Hello everyone,

I’m experiencing a severe and sudden issue with Microsoft Word that began immediately after the March 22, 2026 Office update. I’m hoping to understand whether this is a known regression or if others are seeing similar behavior.

Summary of the issue

• Large Word documents (2.5 M.B ~4.5 MB, plain text, no images) now take 8–10 minutes to open.
• Smaller Word files also open more slowly than before.
• Once a document finally opens, performance is completely normal — editing, scrolling, and saving work fine.
• The slowdown affects every platform:
  • Word on Windows
  • Word on mobile (unable to open the 4.5 MB file)
  • Word Online (which eventually fails with “servers are busy”)

This suggests the issue is not device‑specific.

Critical detail: The issue began exactly after the March 22 Office update

In my update history, I noticed:

• A new Office build was installed on 2026‑03‑22.
• Word worked perfectly on March 21.
• On March 23, all large documents suddenly took several minutes to open.
• Nothing else changed on my system.

This strongly suggests a regression or behavioral change introduced in the latest Word build.

Troubleshooting already performed

I’ve tried the following steps, none of which helped:

• Quick Repair and Online Repair
• Opening Word in Safe Mode
• Reinstalling Office
• Copying the entire content into a brand‑new blank Word file
• Saving the new file locally (outside OneDrive)
• Opening the file from a different Windows user profile
• Opening the same file on my phone
• Opening the file in Word Online
• Checking OneDrive sync
• Checking system performance and storage

Even a brand‑new local file takes several minutes to open.

Additional symptoms (possibly related)

Since the same day the issue began:

• I cannot post on learn.microsoft.com (unexpected error)
• Some Microsoft portals report that my account “cannot be found”
• Word Online fails to load large documents and eventually shows “servers are busy”

These symptoms make me wonder whether this could be related to:

• Microsoft account / identity services
• backend service degradation
• or a change in how Word performs cloud‑dependent checks during file opening

Why this does not appear to be a file‑size or device limitation

• The same files opened in 10 seconds before March 22.
• They now take 10 minutes, without any change in size or structure.
• The files contain only text (no images, no tracked changes).
• PowerPoint opens a 1.2 GB file instantly on the same machine.
• The issue affects all devices, including mobile and Word Online.
• Even brand‑new Word files created locally exhibit the same delay.

This points away from file complexity and toward a Word‑specific or service‑related issue introduced recently.

Why I’m posting here

I’m trying to determine whether:

• this is a known issue with the March 22 Office build,
• others are experiencing similar slowdowns,
• this is related to a backend or identity service problem,
• or if there is a workaround to bypass whatever Word is waiting for during the opening phase.

Any insights, confirmations, or technical explanations would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Raphaël