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Speeding up OpenOffice.org

2007.05.01

People often complain about the performance of OpenOffice.org. This is especially true on Linux. While you're never going to turn OOo into a svelt application, a few simple tweaks have it launching for the first time in about five seconds, and under two in subsequent starts on my IBM ThinkPad T60. Here's what I've done:

  • Disable Java (NOTE: Also turns disables wizards and a few other "non-essentials")
    • Tools- > Java -> Uncheck "Use a Java Runtime Environment"
  • Tweak memory settings (This made a huge difference with no perceived down-side)
    • Tools -> Memory ->
      • Graphics Cache: 25MB
      • Memory Per Object: 2.0 MB
      • Remove from memory after: 00:10
      • Number of Objects: 20
This made a huge difference for me. Disabling Java didn't even seem to disable OOo Base. I'm not really sure what you lose, but it's nothing that I've found under light use.

The best part is that these tweaks should help equally under Windows and even Mac OSX's NeoOffice.