Documents slow to open

[timbits35]

Hi,

We have 5 computers on our network and my computer is the only one that has problems opening up certain word documents. It can take up to 2 minutes to open a document and everyone else can open their word documents instantly. I am using Word 2007 and Windows 7. These documents are on the server. I cannot pinpoint which ones as some open quickly an others don't. The documents are .doc. They were created by saving a .dot template file. But what is it about my computer that I am having these problems. Are there certain settings in Word that I should change? I have already uninstalled Microsoft Office file validation. The documents have headers with images. As I mentioned almost all other word documents open fine.

[fumei]

Have the template source files been moved? When they have been moved Word can take a long time to open files because it is trying to find the template sources at the old location.

[timbits35]

Hi,

Thank you for your reply.

As I explained, this is in a server environment of 5 computers and only 1 of the 5 computers has trouble opening the documents.

[macropod]

The description suggests to me that either:
a) the problem documents were created on a different server and cannot therefore find their templates
b) the problem documents were created on the same server but the template has been deleted or renamed and the documents cannot therefore find their templates;
c) you have faulty network (hardware and/or software); or
d) there is a fault in the user's network profile.

[timbits35]

Hi,

I have looked at your reply and here are my answers.

a) we only have 1 server
b) if this was the case, the other users would have problems opening the documents, they open quickly for them and for me it takes up to 2-3 minutes
c) I can open 99% of documents, so I don't see how it can be a hardware or software server problem
d) again, there only a handful of documents that I have a problem with

Are there any settings specifically in Word that I should check on my machine?

Thank you

[macropod]

Re a: The fact you only have one server does not of itself negate what I said, as I was referring to where the documents were created, not where they are now. However, given that others have no trouble with the same documents, per (b), we can rule that out.

Re c: An applicable software problem could be as simple as the affected documents referencing a network printer for which the driver is not on your PC. See: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/280821.

Re d: The fact it's only a handful of documents doesn't rule out a fault in the user's network profile. An erroneous permissions configuration might cause delays with documents stored in certain folders and/or owned by certain users.

[timbits35]

Hi,

I have done some additional testing this morning.

1. I copied the document to my local drive and it opened quickly.

2. I changed my default printer to Adobe PDF and opened the network version and it opened quickly.

At this point, I was convinced that it was the printer, but just to retest, I switched the printer back and to my surprise, the network version opened quickly.

I am very confused by this, but whatever works.

Thank you for your ideas.

[fumei]

I switched the printer back

Back to what?

[timbits35]

I switched the printer back to the network printer and the documents open at the same speed as all of the other documents.

I unfortunately have found some more documents that open too slowly and the printer fix isn't working. I tried copying them to the local drive and this didn't work.

So maybe it is a problem with a template. They were created from a template but saved as .doc files. How can I verify if they are associated with a template and how can I remove this? I imagine that once they are saved as .doc or .docx files, that they do not need a reference to the template.

Thank you

[fumei]

They were created from a template but saved as .doc files. How can I verify if they are associated with a template and how can I remove this? I imagine that once they are saved as .doc or .docx files, that they do not need a reference to the template.

Uh, this is incorrect.

1. They are STILL associated with the template. You can see this looking at the File Properties. The associated template will show.

2. And yes, as I stated, Word will try and find the referenced template.

and how can I remove this?

By changing the document to reference another template. ALL documents reference a template. You can not have a document with no template reference.

[timbits35]

I have replaced the reference to the templates that it cannot find with normal. The documents open quickly.

Is this ok? Do the documents lose any formatting or properties if they now just reference the normal.dot template instead of the original template?

[macropod]

Since the documents concerned can't find their template (as I suggested in my first post at a & b but you dismissed), changing the template to 'Normal' is unlikely to have any adverse consequences. However, attachment to the correct template can be essential for documents that rely on macros in their templates or have the 'automatically update document Styles' option checked. In the former case, the lack of access to the macro possibly means there's a loss of functionality and for the latter case, your formatting could be completely messed up.