Forum Discussion
Word documents suddenly take several minutes to open after March 22 Office update
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 regress...
Seems yes, before Microsoft releases the fix, you may consider:
- Enable Fast Saves (File > Options > Advanced > Editing Options → check “Use Fast Saves”).
- Run in Safe Mode (winword /safe) to bypass add‑ins.
- Save locally outside OneDrive/SharePoint to reduce cloud dependency.
Note that the "fast saves" option isn't available in recent versions of Word. For more, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/4765894/ .