Word: Performance and functionality concerns

Hi! Is this happening to you, too?

I work on a team that has incorporated co-authoring in a way that it has become an instrumental part of our workflow and processes.

We are the only team in our organization to have significant issues with Word:

• Comments are ghost multiplying (from under 50 to over 4,000)
• Mark-up is inconsistently available
• Changes are not always saving for various contributors
• Formatting, especially custom table styles, are auto-reformatting to something illegiable
• Important documents are slow to load, if they do
• Real-time editing is, on occasion, impossible
• . . . and more.

I researched and found some insights. I can't find anything "out there" that would suggest others are experiencing these types of roadblocks. Are you? I am sorry if you are, but I'd be happy to know we're not alone. Do you have any tips or things you've done to improve your experience?

Some context: We actively and regularly contribute to documents asynchronously (large and small), apply custom branding styles, comment (and @ team members in comments), share links in team chats, channels, and provide access to others through Outlook links. The majority of the team uses PC, but likely accesses and edits files through chats, channels, emails, Teams, Online, and OneDrive. We also have one Mac, which handles the heavy load for branding and formatting as well.

I appreciate any perspectives! Thank you.