I edit translated documents, most of which were prepared in Asian language (Korean & Japanese) Word versions of several generations. I track changes and add comments liberally, and save the docs in compatible mode so there will be no issues with the author or other editors being able to read them.



Right now, I have a document which was 57K in the original version and has ballooned to 161K in the latest revision. During an editing session yesterday, Word slowed to a crawl, sometimes pausing with the spinning wheel for 20-30 seconds before resuming.

I can't say definitely that the document size and complexity is the cause of this problem, but I wonder if anyone else has run into this issue and (if I'm lucky) found a way to solve it.

I would be willing to scrub the tracking marks in sections of the document that are clean, in an attempt to bring down the document size, if that might help. I would prefer, though, to keep all the changes "live" in case there are questions or squawks from the customer about changes to the text. I'll accept the blame for my goofs, but not for the goofs of a customer's employee who answered one of my questions erroneously.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. I would be very interested in comments from people who also see big increases in document size because of change tracking but haven't run into the same problem I have. I may be on the wrong track entirely.

My computer is a modern one with 8 gigs of RAM and a reasonably speedy CPU and hard drive. I check for malware periodically, and did so again after this latest problem occurred.

Thanks.

Consider changing the view on your document to "Final" rather than "Final Showing Markup." This should help.

Yes, this is a function of document complexity, especially in the .doc format. The more the formatting is done with direct formatting rather than through styles, the more complex the document will be to Word.

Thanks. So you think that working in "no markup" rather than "simple markup," which just puts a margin bar by changed lines, will make a difference? I'll give it a try. It's much easier to edit a clean copy rather than one with all the annotations, so I don't view in full markup, even though I need to retain all the changes.

There's very little in the way of formatting changes per se; that's something the layout designers take care of before the material goes to the printers. Does formatting put a bigger strain on the program than editorial changes?

This particular document is in .docx format, but if there is a big difference, I'll make sure not to use .doc.

Does saving the document in a compatible version make a difference? I never really thought about it, but the save window just says "compatibility with earlier versions." Does that mean there are changes in document type in 2013 compared to 2007 and 2010? Or only with 2003 and earlier?

161K? That is tiny and should be no problem at all, especially as you have a modern computer.

I agree with fumei that it is not the size of the document that is causing a problem. I regularly work with documents that are around 1 Mb and have worked on ones that are really large (100 Mb and more).

The .docx format is much more robust than the .doc format. I would not do the editing with lots of changes in .doc format. If one of your authors is working in an earlier version of Word, when you are done with your editing, save in .doc format for that author. Besides, my understanding is that the markup utilities are better suited to multiple authors in the later versions. (I do not know this, just believe it.)

As for formatting putting a strain on processing... Direct formatting (not done through styles) puts all sorts of commands into every paragraph return. I know of no comparisons on demand. In part, it will depend on whether you have formatting changes as something that gets noted in track changes.

Part of the reason for the recommendation to view it in Final mode is that the demand may be on your video processor rather than your computer processor.

Thanks. Well, there must be something else going on. My first instinct was the same as your comments -- 161K shouldn't be a strain on a modern word processor.

I guess I need more instances of the problem to try to figure out the cause. I've only been using Word 2013 for a couple of months, and this is the first time I've noticed any problems.

Appreciate your time.

I'm seeing the same behavior in Word 2013 running on Windows 7 on a Lenovo T61p laptop. The file is a 177kb .docx file that contains both Tracked Changes and Comments. The slowdown appears to occur as soon as I open the Reviewing Pane or add a comment. The behavior consists of repeated frequent spinning circle machine-busy indications and grayed-out file-not-responding indicators. The only way to fix the situation is to close the file and Word down and reopen. But the behavior reoccurs as soon as I either open the Reviewing Pane or add a comment.

Best,
Alan

Almost exactly the same symptoms I'm observing. I'm using Win 8.1 and the subscription version of Office 2013.

Two instances isn't a people's revolutionary movement, but it suggests that my problems aren't just operator error of some kind. Maybe the next step is to make sure I can reproduce the problem on demand and call my friendly local MS office.

Same problem here since the last Windows Update, with big files or small files, .doc or .docx. I am a copy editor and it's driving me nuts. I can't work.