How to Fix Excel Unresponsive When Accessing Printer
Question details
The user needs to resolve an issue where Microsoft Excel freezes or stops responding when attempting to print or select a printer.
- Product
- Microsoft Excel
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Selecting a printer or attempting to print a spreadsheet from within the application.
- Observed behavior
- Excel displays an 'Accessing Printer' or 'Not Responding' message and subsequently becomes completely unresponsive.
Ensure your printer is powered on, properly connected to your network or computer, and that there are no pending documents stuck in the Windows print queue before modifying Excel settings.
Change Your Default Printer to a Generic Virtual Printer
Switching your default Windows printer to a virtual printer like 'Microsoft Print to PDF' can help determine if the issue is caused by a specific physical printer driver conflict.
Excel constantly communicates with your default printer to determine page layouts and margins. If the driver for your default printer is corrupted or responding too slowly over a network, it will cause Excel to hang during the 'Accessing Printer' phase.
Click the Start button, select the gear icon to open Settings, and navigate to 'Devices' > 'Printers & scanners'.
Scroll down and uncheck the box that says 'Let Windows manage my default printer' to ensure your manual selection remains permanent.
Select 'Microsoft Print to PDF' or 'Microsoft XPS Document Writer' from the list of printers, then click 'Manage' and select 'Set as default'.
Open your Excel workbook and attempt to open the Print menu. If it no longer freezes, your original printer's driver needs to be updated or reinstalled.
Start Excel in Safe Mode to Disable Add-ins
Booting Excel in Safe Mode disables all third-party add-ins, which is useful for identifying if an extension is causing the printing mechanism to freeze.
Update and Repair Microsoft Office
If changing the printer and disabling add-ins does not work, repairing the entire Office suite can fix corrupted internal files responsible for the print spooler communication.
Try WPS Office for Seamless and Crash-Free Printing
If Microsoft Excel continues to freeze or display 'Not Responding' errors when trying to print, consider switching to WPS Office. It is a highly optimized, lightweight alternative that perfectly handles complex spreadsheets without system hang-ups or driver conflicts.
- 1. Download and Install: Download WPS Office Free from the official website and follow the quick installation process.
- 2. Open Your Spreadsheet: Right-click your existing Excel file, select 'Open with', and choose WPS Spreadsheets.
- 3. Print Without Freezing: Click on 'Menu' in the top-left corner, go to 'Print', and easily send your document to your chosen printer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does Excel freeze only when I select a specific network printer?
This generally happens due to communication timeouts. If the network printer is offline, or if its driver is severely outdated, Excel waits indefinitely for a response from the print spooler, pushing the application into a 'Not Responding' state.
Will restarting the Windows Print Spooler fix the Excel printer issue?
Yes, restarting the Print Spooler can clear stuck printing jobs that cause Excel to freeze. You can do this by opening the 'Services' app in Windows, locating 'Print Spooler', right-clicking it, and selecting 'Restart'.
Can page layout view cause Excel to get stuck accessing the printer?
Yes. When you switch to Page Layout view, Excel continuously pings your default printer to calculate page breaks and margins accurately. If there is a driver issue, simply switching to this view can cause a crash. Setting a virtual printer as default prevents this.
