Word is slow for big documents; gets stuck if comments are used

Question

Level 1

4 points

Word is slow for big documents; gets stuck if comments are used

I have Sequoia 15.6.1 (24G90); word Version 16.103.4 (25120717) personal subscription. Documents longer than 10 pages run very very slow; documents with comments get stuck, you cannot navigate the document, it just returns on its own to some comment.

I hope I wil not be sent to tal with Microsoft since this is a 'word problem', it is a Mac problem since the app it is offered on your computers. Please can these basic problems be fixed? If you are an author working with 300 pages you must buy Microsoft and sell your Mac? I tried to open my 278 book in word, I have been waiting for 15 minutes; when the magic happened and it opened the comment 'situation' prohibits me to work (no, the document is not corrupt or anything; I transferred it twice in a clean document; on a microsoft computer it works).

Any solutions?

Thanks in advance

iMac 24″, macOS 15.6

Posted on Dec 21, 2025 4:52 AM

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Answer 1

den.thed

Level 10

91,024 points

Dec 21, 2025 8:56 AM in response to ioana297

1) That Word version was released on December 09, 2025.

So it should work with the latest versions of Sequoia 15.7.3 or Tahoe 26.2

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/release-notes-office-for-mac

2) The problem is, that your iMac's macOS version is outdated.

Update to Sequoia 15.7.3 or.. optionally Upgrade to Tahoe 26.2

What's new in the updates for macOS Sequoia - Apple Support

What's new in the updates for macOS Tahoe - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Dec 21, 2025 9:13 AM in response to ioana297

FWIW, and this may not work for you, I work with a lot of documents and if I had a 300 page document I would expect whatever I did with it using any computer and Word it would run slow. I would reorganize my document into sections, chapters, pages, or whatever made sense for my editing of the "book".

And maybe this applies to your situation:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/microsoft-365-apps/word/operating-parameter-limitation

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Answer 3

Old Toad

Level 10

215,436 points

Dec 21, 2025 10:27 AM in response to ioana297

How much RAM do you have?

How much free space do you have?

Have you installed and run any "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus or VPN apps on your Mac?

Where is your document located: on your boot drive or an external drive? If an external drive how is it formatted?

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