Word 2003 and XP performance issues

[David Best]

I'm having considerable difficulty with Word repagination on a long
document. The issue seen specific to Word XP and Word 2003. I have
NO problems with Word 2000.

Background: The document is 300 pages. 95 percent of the doc is in
two column tables (perhaps 150 tables total) with a .PNG or .JPG photo
in the left cell of a row and text in the right cell of a row. The
document has 74 sections (with different section headings for each).
In total the document is about 280 Megabytes. The images are all 4.1"
x 2.75" at 300 dpi. The text is all the same font (Arial). There is
a 3 page table of contents, and about 100 cross reference fields, and
maybe 10 bookmarks.

When I open the document with Word XP and (for instance) ask it to
update the TOC, it takes 27 minutes, and repaginates twice bogging
down consistently around page 200-250 and taking 3-15 seconds per
page. If I open it in Normal view, switch to Page view and pull the
scroll bar down to the end, it takes about 15 minutes to image the
last page.

When I open the document with Word 2003, it takes about the same time.

When I open it with Word 2000, it takes 3 seconds to do any of the
above.

None of the Word versions produce any artifacts on page numbering
weirdness etc. The behavior and imaging – right down to the number of
pages and page breaks are identical between the three version of Word.
But Word 2000 is 3 seconds to repaginate and the newer versions are
all 15-30 minutes.

All three computers are running Windows XP, have Intel P4 2.0 or 2.8,
each computer has 512MB of RAM or more. They're all using the same
printer driver (HP LaserJet 6MP). All are roughly configured the same
in terms of hardware and software running in the background (Norton
Antivirus, etc.). Each system is similarly configured WRT paging
files, etc. I even put Word 2000 on the system with Word 2003 and the
behavior is the same (Word 2000 is 3 second repagination, and Word
2003 is 27 minutes).

I have tried saving the file as a web page and that version images
just fine and very quickly. When I reopen that web page version and
save it back as a .doc version, the performance issues resurface in
the XP and 2003 versions. I have deleted and reinserted every single
section break (including the final paragraph marker). I have deleted
the Normal template and forced Word to recreate it. Blah, Blah, Blah.

What the heck is wrong here? Is this some performance hit due to the
addition of smart tags (which this document doesn't use) or something?

HELP!!! I'm going crazy trying to get this to work without regressing
all the computers in my network back to Office 2000.

Thanks for any help you can give.

David Best

 

[David Best]

Since no one contributed a response, I figured I'd post an update.
The performance problem seems to get resolved if the offending file is
opened and then saved in Word 2000. Taking that file back to Word
2002 or Word 2003 after that save will allow normal operation and
performance until the file is saved in Word 2002 or 2003. It appears
that saving in those versions does something to the file to cause the
re-pagination to bog down considerably (like several hours). I still
do not have a fix for this, and I'm getting pretty frustrated.

If any one here knows a backdoor to Microsoft to submit this as a bug,
I'd like specifics. I called MSFT and of course they wanted $35 just
to listen to a description of the bug. The file in question is 250
megabytes and I have a set of steps that re-creates the issue
consistently. I'm sure this is an obscure bug, but it would be nice
to get it reported to MSFT in a way that will include the (very large)
test case. Any suggestions MVP's? Thanks.

David Best

 

[Robert M. Franz]

Hi David

David Best wrote:
[..]

The file in question is 250
megabytes and I have a set of steps that re-creates the issue
consistently.

Can you reproduce it in a new document based on an standard Normal.dot?
If not, and you only see it in your 250 MByte (wow!) document, then I
guess the standard answer is: your document has somehow become corrupt. :-(

2cents
..bob

 

[David P. Best]

Bob,

Well, if it's a corruption issue, the Word 2003 is doing the corrupting, and
Word 2000 fixes the corruption. And the cycle goes 'round and 'round. It
doesn't smell like curruption to me. It smells like bug.

David

David Best wrote:
[..]

The file in question is 250
megabytes and I have a set of steps that re-creates the issue
consistently.

Can you reproduce it in a new document based on an standard Normal.dot? If
not, and you only see it in your 250 MByte (wow!) document, then I guess
the standard answer is: your document has somehow become corrupt. :-(

2cents
.bob
--
/"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign | MS
\ / | MVP
X Against HTML | for
/ \ in e-mail & news | Word

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi David,

Well, if it's a corruption issue, the Word 2003 is doing the corrupting, and
Word 2000 fixes the corruption. And the cycle goes 'round and 'round. It
doesn't smell like curruption to me. It smells like bug.

Could be structural damage; could be a conversion issue; might even be a driver
problem, or a combination of any of the above. I'd lay my money on the
extremely long tables, containing graphics. Long tables have been a problem
since MS started expanding on the Internet compatible behavior in Word 2000.

Are the table columns set to a specific width, or is AutoFit to content
activated? If the latter, try turning that off and see if it makes a
difference.

Also, make sure the graphics card and printer drivers are all updated to
drivers specifically designed to work with Word 2002 or 2003 (yes, this can
make a difference).

The last thing I'd test is whether breaking the long tables up into much
shorter ones (Table/Split table) makes a significant difference.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

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