Microsoft Excel freezes

The native Excel Inspect Workbook tool can help you fix various issues in your Excel workbook. Before running it, make sure to make a backup of your workbook and save the latest changes, to avoid data loss. To run the tool, follow the steps below:

1. Open the workbook;
2. Click on File and then on (Info);
3. Click on the button preceeding Inspect Workbook and then on Inspect Document;
4. Select all the applicable conditions in the window and click on Inspect;

If Microsoft Excel freezes when you try to paste file in your sheet, it is possible that the formatting of the text you are trying to paste is causing the delay. All you need to do is to paste the text in a simple text editor first (e.g. Notepad, TextEdit, etc.), copy it from the simple text editor and then paste it to the excel column.

Microsoft Excel is much more than cells and columns. It encompasses a wide range of tasks and processes. Maybe the computer's antivirus software blocks Microsoft Excel as a whole, or one of its processes, as it perceives it as a threat. Or, maybe the antivirus runs a full system scan, which can be consuming your computer's resources, especially if you have many files stored on it.

To check if this is the case, open the antivirus software and check if it's really blocking Excel for some reason. If it does block it, unblock it, but make sure to investigate first why Excel was blocked in the first place.

Even though the benefits of the "Live Preview" option are great, sometimes it can slow you down, by causing Excel to hang. Try to disable the Live Preview option, at least while working in large Excel files. To disable the Live Preview option, follow the steps below:

1. Go to File and click on Options;
2. Click on General and then on the check box next to Live Preview;
3. Click on OK, to save the changes.

According to users, special characters like, for example, Ã can slow down your Microsoft Excel experience, especially if the workbook is longer.

Replace all the special characters, using Excel's "find and replace" command, with their counterparts. For example, you can replace Ã with A.

If the text you are trying to paste has a rich formatting (e.g. different sized red letters, contains code invisible for bare eyes), it may cause Excel to freeze, as it will try to process the data. In this case, all you need to do is to paste the text as plain text. You can paste it as plain text in the following way:

1. Copy the text chunk;
2. Open the Excel sheet and right-click a cell;
3. Select the Match Destination Formatting icon, located under Paste Options: 

As is the case with any piece of software, maybe you have a bad (poorly coded) Excel add-in installed. It is possible that such an add-in is slowing Microsoft Excel down. To check if this is the case, start Excel without add-ins, i.e. in "safe mode" to see if you will have the same issue. Follow the steps below, to start Microsoft Excel in safe mode:

1. Open the start menu and type Run;
2. Type Excel /safe in the run box and hit enter;
3. Check if the issue persists;
   
   

If the issue is resolved while excel is in safe mode, follow the steps below:

1. Click on File, select Options and then on Add-ins;
2. Select COM Add-ins and click on Go.
3. Clear all the check boxes in the list that will appear and click on OK.
4. Close Excel;
5. Open Excel.
6. Start enabling the add-ins one by one, and restart Excel after every add-in, until you identify the broken Add-in;
7. Uninstall the broken Add-in(s)
   
   

Note: If the issue persists, check out the other solutions.

Maybe the issue that causes Excel to freeze has been resolved in the latest update released by Microsoft. Or, if you have updated your computer's operating system to the latest version, maybe it has compatibility issues with the potentially outdated Excel version. Check for updates to Microsoft Excel, and if updates are available, download and install them.

An article by Microsoft suggested that there was an issue between Microsoft Office and Windows 10 Accessibility modules, for which the Microsoft team released updates:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2013_release-excel/excel-filtering-problemmatic-after-windows-10/f6f34982-d4e0-47b3-bd37-772fd51e0ff3

You can check for and apply updates to Microsoft Excel, by following the steps below:

1. Go to File and click on Account;
2. Click on Update Options and select Update Now, located under Product Information.

On older versions of Microsoft Office:

1. Go to File and click on Help;
2. Click on Check for updates.
   
   

Note: Feel free to check the article by Microsoft, explaining how to install office updates.

Many operations are being performed by Excel at the same time. For example, while you work on the current workbook, another workbook is being printed in the background. Sometimes, especially if there are many activities involving Excel, and you open a huge workbook, Excel may freeze. If Excel is in use, this information should be displayed in the horizontal status bar at the bottom of the Excel window.

There is not much you can do in this case, but to allow the current process finish its job, before you attempt other actions. Alternatively, you can stop all the other actions.

The repair option for Office programs can resolve issues with Excel and other programs part of the Microsoft Office Suite, such as issues with responsiveness, hanging or freezing, by automatically repairing errors in the Excel files.

For detailed instructions on how to repair Microsoft Excel and other programs, feel free to check this guide on Microsoft.

Excel is designed to process a large volume of data. However, if the range is too large, and on top of that there is formatting, formulae, links between cells, processing the workbooks would take more time. In most scenarios, especially if the Excel file is larger, all you need to do is to wait for a couple of minutes for the sheet and Excel to load fully, before you start making changes in it and saving them. It simply may need more time to process the data in the spreadsheet, especially if the spreadsheet is a large one.

With every new versions, different pieces of software become more and more demanding, and eventually, your computer won't be able to cope up with the requirements. In such a situation, you need to consider buying a new computer. The current Excel system requirements are:

For more details you can check this article by Microsoft.

Note: Consider replacing your computer only if it is older than 5 years. If you bought your computer recently, and Excel freezes, check out the other solutions.

It can be quite normal for Microsoft Excel to freeze if you attempt to copy and paste a column with 1000+ rows, in one go, especially if the sheet is larger and contains more data, and formulas. Try to copy and paste content in small chunks, instead.

The Show Insert Options buttons and Show Paste Options button when content is pasted can sometimes cause a delay, especially when content with rich text is pasted. What you can do is to disable these options via Excel settings and check if that would improve the situation. To disable the above-mentioned options, follow the steps below:

1. Open Microsoft Excel;
2. Click on File and then on Options;
3. Click on Advanced;
4. Untick the check boxes next to The Show Insert Options buttons and Show Paste Options button when content is pasted;
5. Click the OK button to save the changes.

Maybe Excel didn't freeze. Maybe it is just waiting for your confirmation to proceed, by you clicking on an OK button of a dialog window that might have appeared and is "behind" the current Excel window. All you need to do, in this case, is to minimize Excel and try to find, and later on, close the window.

Aside from improving your excel workbook, conditional formatting can sometimes be a real burden, especially if it isn't necessary. In order for Excel to be faster, it is recommended to use it only if it is really necessary. To manage conditional formatting options, follow the steps below:

1. Open Excel;
2. Select cells (if you want to remove formatting from certain cells, not from the entire spreadsheet);
3. Go to the Home tab and click on Conditional formatting, under Styles;
4. Click on the Clear rules option which is the right one for you, but proceed with caution;
   
   

Make sure to make a backup of the Excel workbook, before removing conditional formatting, to avoid damaging the file, by removing conditional formatting from the wrong cell(s).

Note: You may want to create a macro that will do what the conditional formats do, therefore apply conditional formatting easily.

If a cell, or an entire sheet is protected, you won't be able to paste in the excel file or the cell until you "unprotect" it. You can unprotect it in more ways, including asking the owner to unprotecting it, copy-pasting the entire content from the protected file to a new "unprotected" one, or with a piece of software designed for unprotecting sheets. To unprotect via Excel,

1. Open the file with Excel;
2. Click on File > (Info) > Protect Workbook;
3. Enter the password to unprotect it.

Like all the other processes and software, Microsoft Excel requires free hard drive space to function properly. All you need to do is to free up some space, by removing files you don't need.

Feel free to check out the running out of disk space / no space left guide, to learn more ways of how to free up space.

This problem can be caused by the printer itself. It is said that Excel checks the default printer driver when you save or close an excel file. To resolve the problem, do the following:

1. Go to the start menu, type Devices and Printers and click on Devices and Printers, once they appear in the search results;
2. Right-click on the printer and then select 'Remove Device;'
3. Reinstall the printer's driver (preferrably the latest version).
   
   

Note: Feel free to check the don't know how to download and install drivers guide, if you are not sure how to download and install drivers.

Excel can freeze when closing, due to many calculations. What you can do is to disable the When calculating this workbook options. To do that, follow the steps below:

1. Open Excel;
2. Click on File and select Options;
3. Click on Advanced;
4. Uncheck the Update links to other documents option;
5. Click on OK.

Maybe Excel freezes because something (a program, a bug in the operating system, temp files, cache files, junk files, etc.) is slowing down your computer, by (over)using its resources. To fix this issue, you need to optimize the computer. Optimization hacks include:

• Removing unnecessary data;
• Clearing temp files, and cached data;
• Uninstalling programs you don't use;
• Reducing the number of programs that start automatically when you turn on your computer.
  
  

Feel free to check out the computer is slow guide, which will help you optimize your computer to use its full potential.

If the Excel workbook freezes while filtering, it is possible that some of the formats you applied need more time to realign to the new scenario (i.e. filter). Try to clear formats first and then check if it will make a difference:

1. Open an Excel workbook and click on the Home tab;
2. Click on the eraser icon under the Editing options group;
3. Click on Clear Formats.
   
   

Note: Make sure to make a backup of the Excel workbook, before clearing formats, to neutralize any unpleasant and unexpected changes to the file.

Sorting via the Sort window, found in the Data tab may be all you need to do to fix the issue with Excel not responding when attempting to filter columns where cells are colored, as it follows a different approach for organizing cells in an Excel workbook. To use the Sort option, highlight the column, click on Sort, and select your sorting preferences.