How to Disable the Typing Animation in Office 2016 or Office 2013

Talk about placing style over substance! Office 2016 and 2013 feature a uniquely annoying typing animation which makes letters appears as if they're sliding under the cursor as you type. If you're a fast typist, this animation is particularly annoying because it feels like the animation is a little slower than you are. Fortunately, even though Microsoft doesn't include a menu option to disable Office's typing animation, you can turn it off by following a few simple steps.

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1. Open the Registry Editor. You can open it by hitting Windows + R and then typing "regedit" into the Run box and hitting OK.

2. Navigate to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common registry key. Replace the 16.0 with 15.0 if you are using Office 2013. 

3. Navigate to the Graphics registry key under Common, if it exists.

If a Graphics key does not exist, right click in the pane and select New then Key. A new registry key named New Key #1 appears.

Rename the new key to "Graphics" and then open it.

4. Create a new DWORD value under Graphics. You do that by selecting the Graphics key, right clicking in the right window pane and selecting New and then DWORD Value.

5. Name the DWORD Value "DisableAnimations."

6. Give DisableAnimations a Value data of 1. You can assign this value by double clicking on DisableAnimations, entering 1 in the Value data field and clicking OK.

7. Close the Registry Editor and reboot.

Avram Piltch
Online Editorial Director
The official Geeks Geek, as his weekly column is titled, Avram Piltch has guided the editorial and production of Laptopmag.com since 2007. With his technical knowledge and passion for testing, Avram programmed several of LAPTOP's real-world benchmarks, including the LAPTOP Battery Test. He holds a master's degree in English from NYU.