First, we’ll take a look at how to fix Excel when it keeps crashing regardless of what files you’re opening. Additionally, we’ll walk you through the steps of getting Excel to work again if it crashes or freezes when you’re opening a specific file.
1. Update Microsoft Office
Microsoft constantly releases updates for the Office pack to launch new features or to fix bugs. If it’s been a while since the last update, an Office glitch might be responsible for Excel crashing or freezing.
Follow these steps to update Microsoft Office:
Launch the Microsoft Store. Click the three-dot menu icon from the top-right corner and select Downloads and updates. From the Available updates list, select Office. Click the Update button.
How to Update Office Without Using the Microsoft Store
Sometimes, the Microsoft Store app doesn’t work properly and you might run into all sorts of issues such as the app not opening or updates not downloading.
If this is happening to you when trying to get Excel to stop crashing, we have good news. You can update Office without using Microsoft Store as long as you can launch an Office app.
Open Excel or a different Office app. Select File and head to Account. Click Update Options > Update Now.
Once Windows installs the update, it will relaunch Excel or any other open Office app. If you get the You’re up to date! message, your problem isn’t provoked by an Office bug, so you can move on to the next solutions.
Note: If you notice that multiple Microsoft apps are malfunctioning, check if you’re using the latest Windows version.
2. Open Excel in Safe Mode
When launching Excel in safe mode, the Office app will start without some of its features and settings, such as add-ins. While add-ins are great for expanding Office applications for multiple platforms, sometimes they cause the apps to malfunction.
To open Excel in Safe mode, press and hold Ctrl and open an Excel file. In the pop-up window, confirm you want to start Excel in safe mode. If Excel stops crashing or freezing after you’ve opened it in safe mode, the problem might be caused by an installed add-in.
In this case, you should disable Excel add-ins:
Open the File menu and select Options. From the left-hand menu, click Add-ins. Open the drop-down menu next to Manage, select COM Add-ins, and click Go. Uncheck each add-in and click OK.
Close Excel and open it as usual. If it stops crashing, go through the steps again and re-enable the add-ins one by one, so you can determine which add-in is causing the problem. Once you find the problematic add-in, you can permanently remove it.
3. Check Excel’s Settings
If you’re experiencing high CPU usage, Excel might crash due to insufficient resources. This usually happens if you’ve added animations to your spreadsheet. To fix it, you should disable hardware graphics acceleration.
Besides keeping Excel from freezing or crashing, it will improve the overall performance. Here is how you can do it:
In Excel, head to File > Options. From the left pane, click Advanced. From the Display section, check Disable hardware graphics acceleration. Click OK and restart Excel.
4. Repair Microsoft Office
If updating the app and checking its settings didn’t fix Excel, it’s time to repair Microsoft Office.
Press Win + I to bring up Windows Settings. Select Apps. From the apps list, select Microsoft Office and click Modify. Select Quick Repair > Repair. Click Repair.
Once Windows notifies you it finished the repairing process, launch Excel. If you run into the same problem, go through the above steps, but this time, select Online repair. Windows will perform a more detailed repair and will get any missing, damaged, or corrupt files from Microsoft servers.
Excel Crashes When Opening a Specific File
Excel might run into issues when opening specific files. Especially if those files are old with multiple authors or if they are stored online or on external storage devices. Fortunately, there are a few fixes that you can try.
Save the File on Your Computer
If you’re opening the file from DropBox or other online storage alternatives, Excel might freeze, especially if you’re experiencing connectivity issues or slow internet speeds. The best way to avoid it is to save the file locally before opening it.
Check if the File Is Generated by a Different App
Even if you’ve checked the file extension, the spreadsheet could’ve been created with a different app. In this case, some features might not work in Excel. Also, there’s a chance the file wasn’t generated correctly, so you should open the file with the same app or look for a different file version.
Check the File’s Content
Excel files might accumulate a lot of data over time, especially if you keep replacing cells content instead of creating a new spreadsheet.
Additionally, you might get a work-related file and have no idea about its content. If the file had multiple authors, each of them added its own formatting rules, styles, objects, and so on. Here are a few things you should do to clear some of the unnecessary data:
Clear formatting rules. In the Home tab, go to Conditional Formatting > Clear Rules > Clear Rules from Entire Sheet. Remove formatting styles. From the Home tab, expand the Clear menu. There, select Clear formats. Remove objects. Even if you’re not seeing any objects, the file could have a lot of objects with 0 height and width. To remove them, click Find & Select > Select Objects. Then, click Clear > Clear All or simply press Delete on your keyboard.
Get Excel Working Again on Windows
Hopefully, you can now edit your spreadsheets with no interruptions. Sometimes a small update is enough to fix the problem and other times you might be dealing with an incorrect generated file and there’s not much you can do.
To make sure you’re not losing any work if Excel crashes again, create a backup for your important files.
