rgmckenz
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Slow File Open or Browse ("Not Responding") in Office 2016 Products on Windows 10
For the past two weeks, I've been experiencing a change in the File | Open | Browse functions of all of my Microsoft Office 2016 products (not Office 365, but Pro Plus), including Word, Excel and Outlook. When trying to open files and attempting to click on the "Browse" function, the program hangs for approximately 30 seconds or so until an explorer window opens and I can select my file. This happens not only in Excel and Word, but when attaching files in Outlook and attempting to browse to the location.
I've followed suggestions about removing "recent files" tracking and making sure I don't have any mapped drives or printers out there, especially ones that have been removed or are otherwise unavailable. Still, the problems persist. Since I'm in and out of files constantly, it has become quite an annoying problem. Does anyone have any recommendations as to what to try next? I should mention that I'm patched up on both the operating system and Office, and that this only occurs with Office programs. All other non-Office programs allow me to browse explorer locations without delay or hesitation.
Thanks ahead for your help!
Roy
I've followed suggestions about removing "recent files" tracking and making sure I don't have any mapped drives or printers out there, especially ones that have been removed or are otherwise unavailable. Still, the problems persist. Since I'm in and out of files constantly, it has become quite an annoying problem. Does anyone have any recommendations as to what to try next? I should mention that I'm patched up on both the operating system and Office, and that this only occurs with Office programs. All other non-Office programs allow me to browse explorer locations without delay or hesitation.
Thanks ahead for your help!
Roy
ASKER
John,
Thanks for responding. I had already cleared all temp files and cleaned up everything, plus had removed any other open references to network drives. Everything is local. Please note: there is a Dropbox client on this computer which has synchronized files to my local hard drive. However, this was there all along and was working properly for several weeks after the Office 2016 version was installed. I ran through the cleanup again and double-checked for drive mappings, but nothing is there.
I've also ruled out antivirus, having removed the client from my system during testing. When I go into Excel, and perform a File | Open, I'm presented with the following options:
Recent
OneDrive - Personal
This PC
Add a Place
Browse
If I try to select files from Recent, OneDrive, or This PC, I'm immediately presented with a list of files to choose from, which I can open with no problem. However, when I click on Browse (to get to a full "open" explorer window), it hangs there and does nothing for 30 or more seconds until it finally displays the dialog box. If I try to move around Excel after the hang, it presents Not Responding in the title bar. Very frustrating and definitely follows Office products. This isn't a problem in other software that calls explorer as the File Open dialog.
Thanks for responding. I had already cleared all temp files and cleaned up everything, plus had removed any other open references to network drives. Everything is local. Please note: there is a Dropbox client on this computer which has synchronized files to my local hard drive. However, this was there all along and was working properly for several weeks after the Office 2016 version was installed. I ran through the cleanup again and double-checked for drive mappings, but nothing is there.
I've also ruled out antivirus, having removed the client from my system during testing. When I go into Excel, and perform a File | Open, I'm presented with the following options:
Recent
OneDrive - Personal
This PC
Add a Place
Browse
If I try to select files from Recent, OneDrive, or This PC, I'm immediately presented with a list of files to choose from, which I can open with no problem. However, when I click on Browse (to get to a full "open" explorer window), it hangs there and does nothing for 30 or more seconds until it finally displays the dialog box. If I try to move around Excel after the hang, it presents Not Responding in the title bar. Very frustrating and definitely follows Office products. This isn't a problem in other software that calls explorer as the File Open dialog.
I wonder if it is One Drive (which I do not use) . I do use Drop Box.
Try running System File Checker. SFC /SCANNOW from an admin command prompt.
Try running System File Checker. SFC /SCANNOW from an admin command prompt.
ASKER
That's what I was thinking, as I've seen problems with OneDrive with some of my customers that resulted in slow window display. I even went as far as to disable the display of OneDrive in the list of available options inside of Office (a registry hack), but it did not work. Would love to eliminate it altogether, as I rarely use it as well, but I'm not sure if removal will break Office and/or Windows 10. I'll run the SFC when I have the opportunity this evening.
ASKER
OK - an update. Was able to work on it this weekend. I ran a full SFC and chkdsk of my laptop, but found nothing out of place. I made sure that all updates have been run - Windows 10, Office 2016, Java, Adobe, etc. I removed everything from my QuickAccess, deleted all of my printers (except my local) and made sure every mapped or referenced connection off of my local computer was removed. I stopped every service related to Vipre Antivirus, including active scanning, scheduled scanning and the firewall. I rebooted as cleanly as possible and tried opening a file through the Browse function in Microsoft Excel 2016. SAME RESULT! It hesitates up to 30 seconds, then opens the Explorer browse dialog.
I tried running Process Monitor to see what is happening during the Open process in Excel, but results were inconclusive. The only thing certain is that it is driving me crazy! Is this a bug between Office 2016 products and Windows 10? If it is, it showed up as the result of an update, since it was working fine for a while after the initial installation of Office 2016. Just about out of options - may either restore the system to a point just after installation of Office 2016, or may just go back to Office 2013 and see if the problem persists.
I tried running Process Monitor to see what is happening during the Open process in Excel, but results were inconclusive. The only thing certain is that it is driving me crazy! Is this a bug between Office 2016 products and Windows 10? If it is, it showed up as the result of an update, since it was working fine for a while after the initial installation of Office 2016. Just about out of options - may either restore the system to a point just after installation of Office 2016, or may just go back to Office 2013 and see if the problem persists.
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John,
I did uninstall Office 2016 and installed a Pro version of Office 2013. I had better luck with that configuration, but still have delayed File/Open or Browse from time to time. I'll try to detail this better later, but thank you for your suggestions.
I did uninstall Office 2016 and installed a Pro version of Office 2013. I had better luck with that configuration, but still have delayed File/Open or Browse from time to time. I'll try to detail this better later, but thank you for your suggestions.
@rgmckenz - Thanks for the update and I was happy to help.
From there, run Disk Cleanup (Admin tools). When it comes up. select most of the folders suggested for cleanup. Say OK, allow to complete, shut down, start up and test.
I am using Office 2016 on Windows 10 and it is very speedy to open files.