I just implemented a successful workaround for the same issue. Word docs hanging on opening...but if you wait long enough they come up. Reason? Server decommissioned. If you wait long enough...60 seconds...the document finally opens. If you then pull down the Tools menu and select Addins and Templates, you will most likely see that the document is referencing a template on the decommissioned server. Since the server is no longer there, the document is looking, looking, looking, timing out, and finally opening. Workaround? You or your network admin will need access to your dns mmc in Admin Tools. You'll probably discover that the Server name and its old IP address are still listed in DNS. Therefore, the template associated with the doc is going to look for that old server and dns is telling the doc that the server is still there. But you know it's not, because you shut down that server. However, you can edit the IP address of that old record and put in the IP address of the new server where all the templates are now located (actually try deleting the record first to see if that works, then try making the phony record if it doesn't). Moreover, if the template associated with the thousands of docs is no longer in existence, you can still create a new one and give it the old name. It can just be a blank template, but give it the name of the old discarded template. Bottom line, you don't need to keep a 5 year old server running forever just because word docs won't open. You just need to tell the "traffic cop" that the old server isn't there anymore so the docs don't wait forever to open. In our case, the docs went from opening after 60 seconds to 2 seconds. It worked. Adam Washington, DC
