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 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
4 Replies
I actually resolved the issue on the same day I opened this thread. A few hours later, I posted a separate comment explaining that rolling back to a previous version of Office/Word fixed the problem.
To clarify: the slowdown was very real. Opening any WORD document normally took a few seconds, and suddenly larger files (around 5 MB) required 5–10 minutes to open. Since this doesn’t seem to be affecting many users, I’m keeping an older Office build as a backup for now.
The version that works correctly for me is:
Version 2603 (Build 16.0.19822.20086) – 64‑bit
Unfortunately, I didn’t note the exact build that caused the issue, but it arrived with the March 22 update.
I have not noticed the problem with opening documents, but generally my documents are less than 1MB. I have noticed delays in the Q&A: Word forums.
You could try rolling back to 2602.
For large documents, use of Style-based formatting becomes very important. The Importance of Styles in Microsoft Word. Here is a link to four very similar documentsi n a zip folder. Two each in .doc and .docx format, one is formatted primarily using styles, the other using direct formatting. The performance differences are noticeable.
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/ .
