Word For Mac Quitting Due to Memory Leak

Question

Word For Mac Quitting Due to Memory Leak

Ben L 30

Word crashes after about 1 day's use, every time. I can see that it is being killed by my Mac due to a memory leak (Activity Monitor shows the memory usage of Word growing steadily from about 500M to 10G at which point my Mac presumably kills it). I don't know why the memory leak is occurring.

Details:

I'm using a Macbook Pro (M1 series).
I am a member of a Microsoft 365 Family account. With that subscription, I downloaded Word from the Mac App Store.
I used to have no issues. The issues seemed to start when I upgraded my Mac to Tahoe.
I tried uninstalling Word and reinstalling with an older version that used to work, but that one had the same issue. This leads me to think that the issue is due to the Tahoe upgrade.
The issue occurs with any Word doc.
Issue has persisted for around 5 months now. I've gone through various Word updates since then (and Mac updates), but none of them fix the issue.
When Word crashes, there is no warning or error message shown (this is probably expected though because my Mac is killing it).

What can I try to fix this issue?

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Steven Kaufman 55 Reputation points

2026-04-25T06:47:04.7366667+00:00

Hey, Ben: I have an interesting update. I got a new MacBook Pro M5 Max. Fresh install of Office (not a restore from a backup). Same thing: terminates without warning. On my Mac Studio (M1 Ultra), running the same file...no quitting at all. I'm now wondering if the issue is MacBook related...or RAM-related. My studio has 128GB RAM; the MacBook Pro has 48 GB. The file is 115 page novel, but only 329K in size--maybe too complex for a 48GB laptop? That would surprise me...48GB is a lot of RAM!

I'm not sure where to go with the troubleshooting, other than it's very telling that Word is totally stable on the Mac Studio and very unstable (with this file) on the MacBook Pro. One step is to use Word with other smaller files and see if it terminates. That would, in fact, point to a file issue. If Word quits no matter what I'm working on, then I suspect an issue with Word and MacBook Pro models.

Your thoughts?
Ben L 30 Reputation points

2026-04-26T10:53:12.2133333+00:00

Thanks Steven. Is your Mac Studio on Tahoe?
Steven Kaufman 55 Reputation points

2026-04-26T14:05:10.3166667+00:00

It is, and it's fully updated. And...it quit as well yesterday, so my Studio vs. MacBook Pro theory went out the window. I can't tell if this is a Tahoe issue or a Word issue or some combination of the two. Part of me is wondering if I should switch to Pages!
Ben L 30 Reputation points

2026-04-27T15:57:55.82+00:00

Thanks for the update. Word will probably take longer to quit on your Studio because it'll take longer for its memory to grow big enough to reach your Studio's RAM limit.
Kellie M 0 Reputation points

2026-06-05T00:10:04.7133333+00:00
Hi, I am keen to see if you have found a stable solution as I am having the exact same problem. I work from home and interview people using a template and it now quite regularly crashes without warning, just suddenly closes, no freeze, no error message to say it unexpectedly quit, and only sometimes it produces a recovery file. I type fast whilst interviewing so I lose a LOT of work and damages the interview flow. I have tried everything I have read - reinstalling word, reverting to old versions, updating everything, creating a brand new template. Other people use the same template on different laptops with no issues. Occasionally it does say its to do with the text box but I can't do anything to fix that error. I do have one drive and autobackup saving at 5 minutes now (to try not lose so much work), and I do wonder if onedrive is a cause but im not very familiar with one-drive.

This problem only started when I updated to Tahoe (currently updated to 26.5)

I am a subscriber to Microsoft 365 on my Mac (M3)

I update and restart regularly - the problem potentially occurs less when I have restarted.

Since originally writing this I have updated Tahoe again and its crashed again - I rely on the navigation pane to do my work but I will try today to not use it and see if this helps.. Not a long term fix though as I type whilst running an interview and need to move fast with the navigator!
Ben L 30 Reputation points

2026-06-11T07:56:26.4766667+00:00

I have given Microsoft feedback, but I also gave feedback (albeit without the navpane info) months ago so I am not expecting a quick fix. Btw Kellie it should be possible to have OneDrive autosave instantly (rather than every 5 mins). To be clear OneDrive is not the cause, I switched to OneDrive as a result of this bug to stop losing work- maybe that's why Microsoft aren't in a rush to fix it lol.
Stefan Blom 353.5K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-06-11T08:54:15.99+00:00

Kellie M said:

I do have one drive and autobackup saving at 5 minutes now [---]

Note that "Save AutoRecover info" in Word Preferences applies to locally saved documents, only (not to the automatic saving in OneDrive).

5 answers

Your answer

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Steven Kaufman 55 Reputation points

2026-04-25T06:47:04.7366667+00:00

Hey, Ben: I have an interesting update. I got a new MacBook Pro M5 Max. Fresh install of Office (not a restore from a backup). Same thing: terminates without warning. On my Mac Studio (M1 Ultra), running the same file...no quitting at all. I'm now wondering if the issue is MacBook related...or RAM-related. My studio has 128GB RAM; the MacBook Pro has 48 GB. The file is 115 page novel, but only 329K in size--maybe too complex for a 48GB laptop? That would surprise me...48GB is a lot of RAM!

I'm not sure where to go with the troubleshooting, other than it's very telling that Word is totally stable on the Mac Studio and very unstable (with this file) on the MacBook Pro. One step is to use Word with other smaller files and see if it terminates. That would, in fact, point to a file issue. If Word quits no matter what I'm working on, then I suspect an issue with Word and MacBook Pro models.

Your thoughts?
Ben L 30 Reputation points

2026-04-26T10:53:12.2133333+00:00

Thanks Steven. Is your Mac Studio on Tahoe?
Steven Kaufman 55 Reputation points

2026-04-26T14:05:10.3166667+00:00

It is, and it's fully updated. And...it quit as well yesterday, so my Studio vs. MacBook Pro theory went out the window. I can't tell if this is a Tahoe issue or a Word issue or some combination of the two. Part of me is wondering if I should switch to Pages!
Ben L 30 Reputation points

2026-04-27T15:57:55.82+00:00

Thanks for the update. Word will probably take longer to quit on your Studio because it'll take longer for its memory to grow big enough to reach your Studio's RAM limit.
Kellie M 0 Reputation points

2026-06-05T00:10:04.7133333+00:00

Hi, I am keen to see if you have found a stable solution as I am having the exact same problem. I work from home and interview people using a template and it now quite regularly crashes without warning, just suddenly closes, no freeze, no error message to say it unexpectedly quit, and only sometimes it produces a recovery file. I type fast whilst interviewing so I lose a LOT of work and damages the interview flow. I have tried everything I have read - reinstalling word, reverting to old versions, updating everything, creating a brand new template. Other people use the same template on different laptops with no issues. Occasionally it does say its to do with the text box but I can't do anything to fix that error. I do have one drive and autobackup saving at 5 minutes now (to try not lose so much work), and I do wonder if onedrive is a cause but im not very familiar with one-drive.

This problem only started when I updated to Tahoe (currently updated to 26.5)

I am a subscriber to Microsoft 365 on my Mac (M3)

I update and restart regularly - the problem potentially occurs less when I have restarted.

Since originally writing this I have updated Tahoe again and its crashed again - I rely on the navigation pane to do my work but I will try today to not use it and see if this helps.. Not a long term fix though as I type whilst running an interview and need to move fast with the navigator!
Ben L 30 Reputation points

2026-06-11T07:56:26.4766667+00:00

I have given Microsoft feedback, but I also gave feedback (albeit without the navpane info) months ago so I am not expecting a quick fix. Btw Kellie it should be possible to have OneDrive autosave instantly (rather than every 5 mins). To be clear OneDrive is not the cause, I switched to OneDrive as a result of this bug to stop losing work- maybe that's why Microsoft aren't in a rush to fix it lol.
Stefan Blom 353.5K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-06-11T08:54:15.99+00:00

Kellie M said:

I do have one drive and autobackup saving at 5 minutes now [---]

Note that "Save AutoRecover info" in Word Preferences applies to locally saved documents, only (not to the automatic saving in OneDrive).

Answer 1

Francisco Montilla 30,715 Independent Advisor

Hello,

The App Store version of Word runs in a strict sandbox, and sometimes OS-level changes mess with how it releases memory. I would like to isolate exactly what is triggering the leak before giving you a specific fix to try.

Do you use any add-ins or reference managers linked to Word?
Also, if you open a completely blank document and just leave it alone for the day, does Activity Monitor still show the RAM skyrocketing to 10GB, or does it only happen with specific documents that have lots of formatting and custom fonts?

As a diagnostic test, try booting your Mac into Safe Mode, open a regular document, and keep an eye on Activity Monitor for a few hours. That will tell us if a system background process or a corrupted font cache is fighting with Word. Let me know the results so we can figure out the actual cause.

Ben L 30 Reputation points

2026-04-06T15:34:15.71+00:00

Thanks for the reply. No add-ins or reference managers, or anything else like that. Will have to save the blank document test for the weekend as I use Word for my work. Will try the safe mode test now...
Ben L 30 Reputation points

2026-04-07T12:46:43.86+00:00

I ran the safe mode test and the same issue occurs. I will try the blank document test on the weekend when not working.
Francisco Montilla 30,715 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-04-08T11:09:40.2233333+00:00

Okay, then let's skip waiting for the blank document test and try swapping out the version you are using.

You mentioned downloading Word from the Mac App Store. That specific version is heavily sandboxed by macOS, which often causes weird behavior.

Go into your Applications folder and drag Microsoft Word to the trash to uninstall it. Then, instead of going back to the App Store, head over to office.com in your browser. Log in with your Microsoft 365 Family account and download the standalone installer package directly from your account dashboard.

Installing it this way gives you the direct Microsoft AutoUpdate version rather than the App Store one. It has completely different system permissions and usually bypasses these aggressive memory leaks entirely. Run that version for a day and see if Activity Monitor stays stable.
Ben L 30 Reputation points

2026-04-09T15:19:52.25+00:00

Thanks Francisco. This morning I uninstalled the App Store version, and installed the Microsoft AutoUpdate version. Checked Activity Monitor just now and the memory leak is still present, annoyingly!

I note that I did not delete all Microsoft Word settings when uninstalling (I just moved the item from Applications to trash). It could be worth deleting these I suppose?

Do you have any other ideas? You mentioned fonts earlier. Is that something worth investigating now? For the record, I haven't used any custom fonts, I just use the default No Spacing/Heading 1/Heading 2/Heading 3/etc ones (although what was the default font style when I first started writing some of these word docs several years ago I can see is no longer the default).

Any suggestions would be most welcome. Thanks again for the help...
Francisco Montilla 30,715 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-04-10T13:02:42.3733333+00:00

Deleting the lingering settings is the right move here. If one of those preference files is corrupted, it will keep triggering the memory leak even on a fresh install. Make sure Word is completely closed first.

Open Finder, click Go in the top menu bar, hold down the Option key to reveal the hidden Library folder, and click it. From there, open the Containers folder and find the folder named Microsoft Word. Move that entire folder to the trash. Next, go back to the main Library folder, open Group Containers, and look for the folder named UBF8T346G9.Office. Move that one to the trash too. Empty the trash and relaunch Word so it is forced to build fresh preference files from scratch.

How does the memory usage look in Activity Monitor after trying that?
Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 437.7K Reputation points

2026-04-10T13:46:34.9466667+00:00

It should be made clear that the Normal.dotm template is stored within that hierarchy. Deleting the hierarchy also deletes that template which contains most user customizations [Macros, AutoText, formatted AutoCorrect Entries, Keyboard Shortcuts & Styles].

Any User templates you have created are stored within that hierarchy as well so deleting the hierarchy will delete those templates also.

It may be advisable to move the Normal.dotm from the User Content/Templates folder in order to preserve it. Much can be retrieved later or the entire User Content folder can be restored.
Ben L 30 Reputation points

2026-04-14T13:38:57.7466667+00:00

Thanks both. Yesterday I deleted the Word settings, as instructed, and relaunched word. Today I can see from Activity Monitor that the issue is still present. Do you have any further ideas?

I also note that I don't think the memory use increases when Word is open but I'm not using it, eg if it's open for a day but not in use. This doesn't seem too surprising.
Ben L 30 Reputation points

2026-04-21T07:11:22.9166667+00:00

Anyone have any other suggestions?

Answer 2

Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 437.7K

The best solution is to avoid the problem by not leaving any program running for extended periods, especially if not in frequent use. Further, any documents left open for extended periods are subject to corruption and/or loss of content. As the adage states, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." 🙂

Likewise — contrary to what the industry intimates — the computer should be restarted periodically. Optimally, shut down nightly rather than relying on something such as sleep which is nothing more than an energy saving function.

If the issue seems related to Tahoe be sure to keep it fully updated. Tahoe has exhibited a number of early-onset issues. Perhaps Apple Support can provide some assistance or clarification.

Ben L 30 Reputation points

2026-04-07T12:45:37.95+00:00

Thanks, I should have mentioned that my current workaround is to quit and restart Word at the start of every day. This mostly works, but sometimes even one day's use will result in a crash. I do also restart my machine regularly, and always stay on the latest OS versions. Apple Support unfortunately point me back to Microsoft.
Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 437.7K Reputation points

2026-04-14T17:05:47.06+00:00

Unfortunately I can't add or offer anything more. I have avoided Tahoe like the plague & have not experienced anything similar on Sequoia or Sonoma.

With all due respect to Apple techs it seems they may not be following any of the known issues including those posted in their own Community. I did a brief web search using the criteria macos tahoe memory leaks. There were numerous hits, some of which may offer useful suggestions.

Answer 3

Martin Gifford 15

Navigation Pane could be the culprit. Word has been crashing for me constantly since Tahoe. I tried all the solutions provided online. Then I closed the spellchecker and connected services. Memory stabilised. But I realised that I also turned off the navigation pages so that I had room on my screen to watch Activity Monitor as I typed. Then I turned the Navigation Pane back on, in addition to the Activity Monitor, and memory usage started rising. So I think that's the cause.

Ben L 30 Reputation points

2026-06-03T16:34:22.1766667+00:00

That's really interesting- I will give it a test! Thanks for the tip. I do make extensive use of Navigation Pane so it is definitely plausible. Will report my findings...
Ben L 30 Reputation points

2026-06-04T16:05:38.5266667+00:00

You're right!! I used Word today with the left-hand sidebar closed and the memory didn't increase one bit (stable at 400-500 MB ). I do need to use the Navigation Pane regularly, but I wonder if I could use this information to find a hack. Eg perhaps closing the nav pane periodically will allow Word to release some memory. Will do some testing. If you happen to find a hack along these lines, do let me know. Thanks in any case for the help so far.
Martin Gifford 15 Reputation points

2026-06-05T00:02:44.1933333+00:00

So either MacOS or Word is causing it. I've been using Word without a single problem for years. It only started with Tahoe. I gave feedback to both Apple and Microsoft and gave a screenshot to one of them showing Word using 8GB of RAM in Activity Monitor. But MacOS updated on my computer last night to 26.5.1 and it didn't help. Also, I got no replies from Apple or Microsoft. Maybe you can give them both feedback too. IIRC, switching off the Navigation Pane only freezes the amount of RAM usage in place. I don't understand why this isn't a more commonly reported issue. I've tried all the other suggested fixes and none of them work, so it really seems to only be the Navigation Pane & a Tahoe bug. Maybe not many people use the Navigation Pane? That would be crazy. Non-fiction authors and technical writers would all have the Navigation Pane on. Why aren't they crashing all the time? One of life's mysteries.
Martin Gifford 15 Reputation points

2026-08-12T01:10:31.7433333+00:00

Maybe the navigation pane Memory Leak has been fixed with the latest update 16.112. I have a 300,000 word document and it seemed to peak around 940 mb. But I only tested for 15 minutes. Keen to hear others' experience.
Martin Gifford 15 Reputation points

2026-08-15T15:12:17.39+00:00

Nope. I just added 253 words to a document under one of it's headings and now it has jumped up to 2.25 GB. That's disappointing.
Steven Kaufman 55 Reputation points

2026-08-15T15:18:17.19+00:00

Same experience here, Martin. I opened my novel with hopes that the nav pane issue was fixed with the latest release and I was up to 6 GB in no time. I closed the nav pane before Word quit.

It's stunning to me that Microsoft won't address this issue. Windows over Mac sentiment? They are completely opaque as to what features they fix, so it's impossible to tell if and when they will ever address this. I submit a trouble report from within Word regularly. It's the only way I know to bring this issue to the forefront. No idea if anyone is actually looking at them or if they have added it to a bug list...or if they even care about this problem at all.
Martin Gifford 15 Reputation points

2026-08-16T08:28:32.37+00:00

They might have stopped support for Office 2021. If you return to macOS Sequoia it would probably get Word working again. Also, MacOS Pages and others have navigation panes.
Ben L 30 Reputation points

2026-08-20T07:45:00.6533333+00:00

This newest version of Word is an improvement but still has the same issue, for me. The memory increases slower, but does keep increasing so eventually crashes in the same way.
Martin Gifford 15 Reputation points

2026-08-20T10:17:57.4533333+00:00

That’s interesting that it’s in the current version. The navigation pane is used extensively in business by lawyers, technical writers, and publishers. If everyone was experiencing this problem then Microsoft would’ve had to fix it. So maybe it’s something carrying through from old macOS installations that only affects a small number of people? However, I did everything that ChatGPT and other AI’s suggested like 15 different fixes and none of them worked. The only thing I haven’t tried is a complete fresh reinstall of macOS.
Steven Kaufman 55 Reputation points

2026-08-20T14:10:47.1033333+00:00

I've tried a reinstall and that didn't help either. And it does it on both my MacBook Pro and my Mac Studio (desktop). That tells me that it's not a computer-specific issue.

I don't know the exact reason for the crash. I only know that when the Nav Pane is open and I'm working on a long document with a lot of headings, Word begins to use up memory, and eventually crashes. I agree with Ben--recent fixes appear to have slowed the time before the crash--but it crashes reliably. If I close Nav Pane, the memory usage stops and Word never crashes.

I don't know if it's related to the size of the file, the number of headings the are used, the number of characters, etc. I'm working on a trilogy--three different files, each about 100,000 words, probably 75-100 uses of Heading 1 and Heading 2 in each document, and Word crashes with all three files. Other documents with smaller word and heading counts don't crash. (Ben: What size files are you working with before your files crash? Any pattern that you see?).

I also don't know how many other people are affected by this or how Microsoft chooses which issues to work on for its releases. All I know is that their software has this flow, it's reproducible, it's been around for a long time, it affects the use of the product in a big way, and Microsoft is aware of it. If and when they choose to fix it remains a frustrating mystery to those of us who use the product.
N. J. Schrock 0 Reputation points

2026-08-20T18:35:21.8933333+00:00

I write novels, and having the navigation pane open all the time is important to me. I started using Google Docs, which saves as I go, works the same as Word (or close to it), and doesn't cost me anything.
Ben L 30 Reputation points

2026-08-26T07:31:45.66+00:00

Steven- the docs I am using when word crashes do have several headings, some of them have hundreds of pages and headings, though another one has 50 pages and 50 headings and I think that one has the same issue (thought can't be sure as I most often use multiple docs at once).

For any new work I'll be using Google Docs. My current word docs are too big to port over though.
Steven Kaufman 55 Reputation points

2026-08-26T13:58:17.5533333+00:00

Thanks for the update, Ben. Word updated itself yesterday, and my OS updated to Tahoe 26.6.2. I'll see if the problem was fixed...though my expectations are low. The issue is still there. It seems as if the crash takes longer, but it always comes. I am baffled that this hasn't been addressed. Someone in this thread commented that this is such a fundamental feature of Word and they would think many people were having the issue--hence, it would be high on Microsoft's "Fix It" radar. Apparently, that's not the case. Is it some odd combination of computer setup/other programs installed on our Macs that's relegated this issue to a small number of Mac users?

Answer 4

Steven Kaufman 55

Hi, folks: I had a long chat with MS tech support yesterday. The culprit is NavPane. Because it's continually reindexing the headings, it's not releasing memory so usage climbs until macOS kills the app. To test the theory, I've left my file open all night--the one with extensive use of headings that kept leading Word to quit. NavPane closed: 680MB; no crash. Open NavPane; memory usage climbs steadily to about 6GB; then Word quits. I see this on my Mac Studio and my MacBook Pro .

This is a known bug to Microsoft. They won't release a fix date. Their release page with office app downloads will only say "bug fixes and improvements." There's no way to find exactly if and when they'll correct this problem.

Here are my workarounds:

Don't leave NavPane open all the time. I'm opening it when I need to jump around, then closing it. Memory usage will climb when it's open, but stops once it's closed. This will lengthen the time before the program crashes.
I created a Table of Contents, then preceded it with "zzz." I do a quick search for "zzz", then use the TOC's built-in hyperlinks to jump around. It's not nearly as convenient as having the entire doc outline on the left side--and you have to update the field constantly if you add new Heading style content--but it is a reasonable NavPane alternative.
Because the issue is related to macOS memory usage, downgrading to version 16.78 - 16.82 until there's a fix was recommended by the first tech with whom I spoke, but not by his supervisor. It's likely that older versions of Word will also exhibit this behavior.

I'm writing a novel, so sparing use of NavPane can work for me. Open it only when I need to jump around, then close it. Use TOC to study the chapter and scene outline for longer periods of time without a memory impact. It sucks--NavPane does both so conveniently--but it's not worth the anxiety of hitting Cmd+S every fifth word and waiting for the program to crash. I use Dropbox, so saving the novel in OneDrive isn't an option for me.

Hope this helps. At least I know the source of the issue, proved that it's repeatable, and that it's on MS radar. Keeping my fingers crossed that this will eventually lead to a fix.

Stefan Blom 353.5K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-06-11T13:50:22.2533333+00:00

I "upgraded" your reply to an Answer (meaning it gets more visibility and, in addition, it can be marked as an Accepted or Recommended Answer).
Steven Kaufman 55 Reputation points

2026-06-11T14:57:59.11+00:00

Thank you, Stefan!
Ben L 30 Reputation points

2026-06-17T16:05:14.05+00:00

Brilliant, thanks so much for persevering with Microsoft support. Hopefully they will fix. I like the creativity of your workarounds too, good shout.
N. J. Schrock 0 Reputation points

2026-06-23T16:30:05.3933333+00:00

I'm also writing a novel, and I use the Navpane a lot, so the problem is truly a pain! Pun intended. Thanks for clarifying the problem.
Kellie M 0 Reputation points

2026-07-06T04:24:10.1266667+00:00

Thank you - since my earlier comment, I have kept Navpane shut, and never had a single crash which is a relief though very frustrating with the scrolling. Ill try the tricks but I really hope there is a fix some day soon!
mark baldwin 0 Reputation points

2026-08-12T07:19:30.6833333+00:00

Can confirm is the exact issue for me too. Lots of incorrect answers on the interwebs, happy to finally find this and at least have the real answer, and a kind of workaround...keep Navpane closed!
Steven Kaufman 55 Reputation points

2026-08-12T13:51:15.21+00:00

I've been running Version 16.112 (26081010) for a bit. Opened my novel with extensive Heading style usage; Activity Monitor says 408MB. First, that's significantly less memory than the file used to use upon first opening. Second, I left it open all night and Word did not quit. Release notes for this version only say "Quality and performance improvements."

I am cautiously optimistic that this release has addressed the issue. Fingers crossed!
Ben L 30 Reputation points

2026-08-20T07:44:33.2366667+00:00

This newest version of Word is an improvement but still has the same issue, for me. The memory increases slower, but does keep increasing so eventually crashes in the same way.
Becca S 0 Reputation points

2026-09-01T20:01:36.9766667+00:00

I'm so glad I found this thread. I felt like I was going insane! This happened on my previous mac, and I now have a new mac (as of June) and it's still happening. I never even connected it to the Navpane. It's really frustrating because I also have a multiple chapter novel and rely on the Navpane, especially because I regularly jump back and forth between chapters to add and amend parts.
Thank you so much for clarifying the problem. I'm relieved that there's an answer, but frustrated that the only solution seems to be closing the Navpane, especially when my current novel is almost 100k words so far. Here's hoping we get a fix soon!
Martin Gifford 15 Reputation points

2026-09-02T03:05:29.4533333+00:00

MacOS 27 is due in a few weeks, so hoping that will fix it. But there are plenty of alternative apps that have navigation panes. Your Mac's own Pages app, Scrivener, Google Docs, Euro-office is coming soon, etc. I bought Scrivener - it's great but has a steep learning curve.

Answer 5

Martin Gifford 15

MacOS 27 didn't fix the Word 2021 memory leak with the Navigation Pane. RAM on my 110k word document gradually rose from 800mb to 3.41gb before I stopped writing. One thing I noticed was that copying and pasting to double the document size didn't have much impact. And adding headings didn't have much impact. Instead, it seems to be simply typing that makes it go crazy. So it's not file size or number of headings. Just typing. Weird. Anyway, I'll use Scrivener for writing and organising my work, and keep Word for final formatting of the book before publishing.

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