When I click and drag Microsoft Office windows, they slide in slow motion then jerk to catch up

Anonymous
2017-01-30T08:03:48+00:00

Hi,

Recently I've been noticing a strange feeling while using Word and Excel. The first time I had seen it, I simultaneously had 26 documents on the screen and 1 spreadsheet, so I wrote it off as a reflection of my PC's inability to perform (but looking back I realize I've done much more demanding things). Today I opened word to work on a homework assignment when I wanted to slide the window to the side of the screen (not snap), so I could fit another window to its side. That's when I saw it for the second time. The best way for me to describe it is like, while you're floating in space, yanking on something (with a mass greater than your own) with an elastic band. So, initially it will move very slowly until you can overcome the elasticity of the band and the inertia of the window (the "mass"), and then it will accelerate very quickly in an attempt to catch up with the mouse movements, with lots of stuttering throughout.

BUT, in my testing, it seems to happen only when a document/spreadsheet is loaded, not when each program is waiting for input on whether to load something or start new.  It doesn't matter whether anything else is running on my desktop, just that Word of Excel are (I haven't tested PowerPoint or any of the other programs, but Outlook runs normally).

I wasn't sure where to turn to for assistance because I've never encountered a problem like this before, and a simple system restart has not been enough. If you need any more information, I'd be happy to give what is needed, but as far as I know, nothing of significance happened that have caused this.

***Post moved by the moderator to the appropriate forum category.***

Microsoft 365 and Office | Install, redeem, activate | For home | Other

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.

0 comments No comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2017-10-19T17:16:11+00:00

Taht's NOT a CPU performance issue nor a BIOS/Firmware setting issue, this happen on multiple system having display refresh rate higher then 60Hz. That's BAD CODE and only Microsoft can fix this.

Was this answer helpful?

100+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments No comments

104 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
  1. Anonymous
    2017-06-01T13:33:16+00:00

    Had the same issue.

    I use gaming mouse with advanced controls. The 'polling rate' was set to 1000 Hz. I reduced it down and the issue resolved

    Was this answer helpful?

    70+ people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments No comments
  2. Anonymous
    2017-02-02T00:47:11+00:00

    On Windows 7, 8 and 10 computers, it is possible to NOT show the windows contents while dragging.  This can be done as follows (just uncheck-the box as indicated below):

    The above might not be the solution you are looking for, however it is one way to prevent any "stuttering" of window contents, while dragging.  If you want to see the contents of Word/Excel while dragging those windows, you might try clicking on "File -> Options -> Advanced -> Display" and then check the box for "Disable hardware graphics acceleration" (not sure if that will fix the issue on your computer, but it might be worth a try).

    NOTE:

    In Windows 7 or 8 -

    To get the "Performance Options" window, type "Visual Effects" in the search box.

    In Windows 10 - 

    To get the "Performance Options" window, type "Performance" in the search box.

    Was this answer helpful?

    40+ people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments No comments
  3. Anonymous
    2017-10-19T17:44:51+00:00

    I agree that this is not related to CPU/BIOS/firmware/whatever apart from Office itself. Everything works exactly as it should in all situations except moving Office windows around.

    Although I'm no so sure it has much to do with display refresh rate. Both my displays are running at 60Hz ...

    Like I said before (my post on previous page), the only thing that actually removes the issue is reducing my mouse USB polling rate:

    • at 1000 Hz the window lags behind the mouse
    • at 500 Hz the windows still lags behind the mouse
    • at 125Hz the window moves normally.

    Interestingly, the window lags when it's displaying a spreadsheet/document/presentation. But it doesn't lag when displaying templates (right after launch).

    Let's just hope the next Office version (2019?) works fine because this one is probably not getting fixed ...

    Was this answer helpful?

    9 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments No comments
  4. Anonymous
    2017-06-23T11:29:26+00:00

    I can confirm that - reducing polling rate to 500 is still not enough. The issue did go away at 125Hz though. But like you said, I didn't pay for a good mouse to then use it at 1/8 of its performance, I could buy 9 times cheaper mouse if I wanted that ...

    This is definitely an Office issue (or issue between Office and graphic driver), because it only happens with MS Office, everything else works fine.

    Was this answer helpful?

    9 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments No comments