Long delay file names from the Open dialog box MS Office 1

[TedRich]

Long delay in the display of file names from the "Open" dialog box in Office 2003.

Whenever I go to save or to open a file from within a MS Office app--Word, Excel, Outlook, etc. I experience a 15 second (or more) delay when I click on the [My Documents] drop down arrow from within the Open/Save file dialog box. Finally the drop down window appears, and I then select a folder, another folder and then maybe another delay when I click on a folder as I drill down.

I have searched through MS Knowledgebase (Long delay in the display of file names from the "Open" dialog box in Office 2003) and found several matches, but the articles address Office XP--not 2003. I tried a hot fix and Service Pack but it was for Office XP. I can't find anything on this subject for Office 2003.

This problem occurs from within any MS Office 2003 application on one Dell notebook I have. Two other machines I own do not have this problem--they are identical in OS, RAM, etc. Also, I do not experience this problem with applications from other providers, Adobe, etc.

This computer: Dell Latitude D830, 4GB RAM, Windows XP SP3. MS Office 20003. All to date with updates, etc.

 

[tf1]

My guess is that you have an invalid mapped drive or link set in Windows Explorer and the delay is the time out.


Regards: Terry

 

[xlhelp]

Second that (e)motion

A man has only two choices: He can be right or he can be happy.

 

[TedRich]

Thanks for the tip Terry...

I checked out my "Network Places" and there were several "connections" to a previous notebook that was removed from the workgroup several months ago--which conicided with the appearance of this problem.

I removed the bogus Network Places connections and now I get a normal, fast response in my Open/Save Dialog Box, and the drill down into folders doesn't stall.

Of note, I got nowhere with Microsoft Support with this issue, and it now seems so obvioius. In the MS Knowledgebase that does cite this problem there's a reference to the DFS causing the problem--the DFS (Domain File Sharing) is used by the Open/Save Dialog box to populate the available directories, and Network drives, etc. Duh... One of the manual fixes has you hacking the Registry. Glad I didn't try this fix!

In summation for other users (and Microsoft Support) who encounter this problem, the DFS was trying to find the shared files for a non-existent Network connection, which caused a serious delay in populating the available directories, etc. So, first, just check if you have some "legacy" Network connections listed in your Network Places, and simply right-click Delete them.


Thanks again.