If you’re using Word 2008, even on a very, very fast Mac, you’ve probably noticed that Word 2008 can take upwards of a minute to open a .doc file. Here are 3 tips to speeding up MS Word 2008’s opening time.

1. Follow the steps outlined here. The results of this suggestion vary, so be sure to try the next two as well.
2. Update to the very latest version of Microsoft Word 2008. Version 12.1.1 (080522) included something that caused the launch time to improve significantly. To update, click Help when any of the Office applications are open, and select Check for Updates
3. Give FontNuke a shot. The installation is very straight forward. Once installed, launch it from your Applications folder.
4. Click anywhere in the main window


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5. Click the Nuke Font Caches button.


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6. Now update the Update Caches List button.


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7. And your font caches will update..


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8. FontNuke will notify you of the number of font caches that it found. Click OK


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9. Now make sure to close down all of your open applications and save any data in the open programs. FontNuke will reboot your system when it’s done, whether you like it or not. Click the Nuke Font Caches button in the bottom right-corner of the screen. When prompted, click Continue.


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10. Enter your password…



11. And FontNuke will run, then force your system to reboot after it has cleared the font caches.


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12. After trying the above 3 suggestions, try opening a Word document. It should load faster now that previously (I went from around a minute to about 7 seconds).