MS Word lagging on 2020 Apple M1 MacBook Pro

Anonymous
2024-05-18T01:38:19+00:00

EDIT: I uninstalled and reinstalled Word as an older version (16.84) and Word works perfectly well.

I have an Apple MacBook Pro M1 chip from late 2020. It works perfectly well. However, Word starts lagging when I use it for a few minutes. This is not an issue with my computer – all other programmes work perfectly well while Word is lagging.

I tried uninstalling Word and reinstalling it, but this problem has persisted. I have closed all other apps bar Word, but Word still lags. I have also tried moving documents out of my OneDrive folder so they weren't being autosaved onto the cloud, but the lag persisted. Running Activity Monitor on Mac does not show excessive strain on Memory, CPU etc. from Word.

I recently installed an update, and I wonder whether this is the cause? Stumped as to how to fix this issue.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | Other | MacOS

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  1. Jim G 134K Reputation points MVP
    2024-05-29T01:47:04+00:00

    IMPORTANT UPDATE FROM MICROSOFT

    Build 16.85.526.2 (16.85.24052614) is now available. It contains a fix for Word sometimes becoming unresponsive. We ask that users reporting the issue please update to that latest build.

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-05-22T00:25:14+00:00

    Yes, it has been happening for over a week at my end. If you have a MAC, you can use their Word version or Word through Google Gmail. These versions of word work fine for me.

    hope that helps.

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-05-20T19:44:23+00:00

    I am having the same problem and would appreciate a response from Microsoft!

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-05-19T04:01:55+00:00

    EDIT: I too uninstalled and reinstalled Word as an older version (16.84) and Word works perfectly well.

    I have this issue, too. It started in the last few days. I use the MS Word 365 client and on an Apple M2 MacBook Pro 2023, macOS 14.4.1 23E224. My MS word is up-to-date.

    I've rebooted, I've cleared out .dotm type files (just had a couple). Both these efforts had a little improvement that then reverted. I've had to take notes in my mac notepad, the issue is so frustrating. I sure hope I don't have to roll back my MS Word. Let me know if I can send any info that can help.

    I'm glad MS knows about it and hope there is a fix soon.

    Thanks,

    T

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  5. Anonymous
    2024-05-19T13:33:32+00:00

    I have the same problem with :

    • 1 M3 MacBook Pro 2024
    • 1 M2 Mac Studio 2023

    Since 14 May update, Word becomes impossibly slow, with color wheel.

    First time ever (at least since several years) I encounter such lags.

    I'll try to revert to April 16 iteration.

    Will let you know.

    Thank you for your help

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