Word 2010 - failed attempt to load Stuff at startup

[John Gray]

I have been asked to look at a document, produced from a template over which we have no control, which loads Very Slowly because it attempts to link to/load/access/contact a number of locations which have no meaning to me.

The messages are of the form:
Contacting \\Users\Appdata\JoeBloggs\Microsoft\Templates
and end with
Contacting \\Users

I've looked through the document's Options, especially Add-Ins, but can't find any similar references.

Where can I find (and delete!) these unwanted entities?

(Apparently this problem is evident in a number of templates derived from this source...)

[HansV]

Have you looked at Developer tab > Document Template? If the document template refers to a network path that is not available. Word may spend a lot of time trying to connect to the template. Changing it to Normal should take care of that.

You can also check File > Info > Edit Links to Files. This option is only available if the document contains external links.

[John Gray]

No, sorry, I can't find any of these!
I don't seem to have a Developer tab anywhere, and Help doesn't help.

A minute or two later...
I've found how to show the Developer tab by Googling, but there is nothing in any of the Document Template tabs which refers to this \\Users link...

[HansV]

Select File > Options.
Select 'Customize Ribbon' in the navigation pane on the left hand side of the Word Options dialogue.
Tick the check box labeled Developer under Main Tabs on the right hand side.
Click OK.
You should now see the Developer tab of the ribbon.

(This is a one-time action)

[John Gray]

I've been through all the Developer tab options, and still can't find anything relevant!

[John Gray]

After a bit of empirical option adjustment, it seems that the problem disappears if I go though
Developer tab > XML Schema > remove tick in front of "Validate document against attached schemas" (of which there are none!)

After saving the document and reloading, this action is now almost instant.

It loads equally rapidly if I add the tick again, save, then reload!

I do not pretend to understand any of this, but presume that I have (unknowingly but pleasingly) removed any connection to a now-non-existent schema!

[HansV]

Which template is listed?

S122.png

If it is anything other than Normal, you might try changing it to Normal.

---

I found a suggestion by longtime Word MVP Suzanne S. Barnhill:

Select File > Options.
Select Advanced in the navigation pane on the left hand side.
Scroll down to the section labeled Save.
Tick the check box "Copy remotely stored files onto your computer, ...".
Click OK.

It seems somewhat doubtful to me that this would help you, but it only takes a moment to try it.

[John Gray]

I've just noticed that where you have "Normal" I have
\\Users\AppData\JoeBloggs\Microsoft\Templates\Document.dot !

Changing that to Normal gives a much faster load, and that appears to be the best solution to my problem.

Suzanne's suggestion, if anything, makes loading even slower - perhaps a few more seconds on top of the 20-30 seconds it took.

Hans, thanks very much for your help!