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Very Slow Starting Of WORD And Excel: Bouncing Icons ?

R

Robert4

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Apr 20, 2012
664
30
Hi,

Was wondering if anyone else experiences this, or has any thoughts on.
No big deal, but sure is annoying.

I have MS WORD and EXCEL installed via MS Office.
Both work fine.

If I re-start my iMac, both the icons (in the Dock) for them bounce up and down, seemingly forever.

Truly, it seems like you can go for a cup of coffee.

Eventually, they do settle down, and work fine.

This behavior is true irrespective of whether the Mac was shut down with
those grey dots (signifying App is running ?) is there or not.

Only two APPS that behave this way; everything else starts up in a reasonable time.

Anyone have any ideas what might be going on ?

Thanks,
Bob
 
Don't know if this helps, but be aware that the newest versions of Office for Mac (2016?) are hogs (Microsoft never having been too concerned about Mac Office efficiency), and they take some time to open in all but the fastest Macs.
 
Is there any need for MS Office? Could iWork accomplish what you need, including exporting to Word files?
 
cwanja said:
Is there any need for MS Office? Could iWork accomplish what you need, including exporting to Word files?
Click to expand...

And there's Pages also, which is very capable. Yes, there might be no technical need for Microsoft Office, but file conversion is not perfect and Word files are, whether we like it or not, the standard for most offices, government and businesses.
 
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My Microsoft apps do that on my 2017 i7 27" iMac, but my version of Office is from 2008. I figure that's where the issue is. :D I know at some point I will likely have to upgrade (probably next OS??) but for now I just try to rarely use them.
 
cwanja said:
Is there any need for MS Office? Could iWork accomplish what you need, including exporting to Word files?
Click to expand...

Yes, when you have to deal - professionally - with the rest of the world who do not use Apple products.

mreg376 said:
And there's Pages also, which is very capable. Yes, there might be no technical need for Microsoft Office, but file conversion is not perfect and Word files are, whether we like it or not, the standard for most offices, government and businesses.
Click to expand...

Exactly.

Which is why every Apple computer I have ever had, has also come with Office for Mac when I ordered it.
 
Yes I have experienced this on my mid 2011 21.5" iMac. The solution I came up with was to install Windows 10 in a Parallels Desktop virtual environment and run Microsoft Office 2016 in the virtual machine. There was a dramatic improvement I assume similar results can be had using Virtualbox.
 
mollyc said:
My Microsoft apps do that on my 2017 i7 27" iMac, but my version of Office is from 2008. I figure that's where the issue is. :D I know at some point I will likely have to upgrade (probably next OS??) but for now I just try to rarely use them.
Click to expand...

That could be your problem, since Office 2008 is no longer supported. If you rarely use it, then just use Pages.
 
mreg376 said:
That could be your problem, since Office 2008 is no longer supported. If you rarely use it, then just use Pages.
Click to expand...

Yes, I have tried Pages and can't make it work well for me. Excel even more so. My daughter is starting middle school in the fall and I think we will likely upgrade to the subscription model then as she will be taking a basic computer class one semester that will teach her some of the Microsoft programs. I don't need them often, but when I do, I need those programs and not the Apple couterparts. My husband works in finance and relies heavily on Excel, so once in awhile I get or need to send documents to him.
 
Samething use to happen to me when I tried open up N.I Maschine software. The icon would bounce around forever, but then when shutting down computer I unchecked "re-open windows when logged back in" and it worked fine
 
mollyc said:
Yes, I have tried Pages and can't make it work well for me. Excel even more so. My daughter is starting middle school in the fall and I think we will likely upgrade to the subscription model then as she will be taking a basic computer class one semester that will teach her some of the Microsoft programs. I don't need them often, but when I do, I need those programs and not the Apple couterparts. My husband works in finance and relies heavily on Excel, so once in awhile I get or need to send documents to him.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I can see that. But instead of paying for the subscription you may want to look into getting a multi-user Office 2016 license. It's also true that many employers offer discounted licenses, and there also some education discounts.
 
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mollyc said:
Yes, I have tried Pages and can't make it work well for me. Excel even more so. My daughter is starting middle school in the fall and I think we will likely upgrade to the subscription model then as she will be taking a basic computer class one semester that will teach her some of the Microsoft programs. I don't need them often, but when I do, I need those programs and not the Apple couterparts. My husband works in finance and relies heavily on Excel, so once in awhile I get or need to send documents to him.
Click to expand...
See if your daughter school has any discounts for it? With so much education pushed digital now, it would not surprise me. Or as someone mentioned, look into Employer discounts. I know for example I could buy either the Mac or Windows version for $9.99.
 
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It is strange that this is happening for you, I have Office 2011 and Word and Excel both open almost instantaneously from the dock, whether the app is running or not. iMac late 2014 GHz Intel Core i7 with a 3Tb fusion drive.
 
I have a late 2012 Fusion model and Word and Excel (2011) both open in two bounces. The thing that does appear to get them to beachball for a few seconds is when opening a file and they wait for an external disk to spin up (doesn't seem to happen that way with other apps).
 
Not perfect but OP try Libre Office, it's free!
It's 80-90% MS office compatible when saved as .doc or .docx and .xls or .xlsx

I have office 2016 on an 2007 imac and a 2012 macbook pro, both have SSD fitted.
It is ok but can take a while to open the app but not too long.

before this I was running office 2001 (i think) with no issues at all.
 
elf69 said:
Not perfect but OP try Libre Office, it's free!
Click to expand...
True, it's free. It also makes Office 2016 look like a jet-powered race car. I love LibreOffice on Windows and Linux but it's hands-down the worst piece of software I've ever experienced on macOS. It's dead slow, scrolling through documents - be that Writer or Calc - takes forever (scroll with the mouse wheel or click in the scroll bar, wait 2 seconds, watch it frantically stutter along), typing in Writer gets annoyingly slow around page 6 or 7 or so, and if you think Office 2016 takes forever to launch then good luck with LibreOffice. It's a massive slouch, even more so than Microsoft Office 2016. I hate to say this but the macOS version of LibreOffice is just plain horrible and utterly useless. And no, it's not a hardware of software issue because I've seen this for years on various Macs and various versions of macOS/OS X. It was still somewhat usable on non-Retina Macs but with a Retina MacBook Pro, MacBook, or iMac 4K/5K it's a major PITA.

That said Word or Excel 2016 take no more than 2-4 bounces to launch on my 2017 iMac with 1TB Fusion Drive.
 
I have a 2012 non retina pro and do not have the issues you talk about with libre office on my mac.

As I do not have newer mac am unaware of these issues, thank you for raising them.
 
I was getting annoyed that both Word and Excel were taking ages to launch on my new Retina 27" iMac. All other applications launch nearly instantly, but Word and Excel always took around 12 bounces. If I launched them within a minute or so of them last running then they started in 4 bounces or less.

After looking around on the Microsoft site I came across some clues regarding the Office Updater application. There was a problem previously with the Office Updater app and a version of Silverlight, the symptom was slow startup and the cure was to manually download the latest Office Updater and install. I installed the latest version and have now set Word and Office to manual update only. Both apps now always launch in 3 or 4 bounces, even after a restart of the iMac.

Mac Office 2016.
 
Last edited:
Hello,

Just can't seem to find it.

Might someone please post the Link to the MS Office Updater download ?

And, what is this Silverlight, please ? Anything here to download also ?

Would sure like to cut down on the WORD and Excel "bounce time".


Thanks,
Bob
 
Silverlight let you view certain MS file types — Flash is a good analogy. It is history. Doesn't work anymore. Get rid of it. If it's trying to do anything, it will slow things down.

mollyc said:
but my version of Office is from 2008.
Click to expand...

Depends on your OS. 2008 was dead slow to the point of being useless in Mountain Lion to El Capitan. That forced me to switch to Office 2011 which I still dislike.

When I updated to Sierra, 2008 came roaring back to life for me!?!? I discontinued 2011 and find that 2008 works in Mojave if...

Office 2008 tips

Office 2008 will not install after Yosemite but works if already installed and you upgrade the OS or use Migration Assistant to pull it over to a new machine.

The last version of 2008 is 12.3.6 (Office 2011 is 14.7.2) and there will never be another. Make certain that's the version you are running. MS no longer has upgrades available for download but there are those who keep the essential updates around for those in need.

The Office Update Assistant will keep checking for you—and keep upgrading itself. Turn it off if on 12.3.6 or 14.7.2.

Office 2008/2011 hates App Nap and will freeze if left open too long. The solution is to turn App Nap off or disable it globally if on a desktop Mac. App Nap's sole purpose is to conserve battery life on portables. Many apps don't play well with it. My wife edits books and teaches writing, She thought I was a genius for finding this. I use Word in my day gig—this has kept me from 2016/365
http://osxdaily.com/2014/05/13/disable-app-nap-mac-os-x/
 
MS Office has traditionally run very slowly for me on my previous Mac mini. However, newer versions ran a bit better. I'm now on an iMac 2017 with SSD and have Office 2019 and Word starts quite quickly, but still alarmingly slowly compared to other apps that I have. Even Photoshop Elements 2018 starts quicker! It's just an MS thing as far as I am concerned...
 
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