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
    2024-05-27T14:15:24+00:00

    Hi, there is a New Update from MS. Select update in help menu bar. After download the user needs to quit word and restart (not computer but only word.).

    Good luck. - - John - -

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  2. Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 437.7K Reputation points
    2024-05-27T15:46:49+00:00

    Apparently v16.85.2 has not yet been released to the Current Channel.

    Use Help> Check for Updates then click the Advanced button & select Current Channel (Preview) from the list of Update Channels. The 16.85.2 update then will be available.

    You can revert to Current Channel after updating if you wish.

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-05-27T15:53:19+00:00

    Very happy to find this thread. I've been having the same issue on two different Macs running two different OSs (my personal Mac running the latest Sonoma 14.5 and MS Word 16.85; and my work Mac running an older and company modified OS and Word version). I've checked the activity monitor when this happens and it shows the processor activity has gone to >100% (when I restart Word, it returns to a few percent). Takes about 30 min for symptoms to begin as others have reported. After about an hour its unusable. Doesn't quite freeze - I can still quit (if I'm patient watching the spinning wheel of death). Works OK again after restarting Word. No other apps are effected.

    BTW my work IT folks cleared the caches, had me reinstall Word - none of that helped either.

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-05-27T16:49:08+00:00

    Yeah, I have uninstalled and reinstalled a zillion times. I have cleared cache. I have run all kinds of diagnostics to make sure there is noting wrong on my Mac book air, and I have the latest operating system. Getting pretty fed up. Let me know if you hear anything.

    Thanks

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