Font Selection Takes Too Long

Summary: If your Microsoft Word XP font selection takes too long, here’s how to optimize this and speed it up.

When you click on the font combo box in the toolbar, Word XP lets you choose a different font in which to type. While providing you the name of the various fonts on your system Word XP also shows you what the fonts look like. Although this can be a handy feature – who remembers the differences between Arial and Helvetica, anyway? – if you have a slow system or a lot of fonts, it can take some time for Word XP to show you the entire list of fonts.

Luckily, there is a way to disable this feature, letting you select from a list of fonts without Word XP actually previewing what the fonts look like. Then, you can just start typing in a selected font to see how it appears.

1. Choose “Tools”, then “Customize”.
2. When the “Customize” multi-tabbed dialog box appears, choose “Options”.
3. Uncheck “List font names in their font”.
4. Press “Close”.