Office Documents take a long time to load

[kampspropane]

We have a network with multiple sites. At various sites, we have some users who are experiencing extreme latency (up to 3 minutes) when trying to open Office documents (word and excell) both locally and through network share drives. If I log onto their machine with an Administrator account, documents load with no problem. This isnt happening to all users, only a select few. Any ideas as to what can be causing this?

 

[genomon]

Random thought: network security protocols?

Sure, the early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese in the trap.

 

[kampspropane]

thought about that, but not everyone is experiencing this issue. only a few random users.

 

[genomon]

Wow. I've had similar behavior with linked backend databases in Access. Our solution was to complain to the network guys until they installed a faster router & other stuff that I know little about.

Sure, the early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese in the trap.

 

[kampspropane]

Also thought it could be a routing issue, but even if the user saves the document locally on their machine (not on the network) they still experience the latency. If I log onto this same computer with an Admin acct, there is no latency. So that tells me its not something with the computer itself. I also swapped out the computers with new computers and latency is still there. Im really stumped on this one.

Learn it, Do it, TEACH IT!!

 

[tf1]

Have you tried logging in as a different ordindary user to confirm that it is the workstation position rather than the user login? We know that an Admin account is OK, but what about another ordinary user account?

Are you using roamin profiles?


Regards: tf1

 

[kampspropane]

Yes, I actually tried 2 different ordinary users. The thing that gets me is when I login with an ordinary account on my workstation, and try to access the files on the network drive it works with no problem. Also, no we are not using roaming profiles.

Learn it, Do it, TEACH IT!!

 

[tf1]

Is this when Word is running and they are using File, Open to navigate to the folder and select the document?


Regards: tf1

 

[kampspropane]

Okay, I tried opening the file directly from the share drive, and it takes a long time to load. If I open Excel first, then use File>Open and open the document it opens immediately. Any reason why this would happen? I also tried to delete the shortcut on the desktop to the share drive, and created a new one, same issue. Now the person sitting next to her (ordinary user) can open the document using both the shortcut and File>Open, and it opens immediately. FYI. Thanks

Learn it, Do it, TEACH IT!!

 

[tf1]

First, check that Word and Excel are correctly registered in Windows on the problem machines. Whilst the user is logged, run Office Detect and Repair.

In Windows Explorer, make sure that all mapped drives are active and can be reached when the user is logged in. If any of the mapped drives are dead or problematic (that is they don't have permission to use it or the drive is disabled), it will cause the delays.

I presume all the users are using their own normal.dot and not trying to share one on a server?

Finally, if the users are opening documents created from a template to which the user no longer has access, this will also cause a long timeout opening.

Regards: tf1

 

[kampspropane]

Ok guys, found the fix. It seems the normal.dot file was missing and WORD never regenerated one. So I copied normal.dot from my computer and saved it on her computer and magic. Word and Excel open with ease, no hold ups. Wierd that word never created a new normal.dot file. oh well. Thanks for everyones input.

Learn it, Do it, TEACH IT!!

 

[tf1]

Word doesn't create a normal.dot on a new installation until there has been a change made to the settings that requiring saving: only then normal.dot will be created.

The easiest way to do this is to change the default paper size or font pressing the DEFAULT button on the dialog. When WOrd is closed, it should prompt to save shanges to normal.dot.

However, there are some ghastly add-ins that stop Word from saving normal.dot - Adobe Acrobat being the main contender in the screw-up-Word stakes.

Terry


Regards: tf1