Microsoft Word slow to close

You might use Microsoft Word a lot to write and edit documents. But sometimes, when you’re done and want to close it, it takes forever. It should be quick, right? But instead, it makes you wait and waste your time. And what if you need to open another document or do something else on your computer? That’s annoying and inconvenient, right? Well, don’t worry. We’re here to help you figure out why this happens and how to fix it. 

A. Reasons

So, what makes Ms. Word take ages to close?

1. Document issue.
   One thing that could cause this issue is the document itself. Maybe you’re working on a really big document that has a lot of stuff in it. It might not be a big deal, but it might take some time for Ms. Word to process and save everything before it can close. Or maybe the document is corrupted somehow, and that makes Word freeze and not close at all. 
2. Settings issue.
   Another thing that could cause this issue is some add-ins that you have installed. Maybe it needs to save some settings or do something else before Ms. Word can close. Or maybe Ms. Word can’t connect to the printer that you usually use. Or maybe Ms. Word is just too old and needs an update. Any of these things could cause some problems like this.
3. Limited system resources.
   The last thing that could cause this issue is your computer capability. Maybe your computer is not powerful enough to run programs well. It might take time opening, loading, or closing documents. Or maybe you have too many other programs running at the same time that are taking up your computer’s power and making it slow to run Ms. Word. 

B. Possible solutions

1. Close any other programs

This is the easiest thing to try. Just close any other programs that you don’t need. Then open and close Ms. Word a few times and see if it works better. 

If this fixes your problem, then your computer is probably too weak. You might want to upgrade your computer with more RAM, CPU, and SSD, to make it faster and smoother.

2. Try open Ms. Word in safe mode

Opening it in safe mode, will make it run without any add-ins that might be causing issues. Here’s how to do it:

1. press and hold down the CTRL key when opening Ms. Word,
2. click Yes when a window appears asking if you want to start the application in Safe Mode.
3. create a blank document, then try to close Ms. Word.

If this solves the problem, you can try to disable some add-ins as in the following steps.

3. Disable COM add-ins

Sometimes, some add-ins might take time to save some settings or do something else before they can close. Grammarly is one of them. 

You can try to disable COM Add-Ins and see if they are the cause. Here’s how:

1. on the Ms Word, go to File > Options,
2. navigate to Add-Ins as in Figure 1,
3. on the Manage dropdown, choose COM Add-Ins, then click Go...,
4. take notes of all the add-ins that you use, then uncheck all available add-ins and click OK.

After disabling all the add-ins, try to open and close Ms. Word a few times. If you still have the problem where Ms. Word is slow to close, it means your add-ins are not the cause. You can re-enable the add-ins that you used before.

4. Change default printer

Another thing that might cause this issue is that Ms. Word can’t connect to the printer that you usually use. Here’s how you can change your default printer: 

1. go to Windows Setting > Devices,
2. go to Printers and scanner,
3. uncheck Let Windows manage my default printer,
4. use Microsoft print to PDF or Microsoft XPS as your default printer.

After changing the default printer, try to open and close Ms. Word a few times and see if it works better. If it does, then you need to update your printer driver to use it as your default printer again. 

5. Update Ms. Word

Updating your Ms. Word to the latest version might not fix this problem. But it’s still a good idea to try and avoid any other problems that might happen.

cover image by standret in freepik