Word 2003 Opens Very Slow on Windows XP

Check the size of your Normal.dot file. If it is bigger than a few hundred K, it may be the source of your problem.

To check, open your templates folder:

Click start, go to run and type in %APPDATA%/Microsoft/Templates

Check out Normal.dot

If it is huge:

• Close Word
• rename Normal.dot to (for example) Old_Normal.dot
• start Word again.
• Tools than Templates and Addins
• Click on Organizer
• In the Organizer, close the current file (the other file open will be Normal click Open File and select Old_Normal.dot. Copy any of the styles, autotext,toolbars, and macros that you want to Normal.dot
• Hold down the Shift key and select files then Save Add
• Exit word.
• Make a copy of Normal.dot to SaveNormal.dot. This will be the recovery Normal.dot that you can recover from in the future.
• I suggest that you then right click on Normal.dot, select properties and select read-only

You should now have a fast Word startup again!