot) to determine whether background programs are interfering with Office for Mac.

If you are able to save in Safe Mode, then the problem most likely related to programs that are running in the background.

Last updated: October 2019

Excel synchronous scrolling

Applicable for: Office 365 subscriptions; Word 2019, 2016, 2013 and 2010. Running on Windows 7, 8 and 10 operating systems.

Here’s a question we got from a reader:

Lately, i am noticing some slow down in my Microsoft Word software performance, this is visible mainly when starting up the software. My feeling is that some additional packages i have installed are causing this. Any ideas from your side?

Why Microsoft Word is slow?

Microsoft Word’s performance is in general reasonable fast but it can definitely deteriorate and significantly slow down if bloated with add-on software or running on dated or inadequate hardware. Same can happen in other MS Office apps, such as Excel and Outlook, which might fell a bit clunky.

Speed up Microsoft Word if it’s slow

In this article, you’ll find some quick DIY tips to clean up your Microsoft Word install which based on feedback of many of our readers, will result in faster performance. There are cases in which a hardware upgrade might be needed, but there is a lot you can do in the software configuration side, before considering buying new hardware.

Disable Word Add-ins

Microsoft Office software has the capability to host Add-In components. These small software programs extend the capabilities of the standard Office package to improve user productivity. In a way, you can think of those little programs as browser Add-ons, but just for Microsoft Office. The caveat is that sometimes, these Add-Ins slow Word, specially at startup, as the programs are loaded when Word is started causing a noticeable delay. This is probably the most common performance hiccup of Microsoft Office program, so it’s applicable also to Excel, PowerPoint, Access and Visio.

If you notice that Word is slow as startup, you might want to look into your installed Add-Ins and temporarily disable the ones you don’t currently need. Here’s how to accomplish that:

  1. Open Microsoft Word.
  2. Hit the ‘File’ button at the top right and choose ‘Options’ at the left side of the screen.
  3. Now, click on Add-Ins at the left side of the Windows called ‘Word Options’.
Mac
  1. Now, Choose ‘Go’ after selecting Manage ‘COM Add-Ins’ at the bottom of the same window.
  1. Uncheck the Add-Ins you don’t need in order to disable them (In my case, I’ve got just one COM Add-In to disable).
  1. Hit OK.
  2. Close Microsoft Word.
  3. Startup Word and see if you notice fast startup performance. If so, you might want to remove the disabled Add-Ins altogether, this will be covered in the next section.

Remove unwanted Add-ins

Similar to the previous tip, however, instead of un-checking the COM Add-Ins entries to disable proceed as following:

  1. Go ahead and highlight the entry to uninstall
  2. Hit Remove.
  3. Repeat for all required entries.
  4. Once done hit OK.

Always work on local documents

Retrieving document and saving changes into files stored in remote locations (OneDrive, SharePoint libraries, shared folders etc’) is typically time consuming and depends on your network performance. Therefore, If possible, ensure that the documents you are working are stored in your local drive. Once done, sync your changes into the network location or save a new version of your document so you can share with others contributors or reviewers.

Turn Off Synchronous Scrolling

Note: If possible, also ensure that the local drive storing your documents is uncompressed.

Disable Auto Correct options

By default, Word checks your spelling and automatically correct any mistakes found in your text. Very useful feature, but has a performance penalty.

To skip auto corrections, proceed as following:

  1. Navigate to Options, then navigate to the Proofing tab.
  2. Navigate to the lower section of the tab, and uncheck “Check spelling as you type” and “Mark grammar as you type”.
  3. Hit OK.

Note: you’ll need to check your spelling and Grammar manually (Review tab>> Spelling and Grammar).

Disable Screen Tips

Screen Tips help you receive additional information and guidance when you hover on hyperlinks, comments and so forth. This is useful, but might impact Word performance.

To cancel ScreenTips display in your Word document, proceed as following:

  1. Navigate to Options, then in the General tab, navigate to the UI options section.
  2. Then, under ScreenTips style, select Don’t Show ScreenTips.
  3. Hit OK.

Clean Temporary/Unwanted Files

Quite often, cleaning up temporary/unwanted files can significantly improve your personal computer performance. Freeware solutions such as CCleaner and TreeSize Free can be specially helpful. Don’t forget to clean both your Temporary files and the Registry. You could also remove unwanted software that are installed in your system using the Add/Remove Programs panel.

Consider an hardware upgrade

Slow

Couple of readers contacted me reporting slow performance issues when working with large files which included pictures, which caused Word to get stuck. One of the solutions would be to upgrade your computer RAM memory to 8GB, specially if you run multiple programs in parallel or do some intensive work on image and video editing software.

Word View Side By Side

Hopefully, these steps should make Word much faster. If you don’t notice anything different, leave us a comment below.