Linked fields in Word with Excel are loading slowly when both files are on a network share.




I have a Word document with 97 linked fields from an Excel file. (Office 2010)

1) Behaviour with Word and Excel file on a local (C or D) Drive:

When opening the Word document I’m asked if all the linked fields in this Word document must be updated. When I click on yes, this is done in about 10 sec. In the background Word opens the Excel file. (You see a ~ $ name.xlsx file appearing).

2) Behaviour with Word and Excel file on a network drive:

When opening the Word document I’m asked if all the linked fields in this Word document must be updated. When I click on yes, this is done, but it takes about 5 minutes before all linked fields have been modified. In the background, the Excel file is apparently opened for each link and closed again. You therefore see a ~ $ name.xlsx file appear and disappear.

Why is this behaviour different when both files are on a local drive?

As a test, I then open the Excel file manually first and then the Word file with the links. Because the Excel file is already open the linked fields are updated quickly in about 10 sec like situation 1. (The Excel file is not closed and opened for each link)

3) Behaviour with the Word file on a network drive and the Excel file locally on the C or D drive:

In this way, it works quickly like in situation 1. The Excel file is opened in the background once and not opened en closed after every linked field.

Word and Excel files will be on the network. At this time, this is not workable for us, too slow.

When you open a Microsoft Word document linked to an Excel workbook, it may take longer than expected to open, especially when connected to a network. For a registry patch to reduce such delays, see: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/970154

Note that the registry subkey referred to in the article depends on the Office version:
• Office 2007 - HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\W ord\Options
• Office 2010 - HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\W ord\Options
• Office 2013 - HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\W ord\Options
• Office 2016 - HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\W ord\Options

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Marcopod, thank you for your answer.

Although the description of the problem on the Microsoft support site is different to my problem I tried it anyway. This was not the solution to my problem.

“In Microsoft Office Word 2007, when you try to open a Word document that contains many links to Microsoft Office Excel charts, a delay occurs before you are prompted to update the links.”

I do not have a delay before the prompt to update de links. My main problem seems to be that, when the Excel file is on a network drive, Excel opens en closes after every linked field when updating Word.

When the Excel file is on a local share or is opened in advance then there is no problem.

Without the registry patch, Word opens the Excel file for every link, regardless of where the Excel file is stored. On a local drive, this can happen so fast Word doesn't have time to report it. Properly implemented, the patch should result in Word opening each Excel file only once, in your case meaning only the initial network latency delay will be incurred.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Hello Paul,

I did the registry patch again on a clean system and checked twice if I made a mistake. On this system only office 2010 is installed so I can’t install the mentioned hotfix for office 2007 (although I tried anyway ;-))

The registry patch is done in the Office 2010 - HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\W ord\Options registry subkey.

I still can’t see any difference in behaviour with our without the registry patch. Only when I open the Excel file manually in advance it works fast.

In that case, try repairing the Office installation (via Start > Windows Control Panel > Programs > Programs & Features > Microsoft Office (version) > Change > Repair).

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

I did the Office installation Repair on two systems, no luck.

In that case, try starting Word in safe mode (i.e. hold down the Ctrl key while starting Word) and seeing if that makes any difference. If so, it suggests a Word Add-in is interfering with the process.

Alternatively, it's possible the document has acquired some of corruption. Corrupt documents can often be 'repaired' by inserting a new, empty, paragraph at the very end, copying everything except that new paragraph to a new document based on the same template (headers & footers may need to be copied separately), closing the old document and saving the new one over it.

If neither of those improve things, I'm out of ideas...

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Hello Paul,

First, thank you very much for your effort trying to solve this problem. I posted this problem on three other forums and this is the only one where I get a response.

I started Word in save mode but that didn’t help.

We have a macro in our Normal.dotm. I removed it. Then I saved the xlsm file as an xlsx file so no macro’s there either. Then I disabled every Word and Excel Add Inn by hand. No luck.

Then I started a new Word document en a new Excel document and made some link fields. But although there are about 6 links instead of 97 you clearly can notice the difference in speed when opening on a local or network drive. On a network drive opening the Excel file in advance gives the same speed as when the files are on a local drive.

Because the files will be used as “template’s” and will be copied to different customers directory’s (Excel en Word in the same directory) I removed the path prefix so at first opening the linked fields are pointing always to the BBA sjabloon.xlsx in the same directory.

Example {LINK Excel.Sheet.12 "BBA sjabloon.xlsx" "Data voor PVE!R3K2" \a \t \u}

After first opening all the linked fields are automatically modified with the correct path.

Example {LINK Excel.Sheet.12 "\\\\UDENV002.dlv.intern\\tijdelijk\\BBA sjabloon.xlsx" "Data voor PVE!R3K2" \a \t \u}

So I thought that this could be the problem at first opening. But when I save the Word document with the modified path and open the Word document for a second time the problem still exist.

Even when I click No when asked to update the linked fields it takes about 5 minutes to open the Word document. The linked fields are automatically modified with the correct path, but the value is not updated.

So I’m also out of options.

Johan.

Now cross-posted at: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...b-725a62501557
For cross-posting etiquette, please read: http://www.excelguru.ca/content.php?184

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]