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Typing slows to crawl in Word 2013 comment function/track changes

I'm using Word 2013 on a Windows 8.1 machine, but I had this same problem on a Windows 7 machine.

When I try to add a comment to a document using the track changes feature, typing in the revisions/comment pane becomes so slow as to be almost unusable. 

Typing in the rest of the document is fine/normal. It's only when I'm trying to type (or edit) a comment that the typing slows way, way, way down.

I did a Google search and noticed that this was a big problem with Word 2007, and a lot of people suggested fixes. Not so with Word 2013, as far as I can tell. (That is, I can't find a lot of other people having this problem in Word 2013.)

Any advice would be welcome. Thanks!

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Hi David,

 

I will try to help you with the issue.

 

Let us start with launching Word in its application safe mode following the steps below and check if the  issue occurs.

Hold the Windows key and press R, type winword /safe (note there is a space between winword and /).

 

If the application works fine in application safe mode, try disabling the add ins for the application and check the result.

  • Click the File tab
  • Go to Options
  • Click Add-ins
  • Clear all the options 

If the issue persists, then you may follow the steps outlined in the following article.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/921541/en-us

 

Let us know the results for further assistance.

Thank you.

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Do you see this in a particular document or in any document that you create in Word? Does it happen only in the Reviewing pane or also when you are typing in a comment balloon?
Stefan Blom
Microsoft 365 Word MVP since 2005
Volunteer Moderator (Office)
MS 365, Win 11 Pro
~~~~
Please note that I do not work for Microsoft
MVP program info: https://mvp.microsoft.com/
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It happens in any Word document. It's only in the reviewing pane, not in the comment balloons. 

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Safe Mode didn't help. I couldn't run the troubleshooter because (I'm guessing), I'm running the cloud-based version of Office 360, so the troubleshooter doesn't recognize that I have Office installed. I deleted the Word data registry subkey, and that improved things for about a day, but then they reverted to "normal" or worse.

Will try the other fixes and report back. 

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If you are saying that the Fixit didn't make a difference, try the manual troubleshooting steps instead.
Stefan Blom
Microsoft 365 Word MVP since 2005
Volunteer Moderator (Office)
MS 365, Win 11 Pro
~~~~
Please note that I do not work for Microsoft
MVP program info: https://mvp.microsoft.com/
~~~~

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No, I couldn't use Fixit, because when I tried to run it, it didn't recognize that I had Word installed. In other words, I got an error message.

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OK, thanks for the clarification. I would have thought that the Fixit should work even for click-to-run installations, but it seems as if it doesn't. :-(

Have you had any luck with the manual troubleshooting steps so far?
Stefan Blom
Microsoft 365 Word MVP since 2005
Volunteer Moderator (Office)
MS 365, Win 11 Pro
~~~~
Please note that I do not work for Microsoft
MVP program info: https://mvp.microsoft.com/
~~~~

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I just tried a couple more potential fixes last night. Will work with the program today and see how it goes. Thanks for checking.

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Hey!

For me the folling options work:

1- Safe mode: perfect

2- Display - Final: OK, but still prefer to see all the edits

I disabled all add-ins - I can't figure out why there would be categories - it is kind of a search and fing thing - anyway - no luck - sitlll slow when not in safe mode.

Fixit was going nowhere.

Working with Word 2013, Lenovo Ideapad

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Thanks for taking the time to respond. The workaround I've been using is to work in "Simple Markup" mode (I'm in Word 2013), which means that all comments automatically are generated in comment balloons rather than in the reviewing pane. That speeds things up considerably. It's not ideal, but it's better than the alternative. 

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Last updated October 5, 2021 Views 1,485 Applies to: