How to Fix Slow and Laggy scrolling in Microsoft Word

Experiencing slow and laggy while scrolling an important document in Microsoft Word? Irrespective of the version of MS Word you have, it shouldn’t be slow or laggy while simply scrolling down, even if it has many pages. So, follow these easy and simple solutions to fix this problem.

Fix 1 – Change the hardware graphics acceleration settings

You can change the hardware graphics acceleration settings in Word.

Step 1 – Open MS Word.

Step 2 – Then, tap “File” and click “Options“.

 

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Step 3 – Get to the “Advanced” tab.

Step 4 – Go to the “Display” section. Just tick the “Disable hardware graphics acceleration” box.

Step 5 – Then, click “OK” to save the change.

 

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Now, try to scroll the same document on Word again. It will feel way smoother than before.

 

Fix 2 – Don’t use Subpixel positioning

Apart from Word, there are other options like Subpixel positioning that can cause the Word document to lag or stutter.

Step 1 – Go to the “File” on MS Word.

Step 2 – Then, click “Options” to open it up.

 

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Step 3 – Go to the “Advanced” section once more.

Step 4 – Make sure that you have unchecked the “Update document content while dragging” box.

Step 5 – Additionally, make sure the “Use subpixel positioning to smooth fonts on screen” option is unchecked.

Step 6 – Then, click “OK“.

 

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Check by scrolling the Word document. Test whether you are still experiencing the lag or not.

 

Fix 3 – Disable unwanted add-ins

Add-ins can slow down the Word considerably. You should disable all the unwanted add-ins in Word.

Step 1 – After opening Word, tap “File” and further click “Options” to open that up.

 

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Step 2 – Go to the “Add-ins” tab.

Step 3 – Set the Manage to “COM Add-ins” and tap “Go” to open it up.

 

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Step 4 – You will find all the Add-ins there. Just uncheck all the unwanted/ inessential add-ins and click “OK“.

 

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Now, close Word and relaunch the document once more.

Check if this helps you resolve the problem.

 

Fix 4 – Increase the number of lines you scroll

The slow Word scrolling issue may not be entirely related to Word at all.

Step 1 – You have to open the Mouse settings. So, use the Win+R key combination to bring up the Run box.

Step 2 – Then, type this shortcut command and click “OK“.

main.cpl

 

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Step 3 – Go straight to the “Wheel” page.

Step 4 – In the Vertical Scrolling tab, set the “Roll the wheel one notch to scroll” to “6“.

[This parameter is set to “3” normally. You can choose a different number of lines to scroll if you want.]

 

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Step 5 – Just click “Apply” and “OK” now to save the changes.

 

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After this, go back to Word and try to scroll up or down the same document once more.

This will help you resolve the issue for sure.