John?
There can be multiple causes of slow opening, in particular of documents that have been created on networks. From my notes:
Performance Issues when Opening Network Documents
Word is slow to start, print, or load documents:
When you start Word, it gathers information to use for document formatting and printing operations. If the files, drivers, or fonts are damaged, missing, or located on a remote server, Word can require more time to connect to the server and gather the information that it needs. If Word starts very slowly, or other operations, such as opening or printing documents, also are very slow, this may be due to any one or more of:
• Microsoft Windows using a printer driver located on a network print server, instead of a local printer driver on your hard disk. When you use a remote printer driver, you may notice that it takes longer to change your default printer setting, and sometimes Word may print documents more slowly than you may expect.
• Word is installed on your computer, but Word was once running from the network. When the computer is not connected to the network, there is a long delay when you are opening documents.
• Fonts that are used in the Word document are damaged or missing from the system, and Word cannot substitute other fonts in the document.
To resolve the issues, see:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=280821
Documents that have attached templates take a long time to open:
When you open a Microsoft Word document when connected to a network, it may take longer than expected to open. This can occur if the document has a template attached or linked and one of the following conditions is true:
• The attached template, its folder, or its share is missing.
• The attached template has been moved.
• The attached template has been renamed.
• A linked file referenced by the document is missing, has been moved or renamed.
When a Word template is missing, Windows will try to locate the missing template multiple times. The process of locating a missing template may cause a Word document to take longer than expected to open.
To resolve the template issues, see:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=830561.
If you're opening the file from a completely different location (e.g. at home instead of at work), simply disconnecting from the internet while opening the file can improve performance.