I am using the latest Word 2013 RC in German. Allthough I am very pleased with the overall performance and features of this new version, I ran into some very annoying problems, that didn't exist with the latest Word 2010. These should be easy to reproduce: Take a long document (*.docx) with at least 100 pages and try to save it. This takes forever - I can see the progress bar filling up slowly. It takes at least 10-20 seconds to save. During that process I cannot do anything within Word - not even scroll smoothly. It slows down to the point of almost freezing up. I didn't have this problem with Word 2010 on the same system. Take that same document (>100 pages) and try to copy&paste some text (for example out of Firefox) and paste it as plain text - this takes at least 1 to 2 seconds. I didn't have any kind of delay with Word 2010. Word 2013 seems to work ok with *.doc files - it's still slower than Word 2010 a lot faster than saving *.docx files. I have no problems whatsoever with short documents. Can anyone confirm these problems with Word 2013 RC?

wordyone wrote: The common thread here seems to be that in Word 2013 [...], the setting "Allow Background Saves" [...] For others with this problem, is there any evidence that "background saves" are trying to synchronize with online storage (e.g. OneDrive)? The sort of delay I get feels like waiting for a web page to refresh. Makes me wonder if part of the problem is Word 2013 trying to "Background Save..." into the cloud.

wordyone wrote: The common thread here seems to be that in Word 2013 [...], the setting "Allow Background Saves" [...] For others with this problem, is there any evidence that "background saves" are trying to synchronize with online storage (e.g. OneDrive)? The sort of delay I get feels like waiting for a web page to refresh. Makes me wonder if part of the problem is Word 2013 trying to "Background Save..." into the cloud. I've tried to disable all OneDrive kind of stuff. The behavour seems to be the same regardless of whether you're on line or not. In contrast, the delay seems to be size dependent. In summary, I don't think internet storage is the most likely culprit here. But why speculate? MS should investigate and fix the problem!

Hi, Some 9 months ago I posted the solution that worked for me. I forgot all about the issue in the meantime. Reposting might help? The problem, to my best knowledge, is in the background saving of documents. Since saving on a modern day computer does not require all that much time, switch to foreground saving by: disable: options -> advanced -> save -> allow background saves. best regards, Jan

Hello, I have had issues with slow saves as well. Yesterday I noticed the document was open in compatibility mode. I also edit the document on Word 2010 on another computer and after opening and saving on Word 2010, Word 2013 opens the document in compatibility mode. Maybe it was after doing this the slow save problem started, but I'm not sure. Anyway, I re -saved ("save as") last night in Word 2013 and presto this morning the problem was gone. One other factor; I have dual operating systems and opened the document this morning on my leaner back up system. That is when I noticed the slow save problem was gone. When I rebooted from my regular operating system, the slow save problem continued to be gone. I'm happy, but I don't know if this experience will help the rest of you guys. Turning off background save, by the way, could get you in trouble if you forget to save and experience a problem. You may regret doing that at some point and shouldn't have to. Good luck, Gordon

This alleviated the issue completely. Now documents save virtually instantaneously. If you have a specific reason to require background saves, then this will obviously not be your solution, but for those who do not, it is a simple solution. For Office 2013: Select the "File" tab Select "Options" in the left navigation Select "Advanced" in the left navigation Scroll down to the "Save" section (about half way down the page) Make sure that "Allow background saves" is unchecked Click the "OK" button.

Word 2013: Extremely slow saving and pasting plain text in long documents

Anonymous

I am using the latest Word 2013 RC in German. Allthough I am very pleased with the overall performance and features of this new version, I ran into some very annoying problems, that didn't exist with the latest Word 2010. These should be easy to reproduce:

Take a long document (*.docx) with at least 100 pages and try to save it. This takes forever - I can see the progress bar filling up slowly. It takes at least 10-20 seconds to save. During that process I cannot do anything within Word - not even scroll smoothly. It slows down to the point of almost freezing up. I didn't have this problem with Word 2010 on the same system.
Take that same document (>100 pages) and try to copy&paste some text (for example out of Firefox) and paste it as plain text - this takes at least 1 to 2 seconds. I didn't have any kind of delay with Word 2010.
Word 2013 seems to work ok with *.doc files - it's still slower than Word 2010 a lot faster than saving *.docx files.

I have no problems whatsoever with short documents. Can anyone confirm these problems with Word 2013 RC?

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163 answers

Anonymous

2014-05-15T20:48:37+00:00

wordyone wrote:

The common thread here seems to be that in Word 2013 [...], the setting "Allow Background Saves" [...]

For others with this problem, is there any evidence that "background saves" are trying to synchronize with online storage (e.g. OneDrive)? The sort of delay I get feels like waiting for a web page to refresh. Makes me wonder if part of the problem is Word 2013 trying to "Background Save..." into the cloud.
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Anonymous

2014-05-20T08:29:07+00:00

wordyone wrote:

The common thread here seems to be that in Word 2013 [...], the setting "Allow Background Saves" [...]

For others with this problem, is there any evidence that "background saves" are trying to synchronize with online storage (e.g. OneDrive)? The sort of delay I get feels like waiting for a web page to refresh. Makes me wonder if part of the problem is Word 2013 trying to "Background Save..." into the cloud.

I've tried to disable all OneDrive kind of stuff. The behavour seems to be the same regardless of whether you're on line or not. In contrast, the delay seems to be size dependent. In summary, I don't think internet storage is the most likely culprit here.

But why speculate? MS should investigate and fix the problem!
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Anonymous

2014-05-21T20:26:22+00:00

Hi,

Some 9 months ago I posted the solution that worked for me. I forgot all about the issue in the meantime. Reposting might help? The problem, to my best knowledge, is in the background saving of documents. Since saving on a modern day computer does not require all that much time, switch to foreground saving by:

disable: options -> advanced -> save -> allow background saves.

best regards,

Jan
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Anonymous

2014-05-26T12:28:10+00:00

Hello,

I have had issues with slow saves as well. Yesterday I noticed the document was open in compatibility mode. I also edit the document on Word 2010 on another computer and after opening and saving on Word 2010, Word 2013 opens the document in compatibility mode. Maybe it was after doing this the slow save problem started, but I'm not sure. Anyway, I re -saved ("save as") last night in Word 2013 and presto this morning the problem was gone. One other factor; I have dual operating systems and opened the document this morning on my leaner back up system. That is when I noticed the slow save problem was gone. When I rebooted from my regular operating system, the slow save problem continued to be gone. I'm happy, but I don't know if this experience will help the rest of you guys.

Turning off background save, by the way, could get you in trouble if you forget to save and experience a problem. You may regret doing that at some point and shouldn't have to.

Good luck, Gordon
Was this answer helpful?

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Anonymous

2014-06-01T17:44:39+00:00
This alleviated the issue completely. Now documents save virtually instantaneously. If you have a specific reason to require background saves, then this will obviously not be your solution, but for those who do not, it is a simple solution.

For Office 2013:
1. Select the "File" tab
2. Select "Options" in the left navigation
3. Select "Advanced" in the left navigation
4. Scroll down to the "Save" section (about half way down the page)
5. Make sure that "Allow background saves" is unchecked
6. Click the "OK" button.
Was this answer helpful?

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