Can template problems slow Word 2007 performance?

[Guest]

I'm running Word 2007 on Vista Business. Lots of RAM, HD space, DuoCore etc.,
but when I switch from one open document to another, or when I launch a new
document, the three-second wait seems an eternity.

Is it possible in my effort to create a Normal.dot that's more like Word
2003 (default fonts, line spacing, etc.) I've created a delay?

I have two other PCS, both with XP SP2 on which I have installed Office 2007
but not altered Normal.dot. On these machines, switching between docs occur
in a flash.

I write for a living and would like very much to get my "three-second
intervals" back.

Any help would be appreciated.

Tom Fuldner
Raleigh, NC, USA

 

[Terry Farrell]

Well it is possible that you may have corrupted the normal.dotx, but it
isn't that likely. I would suggest it is probably a problem with the printer
driver. Make sure you have the latest driver from the manufacturer and then
delete and reinstall the printer. If that fails, follow the tips in the FAQ
below which is pretty much applicable to the new versions.

See http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ProbsOpeningWord.htm

Terry Farrell - MS Word MVP

 

[Guest]

Terry,

Thanks so much for your reply and your advice. I will reinstall the printer
driver right away.

I don't understand how one printer driver or another could affect
non-printing operations within Word, but "mine not to question why," at least
at this point.

If this doesn't resolve matters, I'll run through your "ProbsOpeningWord"
document.

If even these suggestions don't resolve the problem, is there anything to be
gained from removing and reinstalling Office 2007?

Thanks,

Tom Fuldner

 

[Guest]

I've made some progress, but I'm really stumped.

By starting Word using the winword /a command, the program runs perfectly.

However, every time I rename the existing normal.dot file to normal.old,
when I launch Word, it creates a new normal.dot that's identical to preceding
one.

As to identifying Word's startup path, I haven't a clue what that is or
where it is. When search through the program files for Office, I did find a
folder named "Startup" but it was empty.

As to dealing with the deletion of a registry key, I dunno.

Finally, I tried uninstalling the Word portion of Office, rebooting and
reinstalling, but when I did, everything, template files and all, were as
they were before.

Arrgh!

--
Tom F

Terry,

Thanks so much for your reply and your advice. I will reinstall the printer
driver right away.

I don't understand how one printer driver or another could affect
non-printing operations within Word, but "mine not to question why," at least
at this point.

If this doesn't resolve matters, I'll run through your "ProbsOpeningWord"
document.

If even these suggestions don't resolve the problem, is there anything to be
gained from removing and reinstalling Office 2007?

Thanks,

Tom Fuldner

 

[Terry Farrell]

Uninstalling rarely does anything other than waste time

Because it works when you start using the /a switch, it suggests a bad
printer driver, template, macro or some other third party add-in that is
incompatible with Word 2007.

The reason for the printer driver being suspect may seem obscure until you
know that Word relies highly on the parameters from the printer driver to
determine how pages are laid out.

After deleting or renaming normal.dotm, it will be recreated when you start
Word again. It just isn't possible for Word to work without a normal.dotm.
However, even that is bypassed when you start using the /a switch.

I presume that this was a fresh install on Vista. What other utilities that
plug into Office may have been installed? I am still suspicious that it is
the printer driver, though it may be the graphics driver (but far less
likely).

Terry

 

[Guest]

Thanks for checking back, Terry.

Regarding the add-ins, I have two that are active: one is a MS file that
allows me to perform a "save-as" in PDF format. The other, which had me
suspictious, is a monster program I use to transcribe my telephone
interviews: speech software called DNS 9.5. I uninstalled DNS, since it was
the only way I could remove the add-in from Word, rebooted, but it made no
difference.

Yes, indeed, I installed Office on a machine that came with Vista Business
pre-installed.

As to the printer, it's a Lexmark 232 laser printer. Vista seemed to have
its down driver ready to go when I first hooked up the two. This afternoon, I
attempted to download a driver from Lexmark that indicated that it was Vista
ready. But when I activated this driver, I received a prompt indicating that
it could not find a local printer.

Thanks for the clarification regarding the effect of printer drivers on Word
performance. I'm rather tempted to go into the control panel and delete the
Lexmark MS driver, just to "see what happens."

Again, thanks for your insights.

Tom

 

[Terry Farrell]

I would suggest installing another printer driver (even if you don't have
another printer) and set as the Windows Default because Word won't work
correctly without a printer driver available.

I'd also check that uninstalling DNS has definitely removed all its add-ins.
I'm not familiar with DNS, but I know that thee are many other add-ins that
install custom macros or templates (in Word or Office Startup folders) that
don't get uninstalled when the utility is uninstalled. You should definitely
check in the start-up folders.

Terry

Thanks for checking back, Terry.

Regarding the add-ins, I have two that are active: one is a MS file that
allows me to perform a "save-as" in PDF format. The other, which had me
suspictious, is a monster program I use to transcribe my telephone
interviews: speech software called DNS 9.5. I uninstalled DNS, since it
was
the only way I could remove the add-in from Word, rebooted, but it made no
difference.

Yes, indeed, I installed Office on a machine that came with Vista Business
pre-installed.

As to the printer, it's a Lexmark 232 laser printer. Vista seemed to have
its down driver ready to go when I first hooked up the two. This
afternoon, I
attempted to download a driver from Lexmark that indicated that it was
Vista
ready. But when I activated this driver, I received a prompt indicating
that
it could not find a local printer.

Thanks for the clarification regarding the effect of printer drivers on
Word
performance. I'm rather tempted to go into the control panel and delete
the
Lexmark MS driver, just to "see what happens."

Again, thanks for your insights.

Tom

 

[Guest]

Terry,

The saga continues.

I removed the printer driver from the computer, robooted and launched Word.
Problem didn't go away, so I reinstalled the printer.

Monitor: I have a dual display configuration, so I reconfigured the machine
to a single display. Didn't fix the problem either.

Perhaps it's time to wipe the slate with a clean reinstall of Vista?

Tom
--
Tom F

Thanks for checking back, Terry.

Regarding the add-ins, I have two that are active: one is a MS file that
allows me to perform a "save-as" in PDF format. The other, which had me
suspictious, is a monster program I use to transcribe my telephone
interviews: speech software called DNS 9.5. I uninstalled DNS, since it was
the only way I could remove the add-in from Word, rebooted, but it made no
difference.

Yes, indeed, I installed Office on a machine that came with Vista Business
pre-installed.

As to the printer, it's a Lexmark 232 laser printer. Vista seemed to have
its down driver ready to go when I first hooked up the two. This afternoon, I
attempted to download a driver from Lexmark that indicated that it was Vista
ready. But when I activated this driver, I received a prompt indicating that
it could not find a local printer.

Thanks for the clarification regarding the effect of printer drivers on Word
performance. I'm rather tempted to go into the control panel and delete the
Lexmark MS driver, just to "see what happens."

Again, thanks for your insights.

Tom

 

[Guest]

The saga ends! I figured it out! I took your earlier advice, swallowed hard
and made some edits in the registry. I removed the two add-ins: one for PDF
file conversion and the other for the speech recognition software, DNS 9.5.

After reopening Word, it ran just fine, and DNS ran as well.

Previously, Word would not allow me to remove the add-ins under its Options
area. The only way to do so was to either uninstall the programs or delete
the registry entries.

Thankyou, thank you, thank you. The next path was to perform a clean
install, but I wouldn't have had the time for about a week.

Tom