WD2000: Optimizing Microsoft Word 2000

ID: Q239431

The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Word 2000

SUMMARY

The following issues affect overall Word performance.

If you are unfamiliar with a term used in this article, please see the glossary at the end of this article.


MORE INFORMATION

System Requirements for Word 2000

To use Microsoft Word 2000, your computer must meet the following minimum requirements:
  • Processor: Pentium 75 MHz or higher processor or a compatible processor


  • Operating system: Microsoft Windows 95 or later operating system, or Microsoft Windows NT Workstation operating system version 4.0 with Service Pack 3 or later


  • Memory for Windows 95 or Windows 98: 16 MB of RAM for the operating system, plus an additional 4 MB of RAM for Microsoft Word


  • Memory for Windows NT Workstation version 4.0 Service Pack 3 or later: 32 MB of RAM for the operating system, plus an additional 4 MB of RAM for Microsoft Word


  • Available hard-disk space: 146 MB for Microsoft Word 2000. This figure indicates a default installation; your hard-disk usage varies depending on your configuration and the options you choose to install. Choices made during a custom installation may require more or less hard disk space.


  • Disk drives: CD-ROM drive


  • Monitor: VGA or higher-resolution monitor; Super VGA recommended


  • Pointing device: Microsoft Mouse, Microsoft IntelliMouse, or compatible pointing device


To use all of the features available in Word 2000, it is recommended that you have the following additional items and services:
  • Modem: 9600-baud modem; 14,400 or higher baud modem recommended


  • Multimedia: Multimedia computer required for sound and other multimedia effects


  • E-mail: Microsoft Exchange client or Microsoft Outlook required to run Office e-mail


  • Additional memory: 8 MB of additional memory required to run Office e-mail


  • Internet: Some Internet functionality may require Internet access and payment of a separate fee to an Internet Service Provider (ISP), and local charges may apply


Increase RAM

The amount of memory Word 2000 needs to run at top speed depends on a variety of factors, such as how many other applications are running at the same time and what types of operations Word performs. When other applications are competing for memory, you can usually improve performance significantly by running with more than the required amount of RAM.

Word requires 4 MB of memory for use on Windows 95 or later (8 MB of additional memory required to run Office e-mail with Word as your e-mail editor). However, for best performance on Windows 95 or later, if you plan to run additional applications simultaneously, additional memory may be required.

If you regularly work with large documents (50 pages and larger) or use many graphics or embedded objects in your documents, adding RAM yields the most dramatic improvement to the operating speed of Word. If your computer has 32 MB or more of RAM, Word runs faster, and you also can run another large application (such as Microsoft Excel) at the same time and interact with it from Word.

TIP: To ensure that all of your RAM is available for use by the operating system and applications, make sure you aren't using any of your RAM for a RAM drive.

Use Disk Defragmenter to Speed Up Your Hard Disk

You should occasionally use a utility such as the Windows Disk Defragmenter to defragment the hard disk. You can use Disk Defragmenter to rearrange files and unused space on your hard disk so that programs run faster. This and other third-party disk optimization software helps to minimize the area on the disk in that Windows 95 needs to look for information. As with any such utilities, always make backup copies of important files before you run the program.

For additional information about the Disk Defragmenter utility, please click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q186171 Description of the Disk Defragmenter Tool in Windows 98

Optimize Virtual Memory Use

NOTE: Unless you are an advanced user, it is recommended that you let Windows manage your Virtual Memory Settings option on the Performance tab of the My Computer property sheet. You should use the default virtual memory settings whenever possible.

With virtual memory, an application sees a large, continuous block of primary memory (RAM) that, in reality, is a much smaller block of primary memory supplemented by secondary memory (such as a hard disk). To temporarily free space in RAM, blocks of data (called pages) are moved between RAM and a swap file located on the hard disk.

By default, the Windows swap file is dynamic, so it can shrink or grow based on available disk space and the operations performed on the system. Also, the swap file can occupy a fragmented region of the hard disk with no substantial performance penalty. A dynamic swap file is usually the most efficient use of resources. The simplest way to ensure high virtual memory performance is to make sure that the disk containing the swap file has ample free space, so that the swap file size can shrink and grow as needed.

In some earlier versions of Microsoft Windows, enhancing performance by changing virtual memory settings is quite common. Because the Windows swap file is dynamic, the need to change virtual memory settings is less common. However, in some situations adjusting virtual memory settings can improve performance. If you've already tried deleting unnecessary files, and you still have a performance problem, try changing the Windows default virtual memory settings.

If you have more than one drive available, you may get better performance if you specify that Windows locate the swap file on a drive other than the default in the following cases:
  • If the default drive doesn't have much free disk space, and another local drive has more space available.


  • If another local drive is available that is faster than the current drive (unless that disk is already heavily used).


You also may get better performance if you specify that the minimum disk space available for virtual memory is at least twice the size of available RAM. For example, if a computer has 20 MB of RAM, you should specify at least 40 MB of virtual memory. You may want to specify more if several large applications will be run at the same time.

For information about changing Windows virtual memory settings, see the "virtual memory settings" topic in Windows Help.

For additional information about managing virtual memory, please click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q128327 How Windows 95/98 Manages Virtual Memory

Set Your Computer to Use Fewer Fonts or to Use a Font Organizing Utility

The more fonts installed in Windows, the slower Windows and many applications start, because these programs read the entire font list at startup. Word does not process the font list at startup; however, the impact of a large number of fonts may be felt at other times, such as the first time you print. In addition, certain dialog boxes (such as the Font dialog box or the Insert Symbol dialog box) take longer to appear the first time in a session with a large number of fonts installed in a system. Furthermore, Word may use additional memory and file resources when it needs to perform some complex actions when multiple fonts are used.

For additional information about using fonts in Word 2000, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q132424 How to Remove TrueType Fonts and Keep a Copy on the Hard Disk
Q130233 How to Install or Remove a Font in Windows 95/98

Consider Setting Your Display Monitor to Use Only 256 Colors

Set your computer monitor to use the correct video driver for faster screen display. You may not need the highest resolution video driver and the up-to-16 million colors your video driver supports. Additional color support in a video driver can dramatically decrease the speed of screen updates when you scroll or update graphics.

For writing reports and working with spreadsheets, you may need only 256 colors, so you can switch to a video driver that supports a lower resolution and fewer colors. You can always switch back if there is no change in performance or if your work requires additional video capabilities.

For additional information about memory requirements for different video resolutions in Windows, please click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q132328 Description of Video Ram Required for Higher Resolutions

Work with Word and Files on Uncompressed Drives

You can use DriveSpace or other third-party utilities to compress both hard and floppy disks to create more free space for files. Although these utilities increase the disk space available to you, they can slow performance of software running from that drive, especially if the compression utility is not optimized.

The primary reason for performance degradation while running compression software such as DoubleSpace or DriveSpace is that each time a read or write is made from or to the hard disk, data must be decompressed or compressed. This decompression or compression of data places additional demand on the processor in your computer. Computers with faster processors may not experience performance degradation after compression software is installed.

For additional information about how to determine whether your computer has a compressed hard disk, please click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q193051 How to Determine If a Hard Disk Is Compressed

Work with Files on a Local Hard Disk Drive

Running Word from or working with files located on a floppy disk or network drive may be slower than working from a local hard disk. (Always avoid working on files located on a floppy disk.) Instead, copy them to your local hard disk drive and then open the copy on your hard disk drive in Word to make changes. After you complete work on the file, save your changes and close the file before you copy the file back to its original location.

Turn Off "Use Printer Metrics to Lay Out Document" to Improve Scrolling Speed

For converted documents, turn off the Use printer metrics to lay out document option to improve scrolling speed. With this option off, Word scrolls faster because the program does not need to check printer settings to calculate formatting and layout.

NOTE: This option is on by default in converted documents to preserve exact Word for Windows 95 or Word 6.0 for Windows document formatting. Turning off this option may cause minor changes in line wrapping or document pagination.

To change this option, do the following steps:
  1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click to select the Compatibility tab.


  2. Select Microsoft Word 6.0/95 in the Recommended Options for box.


  3. Click to clear the Use printer metrics to lay out document check box.


  4. Click OK to close the Options dialog box.


Don't Use Wallpaper on a Low-Memory Computer

If the Windows desktop has a wallpaper (full-screen background) bitmap and the computer has only 20 MB installed memory, replace the wallpaper with a solid color or pattern bitmap, or no bitmap at all.

Use Background Saves

To continue working in Word while you save a document, turn on the Allow background saves option. Keep in mind that background saves use additional system memory; if you need to conserve system resources, you may want to turn off Allow background saves. To change the background saves option, do the following steps:
  1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click to select the Save tab.


  2. Click to select or clear the Allow background saves check box.


NOTE: When Word saves a document in the background, a pulsing disk icon appears on the status bar. If Word can't save a document in the background (for example, if you don't have enough hard disk space or if you're saving a document to a floppy disk), Word saves the document in the foreground instead.

Turn Off Background Spelling and Grammar Checking

Background spelling and grammar checking allows Word to show you misspellings (red wavy underlines) and grammatical errors (green wavy underlines) while you are typing. On some systems, this can cause your system to respond slower than normal.

To turn off background spelling and grammar checking, do the following steps:
  1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Spelling & Grammar tab.


  2. Click to clear the Check spelling as you type and Check grammar as you type check boxes.


  3. Click OK to close the Options dialog box.


Use Word 97-2000 Converter Instead of Saving to Word for Windows 95 or Word 6.0 for Windows

You may need to save your Word 2000 documents to Word for Windows 95 or Word 6.0 for Windows format, so you can share documents with users of those versions of Word. In Word 2000, you have the option of saving the document as Word 6.0/95 (*.doc).

However, if you want to increase speed when sharing files with Word 95 or Word 6.0, you may want to install the Microsoft Word 97-2000 converter on the computer using Word 6.0 or Word 95. This way the conversion is done in Word 7.0 for Windows 95 or Word 6.0; this method of conversion may be faster than saving as Word 6.0/95 (*.doc).

To use the Word 97-2000 converter after you install it, start Word for Windows 95 or Word 6.0 for Windows, and then open a Word 2000 document.

For additional information about Word 97-2000 Import Converter, please click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q162214 WD: How to Obtain the Word 97-2000 Import Converter

Change the View in Word and View Settings

Use one or more of the following suggestions to optimize the view in Word and your view settings:
  • Work in normal view instead of print layout view whenever possible. In print layout view, Word takes longer to redraw the screen and repaginate the document. To change to normal view, click Normal on the View menu.


  • Use Picture Placeholders if your document contains extensive graphics. This option displays a blank box in place of each graphic in your document. To select the Picture Placeholders option, follow these steps:


    1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click to select the View tab.


    2. Click to select the Picture Placeholders check box.


    3. Click OK to close the Options dialog box.


  • Use the Draft Font option to speed up screen display in documents with extensive formatting and graphics. This option displays most character formatting as underlined and bold, and graphics as empty boxes. This option is only available in normal view. To select the Draft Font option, do the following steps:


    1. On the View menu, click Normal.


    2. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click to select the View tab.


    3. Click to select the Draft font check box.


    4. Click OK to close the Options dialog box.


Adjust Your System to Speed Up Printing

Use the following suggestions to optimize your system for printing.
  • If you print large documents that take several minutes to print, turn off any screen savers during the print job or switch to a blank screen saver. Animated screen savers use computer processor time and may take time away from the processing of your print job. For more information, see your screen saver Control Panel program or documentation.


  • Print using the Draft Output option. This option prints the document with minimal formatting, which makes the document print faster (this option is ideal for printing proofs).

    To change the Draft Output option, follow these steps:

    NOTE: Some printers may not support this option.


    1. On the Tools menu in Word, click Options, and then click to select the Print tab.


    2. Click to select the Draft output check box.


    3. Click OK to close the Options dialog box.


  • Select the Background Printing option that best fits the way you work. With Background Printing turned on, your document prints a bit more slowly, but you can continue working in Word while your document prints. With Background Printing turned off, your document prints quickly, but you cannot work in Word until the print job is finished.

    This option allocates processor time to Word during a print job so you can continue working while Word is printing; however, this means less processor time is available for printing. Select the Background Printing option that best fits the way you work.

    If you don't need to continue working while Word is printing, turn off the Background Printing option in Word using the following steps:


    1. On the Tools menu in Word, click Options, and then click to select the Print tab.


    2. Click to clear the Background printing check box.


    3. Click OK to close the Options dialog box.


  • Printing speed in Windows 95/98 is measured in one of two ways:


    • Return to application (RTA) speed. This is defined as the length of time from when you click Print to when you regain control of the system.


    • Printer page drop speed. This is defined as the length of time from when you click Print to when the print job is complete.


    You can affect each of these times by changing spool settings. To change spool settings, follow these steps:
    1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Printers.


    2. Right-click the printer you want to use, and then click Properties.


    3. Click to select the Details tab, and then click Spool Settings.


      4. For faster Return To Application speed, do the following steps:
      1. Click Start printing after first page is spooled.


      2. In most cases, click to select EMF as the spool data format.

        NOTE: PostScript printers support only the RAW spool data format.


      For faster printer page drop speed, do either of the following:
      • Click to select Print Directly To The Printer.

        NOTE: If the local printer is being shared, Print Directly To The Pinter is unavailable. To resolve this, stop sharing the printer.

        -or-


      • Click Start printing after last page is spooled. In some cases, this option prevents laser printer engines from turning on and off during a print job.


Turn Off Outlook Journaling

Outlook journaling tracks documents as they are closed or saved. On some computers, this may create a noticeable delay during the close or save process. Outlook journaling is turned on by default when Outlook is installed. To turn off Outlook journaling, do the following steps:
  1. Start Microsoft Outlook.


  2. On the Tools menu, click Options.


  3. On the Preferences tab, click Journal Options.


  4. Click to clear all of the check boxes in the Journal Options dialog box.


  5. Click OK to close the Journal Options dialog box.


  6. Click OK to close the Options dialog box.


Change the Windows Desktop Themes

Changing the Windows Desktop Themes may increase system performance, although the increase may not be noticeable on some systems. To change the Windows Desktop Theme, do the following steps:
  1. On the Windows taskbar, click Start, point to Settings and click Control Panel.


  2. Double-click Desktop Themes.


  3. Change the Theme box to Windows Default.


  4. Click OK.


Turn Off the Mouse Scheme

Turning off the animated mouse scheme increases system performance, although the increase probably is not noticeable. To turn off the mouse scheme, do the following steps:
  1. On the Windows taskbar, click Start, point to Settings and click Control Panel.


  2. Double-click Mouse.


  3. Click to select the Pointers tab.


  4. Set the Scheme to None.


  5. Click OK.


Increase BitMapMemory

The BitMapMemory option allows you to set the maximum size of the Word bitmap cache (in KB). If you use many graphics in your documents, a larger bitmap cache may improve scrolling and screen redraw speed. When this option is set to 1, Word automatically adjusts the bitmap cache size.

NOTE: The BitMapMemory option depends on the total amount of RAM installed on your system. It is possible to increase the BitMapMemory option too much, which may result in degraded system performance in Word.

Use the RegOptions macro contained in the Support9.dot file to change the BitMapMemory option using the following steps:
  1. In Word, click Open on the File menu.


  2. In the Open dialog box, change the Look in box to the following folder:


    3. C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Macros
  3. Click to select Support9.dot and then click Open.

    If the following Security Warning message appears, click Enable Macros:


    4. C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Macros\Support9.dot

    contains macros by
    Microsoft Corporation

    Macros may contain viruses. It is always safe to disable macros, but if the macros are legitimate, you might lose some functionality.
  4. In the Support9.dot file, click Sample Macros and then click Registry Options.


  5. On the Word 2000 Options tab, click to select BitMapMemory. In the Settings box, type the amount you want to increase the BitMapMemory to and then click Close.

    For example, type 1024 and click Close.


  6. On the File menu, click Close to close the Support9.dot file.


  7. On the File menu, click Exit to quit Word.


  8. Restart Microsoft Word 2000.


For additional information about the Support9.dot file and how to install and use it, please click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q230121 WD2000: What's Contained in Support9.dot and How to Install It

Increase Cache Size

The CacheSize option allows you to set the size of the Word file cache (in KB). You may be able to improve the speed of file I/O and other operations in Word by increasing the cache size. The minimum and default cache size is 64 KB.

NOTE: The CacheSize option depends on the total amount of RAM installed on your system. It is possible to increase the CacheSize option too much, which may result in degraded system performance in Word.

Use the RegOptions macro contained in the Support9.dot file to change the CacheSize option, using the following steps:
  1. In Word, click Open on the File menu.


  2. In the Open dialog box, change the Look in box to the following folder:


    3. C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Macros
  3. Click to select Support9.dot and then click Open.

    If the following Security Warning message appears, click Enable Macros:


    4. C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Macros\Support9.dot

    contains macros by
    Microsoft Corporation

    Macros may contain viruses. It is always safe to disable macros, but if the macros are legitimate, you might lose some functionality.
  4. In the Support9.dot file, click Sample Macros and then click Registry Options.


  5. On the Word 2000 Options tab, click to select CacheSize. In the Settings box, type the amount you want to increase the cache size to and then click Close.

    For example, type 1024 and click Close.


  6. On the File menu, click Close to close the Support9.dot file.


  7. On the File menu, click Exit to quit Word.


  8. Restart Microsoft Word 2000.


For additional information about the Support9.dot file and how to install and use it, please click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q230121 WD2000: What's Contained in Support9.dot and How to Install It

Speed Up Downloading Web Pages by Not Generating Graphics Images

This procedure is recommended if your document will be viewed in a Web browser, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 or later, that supports VML (Vector Markup Language). When graphics files are not downloaded each time you open a Web page, the document takes less time to save in HTML, uses less disk space, and takes less time to download in a Web browser.
  1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the General tab.


  2. Click Web Options, and then click the Pictures tab.


  3. Under File formats, select the Rely on VML for displaying graphics in browsers check box.


Glossary

bitmap

A graphic made up of a collection of colored dots. The computer stores the graphic as one or more bits of information for each dot--hence the name bitmap. Some file name extensions for graphics files that are bitmaps include .pcx, .tif, .bmp, and .gif.

compressed drive

A drive that has had its data compressed to take up less space. Special software must be running in the system to read from and write to a drive that is set up this way.

driver (Windows printer or video driver)

Software that Windows loads at startup. Drivers give Windows specific instructions about your video card and printer that Windows and Windows- based applications use to display information on the screen and to print information on your printer.

pagination

The arrangement of a document's layout, specifically where page breaks fall within a given document.

RAM

Acronym for random access memory. This is the memory on semiconductor chips in your computer, not on the hard disk. The more RAM you have, the more programs you can run at the same time and the faster your programs may run.

swap file

A file that Windows creates on your hard disk and uses to swap information into and out of memory. Windows uses the swap file to create virtual memory.

virtual memory

Also called disk memory. Virtual memory is not in the RAM chips. It is space on the hard disk that your computer uses as if it were RAM. With virtual memory, your applications can process files that would otherwise be too large to fit in physical RAM. Windows uses swap files to create virtual memory.


REFERENCES

Microsoft Web Site

Check http://www.microsoft.com for additional information, tips, and tricks for Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, and Microsoft Word.

Microsoft Windows 95 Resource Kit

The Microsoft Windows 95 Resource Kit has a chapter devoted to performance tuning that discusses topics such as the relation of performance to processor type, hard disk speed, memory (RAM), and conventional memory tuning. This chapter is a good resource for understanding the issues involved in configuring your PC for optimal performance. Other topics include Installation, Networking, Systems Management, Systems Configuration, Communications, Windows 95 Reference, Windows 95 Appendixes, a Guided Tour for Administrators, and Resource Kit Utilities.
Microsoft Corporation
1,348 pages with one CD
ISBN: 1-55615-678-2

Microsoft Windows 98 Resource Kit

The Microsoft Windows 98 Resource Kit provides all the information you need for a successful Windows 98 rollout. Detailed discussions, explanations, and insights on how to install, configure, and support Windows 98 will save you time and effort and help maximize your organization’s technology investment. Written in cooperation with the Windows 98 development team, this exclusive Microsoft publication is the perfect technical companion for network administrators, support professionals, systems integrators, and other computer professionals.
Microsoft Corporation
1,792 pages with one CD
ISBN: 1-57231-644-6

Microsoft Office 2000 Resource Kit

The Microsoft Office 2000 Resource Kit is designed for administrators, information technology (IT) professionals, and support staff who deploy and support Microsoft Office 2000. It features a comprehensive set of tools to assist you with installation, configuration, and Web services, as well as in-depth documentation of strategies and techniques that you can use to support Office 2000 in your organization.
Microsoft Corporation
875 pages with one CD
ISBN: 0-7356-0555-6

Additional query words: configure optimize optimal set up enhance performance

Keywords : kbdta wd2000
Version : WINDOWS:2000
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbinfo


Last Reviewed: February 2, 2000
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