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Why do MS apps launch so slow?
- Thread starter jwolf6589
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it's always seemed mysterious; i see word & excel open really fast for some, really slow for others.
why not just leave them open mostly? and just close the files you're working with? then you (of course) won't have to deal with slow openings...
why not just leave them open mostly? and just close the files you're working with? then you (of course) won't have to deal with slow openings...
The system caches should help, after you launch any MS app.
After booting your MBPro, launch your MS app (wait it out that time). If you see on the app's opening splash window that the fonts folder is being updated, that can at least double the first launch. When it is finally ready to use, Quit that app.
Then, Re-launch your app. Should open almost immediately that second time, because the system has stored various cache files for that app. Regardless of which MS app you launch first, After quitting that app the first time, that app, or any MS app should launch much quicker.
If you restart your Mac, then the process (new caches the first time, pretty slow launch for that) begins again. Second launch after booting is much quicker.
The SSD would help tremendously, even on first launch.
After booting your MBPro, launch your MS app (wait it out that time). If you see on the app's opening splash window that the fonts folder is being updated, that can at least double the first launch. When it is finally ready to use, Quit that app.
Then, Re-launch your app. Should open almost immediately that second time, because the system has stored various cache files for that app. Regardless of which MS app you launch first, After quitting that app the first time, that app, or any MS app should launch much quicker.
If you restart your Mac, then the process (new caches the first time, pretty slow launch for that) begins again. Second launch after booting is much quicker.
The SSD would help tremendously, even on first launch.
But I tested a iMac with a standard HD at Best Buy and MS office apps launched fast.
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This I have to do. However it does not answer the issue as to why they open slow on a older mac, while apple apps launch much faster.
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This is the best explanation given so far. It is true that the second time launching the MS App is much faster.
Did you test that by restarting the iMac first, then launching an MS Office app?
Or, was the iMac already running, and you were just trying it out.
Last shopper may have done a test launch of MS Word, then you followed along later. You have to restart the Mac to get a good idea about how slow a first launch can be.
The tip is the same for MS, second launch is always much faster than first launch after a restart.
Or, was the iMac already running, and you were just trying it out.
Last shopper may have done a test launch of MS Word, then you followed along later. You have to restart the Mac to get a good idea about how slow a first launch can be.
The tip is the same for MS, second launch is always much faster than first launch after a restart.
MS Office 2011 for Mac was lightening fast on my cMP when opening and resizing windows, MS Office 2016 for Mac is embarrassingly slow. Even after loading, moving a window is herky-jerky. I’m not sure if the issue is High Sierra or MS Office.
I don't use 2016, and my comments above were only about Office 2011.
And, if you have both the system and your apps on an SSD, that's something the OP does NOT have, and makes a big difference.
First launch of 2011 on a spinning hard drive can be quite slow. Just tried on my spare Mac. Word 2011 needed the fonts folder rebuilt, and launch of Word (on an original 160GB hard drive, 2010 model,) took nearly two minutes for Word to launch to the editing window. Quit Word, and immediately re-launched. Opened in less than 6 seconds! It's the caching that does that.
And, if you have both the system and your apps on an SSD, that's something the OP does NOT have, and makes a big difference.
First launch of 2011 on a spinning hard drive can be quite slow. Just tried on my spare Mac. Word 2011 needed the fonts folder rebuilt, and launch of Word (on an original 160GB hard drive, 2010 model,) took nearly two minutes for Word to launch to the editing window. Quit Word, and immediately re-launched. Opened in less than 6 seconds! It's the caching that does that.
Yeah, big difference. I can open 2011 instantly on first launch. Literally fraction of a second. Snap & done. Office 2016 takes 4-5 seconds on 1st launch, about 1 second on subsequent relaunch after fully quitting app. But window resizing is really ugly bad, I think it could be macOS causing it. Not sure though.
MS Office 2016 problem... They launch slow on El Cap to HS.
MS Office 2011 is lightning fast, too bad it is no longer supported.
Nope... Same snail pace here. In fact it had gotten worse after they updated 2016 from v15 to v16...
V15, first launch 7 bounces on Dock, subsequent launches 3 bounces.
V16, first launch 9 bounces on Dock, subsequent launches 3 to 5 bounces.
I’ve always suspected that it’s due to the amount of customised UI elements (ribbon, preferences etc.) that seem to be way slower than macOS native UI controls as on the finder etc.
And presumably ‘beneath the hood’ there’s a good deal of older ‘carbon’ era code that has moved to 64biy but hasn’t been re-engineered significantly and is slowing things down.
And presumably ‘beneath the hood’ there’s a good deal of older ‘carbon’ era code that has moved to 64biy but hasn’t been re-engineered significantly and is slowing things down.
In any case, I see it’s the app rather than the OS. I’ll update mine tomorrow and see what it does. It’s not a critical issue anyway.
Office 2016 is quite buggy and slow. Stick to 2013 if you want speed and reliability. Office 2016 has come a long way since the first iteration, but it still needs a lot of refactoring.
No such thing as MS Office 2013 for the Mac. MS office went from Office 2011 to Office 2016.
MS doesn't support Office 2011 anymore. I switched to Office 2016 last year and it is working well for me.
Lou
I have pointed out on another thread that MS Updater might be causing problems such as slow loading of Word/Excel. This happened even if auto-update was off. Some time ago I moved the Updater app to another folder so Word/Excel couldn’t find it. I manually run it from time to time.
Error on my part. I misread thinking he was running a Windows install on his Mac.
MS's authentication, service, license, update checks. I use Little Snitch and Activity Monitor, verified with Console logs. Office 365 can "phone home" as often as every 6 minutes, watching LS's monitor. Office 2011 installs via O365 also follow the same verification paths, also verified with Console logs; my 2-install Office 2011 Pro suite (with a SN code, including Outlook) didn't "phone home" until a 30-day period elapsed.
Actually 2016 is far better than 2011 and runs better than 2011 on my Mac at least.
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No I did not as it was a best buy test computer.
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I do have bootcamp but I don't have office on it.
Yeah, I guessed that already. The sales team at the bestbuy where I "shop" sometimes takes a dim view of customers randomly restarting the demo systems.
As I said, you would need to restart the Mac to get a good picture about the first launch of Office software.
(and the "demo" system is refreshed, maybe more than once every day, and would not really give you an accurate idea about performance of any software, in any case. )
This is probably the best explanation. I understand O365 (the MS preferred solution) is faster. Apparently, when Office 2016 apps launch, they go through O365 checks and if you sub to O365, the apps load faster because they finish verification with the O365 entitlement as one of the first steps. Without O365, they go into a secondary license check based on the linked "Live" account.
As one who has done considerable work in the SW license field, we always had a rule of thumb that SW license should be as transparent as possible. Licensing comes down to a trust factor, you either trust your customers, or you don't. If MS followed the rule, they would remember how the suite was licensed and skip any alternate validations. And, they would only check on launch, or only monthly, not every 6 minutes. Apparently, they don't follow the SW License "Golden Rule".
I use 2016 at home and work. My home Mac loads much faster than work. Not sure why, but on my work Mac, the apps even hang on launch every so often. It might be the "recent" file cache as many of my files are on SMB shares at work, and stored locally on my Home Mac. Annoying to say the least, but then I keep the most used apps running to avoid the launch delays.
OP:
I don't know the specs of your Mac because I have "signatures" disabled.
If it's a MacBook with a replaceable drive, replace the platter-based HDD with an SSD.
After you do so, all operations will become MUCH faster.
If you want to get those apps to "load faster", that's what you have to do.
"that is all..."
I don't know the specs of your Mac because I have "signatures" disabled.
If it's a MacBook with a replaceable drive, replace the platter-based HDD with an SSD.
After you do so, all operations will become MUCH faster.
If you want to get those apps to "load faster", that's what you have to do.
"that is all..."