Display or Portion of the Display Flashes Black When Using Office Desktop Applications

Problem: When using Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc… the screen or a portion of the screen flashes back.

Cause: The Microsoft 365 desktop application is attempting to manage the Hardware Graphics Acceleration instead of allowing Windows to manage Hardware Graphics Acceleration.

Solution: Disable Hardware Graphics Acceleration within the M365 Application

1. Open the application you are having issues with (Word, Excel, etc…)
2. In the upper left corner, click on File.
3. On the left menu, select Options at the bottom of the menu.
4. In the pop-up windows, select Advanced in the left menu (Step 1 in the graphic below)
5. Scroll down to the Display section (Step 2 in the graphic below)
6. Check Disable hardware graphics acceleration (Step 3 in the graphic below)
7. Select OK in the popup window, close the application, and reopen.

If you still encounter the issue after applying the steps above, please open a support ticket.