Hi there,The spinning wait cursor, or pinwheel as you stated, is an indication that the program isn't responding to system commands or events. This usually means the program has frozen and is likely not to return. You will need to force it to quit. Easiest way to do this is to hold down the control key and click the Word icon in the dock. And this word template also supports to make changes, such as theme, color and effect. Software for Creating Wheel Diagram Edraw Max gets more popular with its interface features and ease of use. Its layout closely mimics Microsoft's Office which makes users get used to it quickly with such a familiar interface. Open the folder, search for a file named- 'com.microsoft.Word.plist,' and move the file to the desktop. Now, try opening the Word file and see if the problem persists. If it does, then move the file to its original location and move on to the next step. Exit every Microsoft program running on your Mac and click on the Word option in the Apple Menu.
If you search for ways to stop the spinning wheel on Mac, the general advice is to use Force Quit to close unresponsive apps. However, this solution does not work if you need to save the document you’ve been working on for the past hour.
If the Word or Excel suddenly hung up on the spinning wheel, the options to save the work are limited. The best course is to close other running applications in order to save Mac resources and then wait for the unresponsive app to come back.
Let’s review the steps one by one and then see what we can do to avoid this problem in the future.
Wait for the App to Finish Internal Work
When Does a Spinning Wheel Appear?
According to the Apple documentation, the spinning ball appears in two cases:
- Appears when items are loading. You can still move the pointer elsewhere.
- Wait cursor. Appears when a delay is more than four seconds
macOS has a process called WindowServer – the part of the OS that interacts between the applications and display. It is responsible for all drawings on the Mac display. Every app that needs to display anything on the screen communicates with WindowServer.
When a WindowServer receives a lot of requests, it shows the spinning wheel to indicate that the event cannot be displayed at the time. If the wait is longer than 4 seconds, the app will appear as non-responsive.
So, what does it mean in practice?
Wait for several minutes. Do not use Force Quit because you will lose all work you did since the last save.
In most cases, waiting is the best way to avoid losing work, when Mac freezes.
How long? It varies. If I were, I would just plug in the MacBook to the power, keep the lid open and go make myself a cup of coffee.
If the document is too large or contains external sources and there is not much RAM on your MacBook, the spinning wheel may go away by itself.
Close Applications Running on Background
This includes the applications you are running concurrently and applications running on the background.
If you are using editing a particularly big document in Word or Excel, it makes sense to close all other applications.
Clicking on ‘x’ for each application does not unload the app from the memory. Instead, quit unnecessary apps either from the menu or by using the Command+Q key combination. Make sure to save the work done in those apps before closing them.
Then start Activity Monitor and click on the CPU tab. If the system CPU is consistently higher than 50%, even when there is no other activity, it may indicate that it’s time to upgrade the CPU. CPU upgrades are also not available in the latest MacBook models.
However, occasional wheel spinning is ok when running CPU heavy applications like editing videos, especially large ones. It’s only a problem when a high CPU is sustained over a long period.
Mac Spinning Wheel Microsoft Word
Enable Auto Save Options
Imagine if you didn’t have to worry about losing work even if the Mac gets frozen or even reboots. The best to achieve such peace of mind is by turning on an autosave option if the app has one.
Fortunately, for Microsoft Office users the feature is available. Here are the instructions for the Word app:
- Click on the Word menu, and then click on Preferences.
- Under Output and Sharing, click on the Save button.
- Under Save Options enable “Turn on Autosave by default” option
- Set every X minutes to 1, so that Word saves changes every minute
The instructions for Excel are similar, but the Save button is located under Sharing and Privacy.
Reinstall the App
If you keep getting the spinning wheel with your, then removing it first and installing it again may fix it.
If the app comes with Uninstall utility it’s best to use one. If not, use a specialized app, such as CleanMyMac or AppCleaner.
Upgrade Mac Hardware
The waits on any computer happen in three cases: when the load is currently too high (temporary issues), when the computer cannot handle a regular load (requires hardware upgrade) or when the hardware is failing (needs repair).
Recently I received an email from Ellen S. in which she described that she’s constantly seeing color wheels when using the latest version of Final Cut Pro. She has an older MacBook Air with minimal specs.
Unfortunately, her laptop was not strong enough to run such a heavy app as Final Cut Pro. So, basically, she has three options:
- Upgrade MacBook. She can’t upgrade the CPU, but adding more memory could help significantly.
- Buy a new MacBook, preferably Pro.
- Downgrade the version of the app or use another app that required fewer resources. Usually, newer software versions require more resources, so by installing the older version, she could possibly reduce the load.
Clean the Primary Storage
Generally speaking, the disk becomes slow and unresponsive when the number of disk operations exceeds the possible disk throughput. It is very unlikely that you will be running disk heavy applications on MacBooks for a long time.
Occasional disk bottlenecks shouldn’t take too long even when they result in a spinning wheel appearance.
But there are some rules regarding improving disk performance:
External devices
If you have an external DVD drive, the applications that access it, e.g., movies, can run as fast the drive allows. Normally, DVD drives are significantly slower than RAM and even hard drives.
If you see a spinning wheel while the app is accessing the DVD, just wait until it finishes and gets back to the normal state.
Permissions problems
Finally, waits can be caused by restricted permissions. If the files that the application is trying to access internally are not allowed to be open (because permissions got messed up), the application gets stuck.
Fortunately, this particular issue was fixed in OSX El Capitan, but if you are still on the older version of macOS, it makes sense to check the permissions.
What’s Next?
Sometimes you can’t force quit a bad app because the entire Mac gets frozen. The only solution, in this case, is a hard reboot (link).
If it happens once in a while, then most likely there is nothing wrong with your computer. However, if it keeps happening too often, then perhaps you need to try more drastic measures, described in another post.
You can force quit applications on a Mac to avoid freezing and the dreaded rainbow wheel.- The force quit feature on Mac is an easy way to shut down troublesome applications in just a few steps.
- Applications on your Mac will occasionally stop responding and lock up if your computer is overburdened.
- There are a few quick steps to force quit an application without waiting for the rainbow wheel to stop or for your screen to unfreeze.
Mac users will tell you there are few things more frustrating than the spinning rainbow wheel - also known as the wait cursor, which signifies your computer is struggling to handle its current tasks.
When an application isn't responding how it normally would, you could wait until your screen unfreezes. Sometimes, though, you don't know how long that will take. The simplest thing to do when faced with the spinning wheel is to force quit the frozen application.
Mac Spinning Wheel Microsoft Word Download
Force quit is a feature that effectively shuts down the unresponsive application. However, when using the force quit feature it is important to know that if your work isn't saved, you may lose it when force quitting a frozen application like Microsoft Word or any web browser.
How to force quit on Mac from the Apple menu
- First, identify the app that is unresponsive. If you have multiple apps open, the simplest way to indicate the unresponsive app is to look at the cursor. If the cursor looks normal, the app is still responsive. If the cursor resembles the rainbow spinning wheel, the app is unresponsive.
- Once you've identified the unresponsive app, locate the taskbar at the top of your screen. In the far left, select the Apple logo to access the dropdown menu.
In the dropdown menu, select 'Force Quit...'
Click on 'Force Quit....'
A new window will pop up with all the applications you have open on your Mac. Select the application you wish to force quit. If you want to force quit more than one application, use the Command to select multiple.
Force quit the application that is unresponsive.
Next, select Force Quit. A pop-up will remind you that any unsaved changes won't be saved.
Select 'Force Quit.'
How to force quit on Mac with a keyboard shortcut
If you have trouble accessing the Apple icon in the taskbar, use the keyboard shortcut Option + Command + Esc and then follow the steps above.
How to force quit on Mac using Activity Monitor
A Mac's Activity Monitor is an easy way to locate troublesome applications, see how much energy or CPU power they are using, and force them to quit.
- First, launch Activity Monitor. You can do this by using the Spotlight feature (Command + Space) or by going to Finder > Applications > Activity Monitor.
- Once Activity Monitor is open, find and select the app you want to force quit.
After you've selected the app, select the stop icon (resembling an octagon with an 'X' in the middle).
Click on the 'X' icon.
A pop-up window will ask if you are sure you want to quit this process. Select 'Force Quit' from the list of options. The app will then close.
Click on 'Force Quit.'
What to do if force quit isn't working on a Mac
The force quit feature is the simplest way to shut down faulty applications, but sometimes you can't even do that. If force quit isn't an option and your screen is completely frozen, restart your Mac.
Mac Spinning Wheel Microsoft Word Free
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