Documents open more quickly from within Word than from Windows

  • Thread starter Thread starter Larry
  • Start date Start date
L

Larry

With Word 97 on Windows 98, I have lots of shortcuts in Windows (regular
shortcuts, shortcuts in submenus on the Start menu, Winkey shortcuts) to
start various frequently used Word documents, as well as just clicking
on their icon in the Windows folder or Explorer. Lately I've been
noticing how long it often took for a document to open from the Windows
environment. Then I noticed how documents opened from within Word
(either through the Open dialog box, or via a macro to open a particular
document) opened much faster. Sometimes the difference is night and
day. A document might open within a second if I use a macro to do it,
and as much as five to eight seconds to open when I use a Windows
shortcut to do it.

Larry
 
It makes sense that if you have to load Word every time you want to open a
document, it will take longer.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
Obviously, I'm comparing two situations in which Word is already open.
Did you really think I saying--as though this was something
surprising--that it takes longer for Word to load itself and then to
open a document than it takes for Word just to open a document?

In both instances I'm comparing, Word is already open. Let's say I have
a shortcut to a document on a submenu of the Start menu. That may take
several seconds to open. I also have a macro in Word that opens a menu
in Word on which there are several macros to open particular documents.
I run those two macros, and the document opens instantly.

This is also true of other file types. I have a .rft document with a
list of web addresses I consult frequently. Normally I've been opening
this from a shortcut on a Start menu submenu, and the .rtf fiile always
takes a few seconds to open. I just added a macro to open this .rft
file in Word, and it opens the .rft file in under a second.
 
And the same is true with macros that open the Open dialog box to
particular folders or to the folder of the current document. It happens
immediately. My Windows shortcuts take five seconds to open a Windows
folder. Probably I just need more memory. My system is primitive by
today's standards. But it's still fascinating that Word does these
things more quickly than Windows.

Larry
 
The thing is, it's not just one step that's faster, but two steps.
First, opening a Windows folder takes several seconds; while opening a
folder through the Open box is almost instantaneous. Second, clicking
on a Word icon in a Windows folder takes several seconds for the doc to
open, while clicking on the doc icon in the Open box takes a second to
open.

I had always preferred using Explorer to open Word documents instead of
Word's Open dialog box, so this is neat.
 
The thing is, it's not just one step that's faster, but two steps.
First, opening a Windows folder takes several seconds; while opening a
folder through the Open box is almost instantaneous. Second, clicking
on a Word icon in a Windows folder takes several seconds for the doc to
open, while clicking on the doc icon in the Open box takes a second to
open.

I had always preferred using Explorer to open Word documents instead of
Word's Open dialog box, so this is neat.
Click to expand...

Just a guess... when you open from Windows your anti-virus program is
scanning the document, but when you open from Word it isn't?

Bob S
 
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