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?

No one seems to have solved this problem. I'm using 2013 on a novel and it takes forever to save. I guess since Microsoft has moved on they feel they don't have to bother. That's why many people with long documents use other software specifically for long documents. I am very disappointed. I will move my document to Scrivener and work on that. Jane 1/12/16

No one seems to have solved this problem. I'm using 2013 on a novel and it takes forever to save. I guess since Microsoft has moved on they feel they don't have to bother. That's why many people with long documents use other software specifically for long documents. I am very disappointed. I will move my document to Scrivener and work on that. Jane 1/12/16 I had the same problem with 2013 and faced it again when I upgraded to Word 2016. My books are 140,000+ words. The solution for me was to create a new blank document in 2013 and copy and paste the entire text from the old document. That method works with 2016 too. It's not necessary to turn off background saves. However beware of using 'Track changes' in the Review tab since when converting to e-book format it very kindly re-inserts both old and new versions of the text making editing a nightmare. I agree with you that MS are not at all helpful with this issue. I suppose it's a problem they can't reproduce and therefore 'one which doesn't exist'. Except we in this forum know differently. Good luck with Scrivener. I found it too limiting due to the lack of styles.

I found the same issue with docx files recently. I'm glad I found this thread. Disabling background save works for me. So it seems MS has STILL not fixed this issue. My version is Office 2016 (365 subscription). I find it hard to believe MS never knew about this issue. During their working days I'd imagine they use their own product and will surely notice this quirk relating to docx file saves. I know MS don't monitor the forum but it never ceases to amaze me how they can play dumb to issues. Do they not actually test their stuff thoroughly or use their software in everyday life (work and personal).

how do I disable the background? I took a brief look at the control panel but as it wasn't obvious I couldn't do it. I appreciate any info you give me. Thanks.

My nonfiction document is about 550,000 words in 980 pages. The tasks consisted of: Doing the research Writing Deciding on the page format and implementing it Preparing auxiliary material such as indexes, tables of contents, page headers, endnotes, and cross-references. Wrestling with MS Word. Of these, the last was by FAR the most difficult and annoying. If I were starting now, knowing what I know about Word, I would never choose it. (I know nothing about the alternatives so have no assurance that they're better.) But - Word has extensive support from other users and from MS itself. This can be very useful but did not help with the more serious bugs. I've encountered probably 50 or more bugs. It also has missing features which, if implemented, would help greatly. It is seriously hampered by some horrible design decisions. If I thought MS would pay attention and do anything about them, I would be glad to post my list. When I finish writing I will create a blog or use part of a website to describe the problems. Microsoft, spend a few million and turn Word into a truly professional-level tool. Stephen B. G ray

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?

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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163 answers

Anonymous

2016-01-13T01:29:17+00:00

No one seems to have solved this problem. I'm using 2013 on a novel and it takes forever to save. I guess since Microsoft has moved on they feel they don't have to bother. That's why many people with long documents use other software specifically for long documents. I am very disappointed. I will move my document to Scrivener and work on that.

Jane

1/12/16
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Anonymous

2016-01-13T14:59:53+00:00

No one seems to have solved this problem. I'm using 2013 on a novel and it takes forever to save. I guess since Microsoft has moved on they feel they don't have to bother. That's why many people with long documents use other software specifically for long documents. I am very disappointed. I will move my document to Scrivener and work on that.

Jane

1/12/16

I had the same problem with 2013 and faced it again when I upgraded to Word 2016. My books are 140,000+ words. The solution for me was to create a new blank document in 2013 and copy and paste the entire text from the old document. That method works with 2016 too. It's not necessary to turn off background saves. However beware of using 'Track changes' in the Review tab since when converting to e-book format it very kindly re-inserts both old and new versions of the text making editing a nightmare.

I agree with you that MS are not at all helpful with this issue. I suppose it's a problem they can't reproduce and therefore 'one which doesn't exist'. Except we in this forum know differently.

Good luck with Scrivener. I found it too limiting due to the lack of styles.
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Anonymous

2016-01-19T06:29:52+00:00

I found the same issue with docx files recently. I'm glad I found this thread. Disabling background save works for me.

So it seems MS has STILL not fixed this issue. My version is Office 2016 (365 subscription). I find it hard to believe MS never knew about this issue. During their working days I'd imagine they use their own product and will surely notice this quirk relating to docx file saves. I know MS don't monitor the forum but it never ceases to amaze me how they can play dumb to issues. Do they not actually test their stuff thoroughly or use their software in everyday life (work and personal).
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Anonymous

2016-01-19T19:05:45+00:00

how do I disable the background? I took a brief look at the control panel but as it wasn't obvious I couldn't do it. I appreciate any info you give me. Thanks.
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Anonymous

2016-01-20T00:48:16+00:00
My nonfiction document is about 550,000 words in 980 pages. The tasks consisted of:
1. Doing the research
2. Writing
3. Deciding on the page format and implementing it
4. Preparing auxiliary material such as indexes, tables of contents, page headers, endnotes, and cross-references.
5. Wrestling with MS Word.
Of these, the last was by FAR the most difficult and annoying. If I were starting now, knowing what I know about Word, I would never choose it. (I know nothing about the alternatives so have no assurance that they're better.) But - Word has extensive support from other users and from MS itself. This can be very useful but did not help with the more serious bugs. I've encountered probably 50 or more bugs. It also has missing features which, if implemented, would help greatly. It is seriously hampered by some horrible design decisions. If I thought MS would pay attention and do anything about them, I would be glad to post my list. When I finish writing I will create a blog or use part of a website to describe the problems.

Microsoft, spend a few million and turn Word into a truly professional-level tool.

Stephen B. G ray
Was this answer helpful?

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