I have a user that is making a newsletter in Publisher. She simply opens the last months newsletter, edits it, and re-saves it for distribution. Between last month and this month, we updated to Office 2013 from Office 2010.

We are seeing that the program is very slow to respond to clicks, to move fields/pictures around, etc. Her original file size was 31MB, but I got her to remove the extra fields and pictures from outside the boundaries and got the file size down to 13MB. The file resides locally on her computer for the testing purposes.

Her computer runs Windows 7 32-bit, Office 32-bit, 2GB RAM, Intel Dual Core 1.8Ghz. When looking in the task manager, CPU is not pegged at 100% and RAM usage is around 45-50%. I have taken all other programs not needed to start off the start up list (now runs about 50-60 processes). We are not running any other program while we are using Publisher. No add-ins are installed for Publisher. SkyDrive is also not setup.

We are early in the deployment and have only about 40 computers switched over to Office 2013, and with only monthly usage at this point for Publisher, I have not heard any other complaints. In fact, I pulled the file and opened it on my machine (Windows 7 64bit, Office 2013 32bit, Intel i7 3.07Ghz, 4Gb Ram) and it acts the same way.

Any ideas of things I could try?

Here are some suggestions to try:

1. Run Design Checker to see if there are any potential issues

2. Try remove the Master Page or Background to check if this behavior will still occur

3. Try remove the printers to check if this behavior will still occur

4. If none of them make any difference, try remove the pages one by one, see if we can narrow down to the root cause

I have had the same problem as well.  I have given up using Publisher 2013 as the file is fine in 2007.  I did try ringing Microsoft but the service was awful: I gave up after I was put on hold for 15 minutes.

I understand the need to go through some of these things you have listed as possible culprits, however I can also attest that my Publisher 2013 is running slow as well.  I'm currently working on a print as I type this and there is only 2 pictures and a text box and already it's beginning to be slow, miss clicks, and stutter drastically while dragging pictures.  It is certainly not my computer as I just finished a Photoshop and InDesign project minutes ago with no problems.  I'm also running a custom built computer with 32gig of RAM with Windows 8 running on a SSD with another SSD as a scratch disk.  I also did not have this problem with the previous version of Publisher. 

My Publisher 2013 32bit is unusable. I am turning to PowerPoint as Publisher cannot handle pictures. It is incredibly slow on a Win7 64bit, I7 with SSD and 8GB RAM. It is not consuming much processor nor memory nor disk bandwith but in consequence it is incredibly slow. Is this a generalized problem that Microsoft will fix or should I ask for my money back?

I ran the Design Checker only finding a couple items outside the print area. There was no background and started to remove all items one at a time and eventually did get faster. However, there was nothing left on the pages. If we can only have blank pages for the program to work sufficiently, what is the point of Publisher 2013?

My printers are pushed out with a GP and will not pull that to be able to remove printers to troubleshoot.

I have halted installing Office 2013 at our half-way point for all users as this is a critical issue that needs to be addressed before I push this program out any further.

Please advise to the status of this issue.

I create monthly newsletters through Publisher 2013... and it runs realy slow!!!! It take more then twicw as long to create them. Very frustrating!!!! Is this problem being fixed???

Publisher 2013 is very very slow

Purchased this program yesterday and have kicked it off with this same problem on a small school project.

god help anyone using it for a work project

Microsoft dont seem to be answering you guys nor fixing.

I think ill have my money back thanks their product seems unusable and shouldnt be on the market !

Just to add to this we have done a partial roll out of Office 2013 for testing and are having the same issues with Publisher.  What we have found is if you create a blank document in Publisher 2010, then save it to a network share, you can edit it just fine in Publisher 2013.  Definitely not ideal but at least a temporary work around.  Needless to say until this is resolved we will not be upgrading any additional users.

Microsoft dont seem to be answering you guys nor fixing.

No, Microsoft seems to have left us out to hang here. I thought the whole purpose of this forum was to communicate with Microsoft technical support and find resolutions. Unfortunately, they have not responded since March 29th. Frustrating to say the least.

Microsoft, we are still having these issues. Any ETA on finding a fix? Is it being worked on?

I totally agree with you. I am having the same problem on 3 computers. One is streaming Publisher, but the other 2 have it installed and it seems it is nearly unusable and highly unstable. There's no reason for this. Never any problem with previous versions of Publisher. I'm using both 32 and 64 bit versions.

Not cool MS!

Hello All,

I apologize for any inconvenience caused by Publisher 2013. I had a chance to test this issue and was able to reproduce it from scratch. I have documented and reported this issue to our product group for further investigation.

I observed that performance of Publisher 2013 improves considerably if "Use legacy drag preview" option under File > Options > Advanced is enabled. Please try and explore whether enabling this option can be used as an potential interim workaround in your workflow.

Thanks,
Sekar

I've just come to modify an existing Publisher 2010 document with 2013, and it's nearly impossible to use to edit text.

Setting the "Use legacy drag preview" option has had no effect.

Trying to edit text in a linked text field is painful. The caret doesn't show up properly for starters. Curiously, if I just move the text field off the page, editing is fine.

Whatever's is wrong with this software?

Thanks Sekar, but this option really hasn't had too much of an effect for me. It is the  same more or less, with possibly a slight improvement.

I'm having exactly the same problem and have tried all the suggestions listed, including 'disabling hardware graphics acceleration' to no avail. This is fundamental flaw in the product and renders it completely unusable. I have the Office 365 University subscription and depend on this to complete projects. How can Microsoft even think about selling a program without putting it through proper testing? All I can say is it's a good job I kept Office 2010 on my old laptop! I expect a solution from Microsoft soon as it would appear that it's not just a few users that are experiencing this problem. 

If it's of any use my system specs are:

Windows Server 2012 Standard (Converted into a workstation)

AMD Athlon II X4 640 (3.0ghz)

8.00 GB Corsair DDR3 Ram

Gigabyte GA-870A-USB3 Motherboard

1 GB ATI Radeon HD 5500 Series (XFX) Graphics Card

80 GB Western Digital SATA Drive - In deseperate need of an upgrade I know!

For years I championed Publisher over other programs. For this reason I have invested heavily in making sure I have the latest versions and now hundreds of graphics-rich documents I've published were created with the program. Now MP 2013 is running so incredible slow--with jerky movements and freezing whenever I move a photo or change text. THIS IS A PUBLISHER ISSUE! Please do not suggest absurd steps that only waste more of my time. You must fix this program. You sold it to us, we bought it and now most people cannot even get it to function. And still Microsoft barely responds. The program does not work properly! Do not ask me what my computer specs are. There's nothing wrong with my computer. It is a high end system that runs other productivity suites flawlessly.  MICROSOFT, FIX YOUR BROKEN PROGRAM!

Microsoft, can we please get an update on the status of this problem. I know you are "working on it" but we need other information; our daily tasks at our jobs depend on you fixing this issue as soon as possible.

It is now 6th May and I am still having this issue with Publisher. New powerful computer and new license. have been using other versions for years and no problem. Please help quickly - Not happy!!

I'm having the same issue. It's running some process every few seconds that's hogging CPU cycles and preventing me from getting any useful work done.

Absolutely useless - embarrassingly so. For the first time ever our Newspaper will not meet deadline because Publisher 2013 is slower than a Beta version of any other program I have ever used. Whoever authorised this terribly slow version of Publisher to be released should lose their job. As an Microsoft/Android tragic this does nothing but cause mockery from my Apple friends. FIX IT - you turnover Billions of $ - FIX IT! NOW!

(Not convinced it will be fixed - so will be using 30 day returns policy.) Anyone know how \I can buy an old version of publisher?)

Hello everyone, this issue has been fixed in June 11th's Public update. Install all updates, restart your computer, and Publisher's performance improved. Let us know.

Hello everyone,

The KB number for this change is http://support.microsoft.com/KB/2810014. After updating your computer, your Microsoft Office 2013 version should be 15.0.4505.1509.

Debbie

Inital testing shows that this did fix the issue for us.

Unfortunately, when I try to download the update it says it doesn't apply.  EXTREMELY frustrating as I use Publisher all the time!  This issue really needs to fixed NOW!

I have installed this update and the version of Office never changed. Next step?

I have installed the update but Publisher is still slow. I am getting these reports from multiple end users. I cannot keep wasting my time installing 2013, uninstalling 2013 and installing back to 2010.

MS, I see that you have not updated us since June 12th, 2013; please keep us updated.

Are you certain the update is installed?

Do you have Home and Student? If so, install all updates from Windows Update.

From http://support.microsoft.com/KB/2810014:

How to obtain and install the update

Note This update applies to versions of Office 2013 that were installed by using Microsoft Windows Installer (MSI). This update does not apply to versions of Office 2013 that were installed by using Click-to-Run.

To identify how Office 2013 was installed, follow these steps:

1. Start an Office 2013 application, such as Microsoft Word 2013.
2. On the File menu, click Account.
3. If Office 2013 was installed by using Click-to-Run, an Update Options item is displayed. If Office 2013 was installed by using MSI, the Update Options item is not displayed.

The following files are available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:

Note The update for Office Home and Student 2013 RT is available only from Windows Update.

32-bit Download the 32-bit update package now.       (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=5aa77ffb-e03f-4e3e-b03e-1ee268a464b7)    
64-bit Download the 64-bit update package now.

      (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=7e3e306c-da3c-48a9-bebb-62cf5b25cdc1)    

How to determine whether the update is installed

This update contains the files that are listed in the following tables.
32-bit

File name	File version	File size	Date	Time
Msores.dll	15.0.4505.1507	61,042,368	16-May-2013	14:13

64-bit

File name	File version	File size	Date	Time
Msores.dll	15.0.4505.1507	61,042,368	16-May-2013	14:15
Msores.dll.x86	15.0.4505.1507	61,042,368	16-May-2013	14:19

Office Home and Student 2013 RT

File name	File version	File size	Date	Time
Msores.dll	15.0.4505.1507	61,043,648	16-May-2013	14:13

Well, I downloaded the update via the link that was supplied and it ran through the installation without any errors. What else needs to be done?

Our licensing is enterprise volume and the update does not show up in my WSUS server.

As you can see below, the version number on Office 2013 is still 15.0.4420.1017 and the update is installed.