Global libraries (Word 2000SR1a Window 95)

[mat_tob]

Hi all, could anyone answer the question of Word taking forever to start. We have a global library that is in the startup folder for Word but is now just short of 1MB in size (mostly code). Our problem is when you start Word without it loading (using one of our standard desktops) it takes less than second, but with the library loading can take up to 40 seconds. Is there anyway to speed up the loading of Word with this global template ? Unfortunately everything that is in the template is required so no code can be removed.

[Gary Frieder]

Matt,

Everything is in the details: what is the code in the global template doing? (It must be doing a lot if it's 1MB of code.)
Is it: connecting to a database and pulling in data? Scanning directories for support files? etc. (activities which could take a lot of time)

It's probably not practical for you to post 1MB of code here, but I don't think anyone will be able to troubleshoot the problem without lots of details of what the code is doing.

BTW, where did this 1MB global template come from? Do you have anybody inhouse responsible for maintaining it?

Gary

[mat_tob]

Hi Gary thanks for the response - the code actually does nothing at all in terms of when Word loads, it reacts to shortcut keys and menu options being pressed, which run at a reasonable speed when selected, so the code isn't really the problem. It is what the hell is Word is doing to global tempates when they are loaded with Word. Even if you have a small global template the load time increases exponentially, all I could think of is that it is compiling the code (slowly). Does "compile template" option improve anything (VBA editor option) because all that seems to do is make the file size increase.

[Gary Frieder]

Matt,

You're right that Word has to compile the code in a global template when it loads it, but 40 seconds still seems a long time, even for 1 MB of code.

On the other hand if you have an older, slower machine, then maybe that's not out of the question.
One other thing to look for in the global template would be: are there a lot of references set (Tools > References). That probably shouldn't slow things down much either, but worth a look.

"Code bloat" is a problem a lot of people see. You might try running the Word Code Cleaner which is free download from Payne Consulting - you can get it <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.payneconsulting.com/public/products/ProductDetail.asp?nProductID=18>here</A>.

Gary

[davidlavin]

Take a look at the Autotext entries in the global template. We use a similar approach but we also include many AutoText entries (a few of which are graphics files) so the startup is kinda slow. Perhaps you could delete some of these entires?

[Phil Rabichow]

Hi Gary:
I installed Payne's Code Cleaner V4.4. Now I find that it loads every time I start Word, evne though it's not in the startup group. Even if I uncheck it under Tools/Templates & add-ins, it loads every time. Do you have it loaded all the time or do you know if there's a way to load it only when you need it?

NEVER MIND! I figured it out. They put a shortcut in the MS Office/Startup. I should known that. <img src=/S/doh.gif border=0 alt=doh width=15 height=15> <img src=/S/blush.gif border=0 alt=blush width=15 height=15>

Thanks (& Happy Holidays),

[Gary Frieder]

Hi Phil,

Actually I haven't had the code cleaner installed in about a year - since I switched to Word 2000 - so don't know if I would have known either.

Anyway, we're even - I should have known about the default Office shortcuts not having editable properties <img src=/S/blush.gif border=0 alt=blush width=15 height=15>, so I'm appreciative of your tip.

Best wishes and happy holidays too! <img src=/S/bravo.gif border=0 alt=bravo width=16 height=30>

Gary

[chrisgreaves]

Check <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.wopr.com/cgi-bin/w3t/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=wrd&Number=16839&page=&view =&sb=&o=&vc=1>this post</A>.

I did some experimentation with timing.

I'm now 700MHz Win98SE Word97SR2; still can take a long time.

I've also been wondering about macro name lists. I've a sneaking suspicion that the design of templates did NOT leave a neat symbol table (of procedures) up front, and so as the global templates are loaded, Word has to look at each line in each procedure to determine what procedures are available, exactly as us VBA programmers do. It's a painfully long process. Writing it in C++ or some other, as MSoft would do, would run faster than VBA, but it's still a long process.

I noticed a reference to <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.payneconsulting.com/_Resource/downloads/wd97clnr.exe>Payne Consulting</A>'s Code Cleaner. I use that a lot, and I believe it can make a difference. Not a big enough difference to get you a pay raise, but significant when multiplied by all the machines on your network that make use of the templates you distribute for loading.

Hope this helps.

[Charles Kenyon]

Is the startup folder a network folder? This could be slowing things down, as well. If so, you might try using local startup folders with the user login updating the local files as needed.