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Konstantinos Tsoukalas

Konstantinos is the founder and administrator of Wintips.org. Since 1995 he works and provides IT support as a computer and network expert to individuals and large companies. He is specialized in solving problems related to Windows or other Microsoft products (Windows Server, Office, Microsoft 365, etc.).

56 Comments

  1. Nirupam Rohatgi
    February 8, 2023 @ 2:29 pm

    This worked for me –
    1) Delete Normal.dotm
    2) Delete the following keys under the Word key:

    Data (e.g. HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Office/16.0/Word/Data)
    Options (e.g. HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Office/16.0/Word/Options)

    (even before trying the second options performance had improved a lot. May be step 2 is not required.)

    Reply

  2. NILRATAN BARUA
    November 18, 2022 @ 11:37 pm

    IT REALLY WORKED !! THANK YOU -NIL

    Reply

  3. Martin
    July 30, 2022 @ 8:28 am

    Perfect ❤️❤️

    Reply

  4. John West
    June 7, 2022 @ 2:18 am

    That worked. Thanks.

    Reply

  5. B
    May 26, 2022 @ 3:48 pm

    It worked! Thank you so much!

    Reply

  6. Firdavs
    March 24, 2022 @ 8:04 pm

    I really liked this post because it helped me thanks man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Reply

  7. Angie
    February 4, 2022 @ 7:30 pm

    Fantastic! It worked. I am on windows 10 and mine was opening fine. I use Microsoft Word for the Business Admin and IT course I am on. Everytime I shut a word file it was taking about 15 seconds to show it had closed. The first option in this page worked. Thank you so very much.

    Reply

  8. Anon.
    December 16, 2021 @ 2:15 pm

    Great it worked-bit wary of deleting anything but took a chance and it's so quick now -Thanks

    Reply

  9. Me
    September 17, 2021 @ 8:14 am

    Hello! I have office 2003, does'nt worked for me :(, i have not only 12 but 11 there i have find what you wrote and deleted still is open sloooow

    Reply

  10. Rick
    September 9, 2021 @ 11:23 am

    You are amazing!! Could kiss you!

    Reply

  11. Tony
    September 7, 2021 @ 9:55 am

    My gosh, changing the registry keys solved the problem. It now snaps open and closes the same. Thanks a million.

    Reply

  12. ilker
    September 1, 2021 @ 9:58 am

    Thank you so much!

    Reply

  13. Jeremy
    June 3, 2021 @ 8:40 am

    Brilliant, thanks

    Reply

  14. Musta
    May 9, 2021 @ 6:10 pm

    Thanks, bro, it helped my slow close time

    Reply

  15. Patrick Hoggard
    February 24, 2021 @ 9:03 pm

    Wow! That was unreal! All the delays vanished!

    Reply

  16. Eron
    January 12, 2021 @ 8:28 pm

    Solution: Just disable Office sync on OneDrive settings or use Google Drive.

    Reply

    • Elon
      April 21, 2021 @ 2:58 am

      Friends don't let friends use google spy. (-;

      Reply

  17. gla Abe
    April 29, 2020 @ 5:58 pm

    Works for me only for the first time after deleting. any suggestions?

    Reply

    • lakonst
      May 28, 2020 @ 9:52 am

      Repair or Reinstall the MS OFfice.

      Reply

  18. Aram Dodakian
    October 23, 2019 @ 10:42 pm

    Thank you. Worked like a champ

    Reply

  19. Ray Cummins
    May 31, 2019 @ 3:25 am

    I use Word 10 to create documents. I also have Word 7 on my computer but never use it intentionally. However whenever I try to open a Word 10 document the computer uses Word 7 and I must wait while the computer configures Word 7 and 30 seconds later the Word document will open. How do I correct this.

    Thank you

    Reply

    • lakonst
      May 31, 2019 @ 9:21 am

      @Ray Cummins: This happens, because you cannot have 2 different versions of Office on the same PC.

      Reply

  20. Patrick Humphrys
    January 18, 2019 @ 11:21 am

    Brilliant – fixed my word problem. an easy, well documented solution
    Thanks

    Reply

  21. Aruna
    August 30, 2018 @ 3:56 am

    It was very helpful. Thanks!

    Reply

  22. mark
    February 10, 2018 @ 6:01 pm

    This only worked the first time I opened word after deleting normal.dotm. Then its back to the old slow opening.
    Any suggestions?
    TY

    Reply

    • lakonst
      February 11, 2018 @ 10:26 am

      @mark: Proceed and uninstall all third party add-ins and then delete again the Normal.dotm

      Reply

      • milan
        March 20, 2018 @ 9:32 pm

        Excellent

        Reply

  23. Anonymous
    January 31, 2018 @ 8:43 am

    Thanks man. This really solved the problem.

    Reply

  24. Scott S Nelson
    February 14, 2017 @ 6:50 pm

    Worked for me. Thank you for posting.

    Reply

  25. Ravindra K. Banthia
    November 17, 2016 @ 9:02 pm

    Hi,

    I have a strange problem opening (not closing) MS Word 2007 files on Win 7.

    The files open readily when I am NOT connected to the internet.

    The files open readily when I AM connected to the internet via my USB dongle (with a sim card, mobile internet connection).

    The files USED TO open readily when I was connected to the internet using broadband.

    I have recently acquired a Wi-Fi Hub (JioFi 3) which has one USB port (for charging and for connecting to the net).

    When I use tethering to connect to the internet using the Wi-Fi Hub, even a new, empty file takes almost a minute to open. Larger files take even longer.

    When I disconnect the Wi-Fi Hub, the Word files again begin to open normally.

    I did not configure the Wi-Fi Hub manually; it installed automatically without any errors (other than a Linux related one).

    Also, I did not have to “connect” to the internet; the device connects to the internet as soon as it is powered on or connected to the PC.

    There are no other people sharing the Wi-Fi Hub; I am the lone user.

    On another PC with Win 7 and Office 2007, I could not replicate the problem.

    A friend says to reinstall MS Office and turn off the online help option that comes during the installation. Does that make sense?

    Can you help resolve this problem, please?

    Best regards,

    Ravi

    Reply

    • lakonst
      November 18, 2016 @ 11:26 am

      @Ravindra K. Banthia: This is strange. Try to disable all Add-ins: 1. Click the Microsoft Office Button and select "Word Options". 2. Click "Add-Ins" on the left. 3. At "Manage" select "COM Add-ins" and click "GO" 4. Disable (Clear) all Add-ins. and click OK 5. Close and re-open Word.

      Reply

  26. David
    October 23, 2016 @ 10:38 am

    As you have written. It opens as before at lightning speed. Thank you!

    Reply

  27. Susan
    August 11, 2016 @ 9:54 pm

    Worked! Thank you! It was taking at least a minute for the Word 2016 program to start up. Now it takes less than 5 seconds. You are awesome! Thanks again.

    Reply

  28. vee
    April 1, 2016 @ 10:18 am

    Yes that worked but deleted all my Auto Text and Auto Correct, not pleased!!

    Reply

    • lakonst
      April 2, 2016 @ 9:38 am

      @vee. THis happens because in Normal templates are stored the custom user settings. But if Normal Template is problematic or corrupted, the Word is very slow.

      Reply

  29. Vincent Rosaati
    January 23, 2016 @ 6:59 pm

    It's good to get Word back up to speed! Your suggestion worked perfectly.

    I have sent you a small contribution.

    Thanks for your efforts.

    Reply

  30. Manmohan Aseri
    October 27, 2015 @ 11:43 pm

    Thanks a lot…

    Reply

  31. Jayant Kolte
    September 26, 2015 @ 6:17 am

    Works fine for Word 2013. Thanks……..

    Reply

  32. H@ns
    September 3, 2015 @ 1:12 pm

    Woody, thanks man. I have tried so many options that seem to work for others but not for me. I use office 2007 and i remembered after reading your solution that i had installed Soda PDF 5 recently. It turned out to be the causing the problem of my annoying slow start and closing of word documents. I'm happy….

    Reply

  33. Shahzaib Rehman
    July 30, 2015 @ 1:42 am

    Wow ! !
    Thanks A LOT Man ! !
    It worked Like a dream !
    You just saved hours of my life ! :D
    I can't thank you enough. . .

    Reply

  34. Marie
    May 2, 2015 @ 2:32 pm

    Very helpful. Thanks you.

    Reply

    • james
      July 17, 2015 @ 10:18 am

      thanks a lot

      Reply

  35. Woody
    March 28, 2015 @ 5:34 pm

    Solution to Microsoft Word 2003 slow to launch: it was taking one minute or more for Word to open. I discovered a PDF reader an-in that was loading at the same time. I went to: tool/options/advanced/Com ad-ins and I disabled the ad-in. Now the program loads normally.

    Reply

  36. Shirish
    November 27, 2014 @ 12:46 am

    This was very helpful. Thanks a lot.

    Reply

  37. nolz
    November 25, 2014 @ 6:39 am

    normal.dotx for MS Word 2013

    Reply

    • lakonst
      November 25, 2014 @ 10:56 am

      Thanks, Updated.

      Reply

  38. farhan
    September 3, 2014 @ 8:09 pm

    i cant delete this file and its not normal dot its only normal
    when i try to delete it it says file is open in ms work

    Reply

    • lakonst
      September 4, 2014 @ 10:31 am

      It is the same file…Restart your computer and then try to delete 'Normal.dot".

      Reply

  39. Kevin M
    June 25, 2014 @ 4:53 pm

    Hi, looking for some advice. Like Tom O'keefe, my MS Word was taking about 30 seconds to open, sometimes longer. I followed the tutorial and it fixed the problem for the next 2 times that I opend Wrod (Ver 2010) Then it was back to 30 seconds to open. I again deleted the mormal.dot and the problem was fixed but again for only opening the next two times. Seems like Word is contaminating the file. Any ideas on a fix?

    Reply

    • lakonst
      June 26, 2014 @ 9:57 am

      Hello Kevin. Try to disable one by one the Word Adds-Ins (Options > Add-ins) to find which one is cause the problem.

      Reply

  40. woj
    February 16, 2014 @ 1:07 am

    it worked like a charm to me

    Reply

  41. Sushrut
    December 1, 2013 @ 8:06 am

    worked for me..
    Thanks bro !!!

    Reply

  42. bill
    October 13, 2013 @ 6:57 pm

    dump word go to word perfect

    Reply

  43. Tom O'Keefe
    September 4, 2013 @ 12:37 am

    MS Word 2007 starting about 30 seconds to open or close for me. After a couple of months being tormented by it I went into the Control Panel and removed most of the programs I has install in the current year that I was not familiar with or did not use. My MS Wood is now up to full speed again. Had I had time to do them one at a time and try opening word after each I would have found the one that gave the trouble.

    Reply

  44. Daniel Ipakchian
    June 18, 2013 @ 2:24 pm

    thanks man

    Reply

  45. Sandos
    May 5, 2013 @ 11:29 pm

    Yes, worked for me. Thanks

    Reply

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