Word is slow to respond version 16.85 in unknown version of Mac OS

Anonymous
2024-05-17T19:39:47+00:00

Split from this thread.

Exactly the same problem here:

  1. Problem appears after update to Version 16.85 (24051214) Microsoft® Word for Mac
  2. Problem is linked to spellchecker: any use of it triggers this complete freeze. Note that spellchecker can very easily be triggered incidentally, as shown in image above from Charles M1: The spelling popup balloon already crashes Word.
  3. The only way to stop the programme is through a Force Quit. Microsoft Word gets completely stuck, as described previously. To great despair, restarting Word does not trigger the usual Recovery and everything is lost. I could not locate any recovery file.
  4. It has nothing to do with OneDrive: the Word document was not located on OneDrive nor being synced through OneDrive. Completely shutting down OneDrive does not resolve the issue, it still happens..

So the problem seems to be directly caused by some change in the spelling module in the latest Word version for Mac.

Sincerely, Stan

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | MacOS

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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Answer accepted by question author
Stefan Blom 353.5K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2024-06-11T19:54:41+00:00

After the issue was reported in the forums, Microsoft recognized that this was a bug in Office for Mac. See the reply by Jim Gordon on the first page of the long thread at https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/word-is-lagging-on-my-mac/a520fea1-564f-4118-b73b-ada1d8a0e9ef.

As far as I know, nobody has suggested that Apple was to blame for this.

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-05-19T06:58:00+00:00

    charles

    very helpful. my only issue is that my office suite is under a work licence. So while I know how to uninstall parts of the office suite, I wonder whether I can install parts if it is under a work licence? I may need to ring my IT department and provide me with instructions.

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-05-19T10:07:31+00:00

    Thanks Charles - you've been a great support!

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-05-19T10:57:48+00:00

    Glad it worked out. And I know diddly about all this tech stuff. I was lucky to have someone who did know something to respond to my plea for help. I couldn't sit by and let someone else suffer the same way I did. Just trying to say I got lucky and passed it on. I mentioned this to a friend who also uses a Mac Book Air and Word and she tells me she has learned to be wary of word upgrades and to wait and see. Anyway, bookmark that page and if something happens in the future we can always go back to reliable 16.84 until the glitches get ironed out. All the best.

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-05-19T11:00:41+00:00

    Good Luck, that I know nothing about, sorry. All the best.

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