Office Performance Issues

How to Fix Word 2021 Screen Redrawing Problems While Typing

Emma Brown Oct 13, 2026 869 views

Question details

The user is experiencing display glitches where Word 2021 fails to refresh the screen while typing, causing text to become temporarily invisible.

How to Fix Word 2021 Screen Redrawing Problems While Typing

Product: Microsoft Word 2021
Device & OS: Windows
Scenario: Typing text into a document in Microsoft Word 2021.
Observed behavior: Parts of the document fail to redraw or update, making newly typed text invisible until the application window is manually resized.

Before you start

Save your current document and ensure you have administrative privileges on your computer, as you may need to adjust system graphics settings or update display drivers.

Solution 1Recommended

Update or Roll Back Display Drivers

Outdated or incompatible graphics drivers (such as certain AMD versions) often cause display rendering bugs in Office applications.

Graphics rendering relies heavily on the communication between Microsoft Office and your computer's display drivers. A recent driver update or an outdated graphics driver may introduce bugs that prevent Word from properly redrawing the screen.

Open Device Manager

Right-click the Windows Start button or press Win + X, and select Device Manager from the quick access menu.

Locate Display Adapters

Expand the 'Display adapters' section by clicking the arrow next to it to reveal your installed graphics card.

Update or Roll Back Driver

Right-click your graphics card and select 'Properties'. Navigate to the 'Driver' tab and select either 'Update Driver' to search for newer software, or 'Roll Back Driver' if a recent update caused the problem.

System Restart Required: You will typically need to restart your computer for display driver changes to take full effect.

Solution 2

Modify Hardware Graphics Settings in Windows

Since Office 2021 no longer has a dedicated in-app toggle for hardware acceleration, you must manage it through Windows graphics settings.

Solution 3

Collect Logs and Contact Microsoft Support

If the issue persists in a clean profile and after driver updates, it may be a known rendering bug requiring an Office update or patch.

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Try WPS Office to Avoid Display and Rendering Glitches

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my text disappear while typing in Word 2021?

This is typically caused by a screen redrawing failure, where the application's graphics rendering engine miscommunicates with your computer's display driver, preventing the screen from updating visually as you type.

Can a corrupted user profile cause Word redrawing issues?

While user profile corruption can cause various Office anomalies, screen redrawing and graphics rendering bugs are often system-wide and persist even when testing in a completely clean Windows user profile.

How do I disable hardware graphics acceleration in Office 2021?

Unlike older versions of Office, Word 2021 removes the direct 'Disable hardware graphics acceleration' checkbox in the Options menu. You must now manage graphics performance per app through Windows Display > Graphics settings or via specific registry key modifications.

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