How to Disable Hardware Graphics Acceleration in Word

If Word becomes sluggish, freezes, or displays visual artifacts when you scroll or edit documents, the hardware graphics acceleration feature may be the cause. This feature uses your computer’s GPU to render text and images more smoothly, but on older graphics cards or incompatible drivers, it can cause performance problems instead. This article explains what hardware graphics acceleration is and provides the exact steps to turn it off in Word. You will also learn what to do if the option is grayed out or if problems persist after disabling it.

What Hardware Graphics Acceleration Does in Word

Hardware graphics acceleration offloads the rendering of text, images, and page elements from the CPU to the GPU. This is intended to improve performance when working with large documents, high-resolution images, or complex layouts. In theory, the GPU can handle these tasks faster and more efficiently than the CPU alone.

In practice, the feature can cause problems on systems with older GPUs, outdated graphics drivers, or integrated graphics chips that lack sufficient memory. Symptoms include:

• Word freezes or becomes unresponsive when scrolling.
• Text flickers or appears blurry during editing.
• Images fail to load or display as colored blocks.
• Word crashes when opening documents with many embedded objects.

Disabling hardware graphics acceleration forces Word to use the CPU for all rendering tasks. This often resolves the symptoms at the cost of slightly slower redraw performance on very complex documents.

Steps to Disable Hardware Graphics Acceleration in Word

Follow these steps to turn off hardware graphics acceleration in Word for Windows. The procedure is the same in Word 2016, Word 2019, Word 2021, and Word for Microsoft 365.

1. Open Word
   Launch Word and open any document. A blank document works fine.
2. Go to File > Options
   Click the File tab in the top-left corner, then click Options at the bottom of the left-hand menu. The Word Options dialog box opens.
3. Select the Advanced category
   In the left pane of the Word Options dialog, click Advanced. This page contains many settings related to editing, display, and printing.
4. Scroll to the Display section
   Scroll down the Advanced options page until you see the Display section. It is about two-thirds of the way down.
5. Check the box to disable hardware graphics acceleration
   In the Display section, check the box labeled Disable hardware graphics acceleration. The checkbox text may read Disable hardware graphics acceleration or Disable hardware graphics acceleration for this device depending on your version of Word.
6. Click OK and restart Word
   Click OK to close the Word Options dialog. Close all open Word windows and relaunch Word. The change takes effect only after a full restart.

After restarting, test the document that previously caused problems. If the freezing or flickering has stopped, the fix is successful.

What to Do If the Option Is Grayed Out or Missing

In some versions of Word, the Disable hardware graphics acceleration checkbox may be grayed out or completely absent. This usually happens because the setting is managed by Group Policy in a corporate environment or because Word detects that your system does not support hardware acceleration. In either case, you have two alternatives.

Use the Registry Editor to Force the Change

If the checkbox is unavailable, you can disable hardware graphics acceleration via the Windows Registry. This method works in all versions of Word and Windows. Be careful: editing the registry incorrectly can cause system problems. Back up the registry before proceeding.

1. Close Word completely
   Make sure no Word processes are running. Check Task Manager if needed.
2. Open Registry Editor
   Press Windows + R, type regedit, and press Enter. Click Yes if prompted by User Account Control.
3. Navigate to the Word Graphics key
   Go to:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Graphics
   If the Graphics key does not exist, right-click the Common key, select New > Key, and name it Graphics.
4. Create a DWORD value
   Right-click in the right pane, select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value, and name it DisableHardwareAcceleration.
5. Set the value data to 1
   Double-click the new DisableHardwareAcceleration value, set Value data to 1, and click OK. A value of 1 disables acceleration; 0 enables it.
6. Close Registry Editor and restart Word
   Close the registry editor, then launch Word. The setting is now active.

If Word Still Has Issues After Disabling Acceleration

Disabling hardware graphics acceleration resolves most GPU-related problems, but it is not a cure-all. If Word continues to freeze, crash, or display visual glitches, consider these additional steps.

Update Your Graphics Driver

Outdated or corrupted graphics drivers are a common cause of display problems in Word. Visit your GPU manufacturer’s website (NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel) and download the latest driver for your model. Alternatively, use Windows Update to check for optional driver updates. After updating, restart your computer and test Word again.

Repair Office Installation

A corrupted Office installation can cause persistent issues even after disabling acceleration. To repair Office:

1. Open Settings > Apps > Installed apps (Windows 11) or Control Panel > Programs and Features (Windows 10).
2. Find Microsoft 365 or Office in the list, click the three dots (or right-click), and select Change.
3. Choose Quick Repair first. If that does not help, run Online Repair, which requires an internet connection and takes longer.

Disable Add-ins

Third-party add-ins can conflict with Word’s rendering engine. Disable all add-ins to test:

1. Go to File > Options > Add-ins.
2. At the bottom, next to Manage, select COM Add-ins and click Go.
3. Uncheck all add-ins and click OK. Restart Word. If the problem stops, re-enable add-ins one by one to find the culprit.

Hardware Graphics Acceleration: Enabled vs Disabled in Word

Item	Enabled	Disabled
Rendering engine	GPU (graphics card)	CPU (processor)
Scroll performance on large documents	Faster on modern GPUs	Slightly slower, but stable
Visual artifacts or flickering	Common on older or incompatible GPUs	Rare
CPU usage	Lower	Higher
Best for	Systems with dedicated GPU and updated drivers	Systems with integrated GPU, older hardware, or driver issues

Disabling hardware graphics acceleration is a safe first step when Word displays visual problems. The setting does not affect document content or formatting. You can re-enable it later if your GPU drivers are updated or if you upgrade your hardware.

After disabling acceleration, you can now work in Word without freezing or flickering. If problems persist, update your graphics drivers or run an Office repair. As an advanced tip, you can also disable hardware acceleration for all Office apps simultaneously by setting the registry key DisableHardwareAcceleration under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Graphics to 1; this affects Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.