Does your Microsoft Office software open slow or seem oddly sluggish from time to time?
We have a solution for you.
Symptoms of a sluggish Microsoft Office suite
- Cursor hangs in place randomly
- Program freezes for a few seconds
- Program crashes
- Slow performance
How to Fix: Disable Hardware Graphics Acceleration
To speed up Microsoft Office, you will have to disable hardware graphics acceleration. This fix works for Office 2010, 2013, and 2016.
What is hardware graphics acceleration and will I miss it?
Hardware graphics acceleration is a feature that is meant to improve performance. But it doesn’t always work. If you are experiencing a slow Microsoft Office program, it is doing more harm than good.
How to Disable Hardware Graphics Acceleration
On Office 2010
1. Open Outlook. Once it is fully loaded go to File > Options > Mail.
2. Scroll down to Compose Message and select Editors Options.
3. Select the “Advanced” tab and scroll down to Display.
4. Under the Display settings, check Disable hardware graphics acceleration
5. Click ok until you are back to the main Outlook window. 2x
6. Close & Relaunch Outlook. You should notice it opens more quickly.
Changing the settings from Outlook with change the settings for all Microsoft Office applications.
On Office 2013 & Office 2016
1. Open any Microsoft Office 2013 or 2016 program.
Once it is fully loaded go to go to File > Options and select the Advanced tab on the right.
2. In the Advanced tab, scroll down to Display.
3. Check the box to Disable hardware graphics acceleration.
4. Click OK until you are back to the office application main screen. Then, close the program.
5. Re-launch Microsoft Office. You should notice it opens more quickly.
Changing the settings will change for all office applications.
Faster Software = Improved Productivity
Every little bit of optimization on your machine helps. If your machine and office programs are still running slowly after you disable hardware graphics acceleration, contact your managed IT services company to see what other improvements might be needed.
