Excel Performance Problems

How to Fix Excel Freezing When Applying Bold Formatting

Chanuka Geekiyanage Oct 26, 2026 869 views

Question details

The user experiences program unresponsiveness when trying to apply bold text formatting to cells in Microsoft Excel.

How to Fix Excel Freezing When Applying Bold Formatting

Product: Microsoft Excel
Device & OS: Windows
Scenario: Formatting text or numerical data in a spreadsheet using the ribbon menu or keyboard shortcuts.
Observed behavior: Excel hangs, freezes, or crashes immediately after pressing Ctrl+B or clicking the Bold button on the ribbon.

Before you start

Before proceeding with troubleshooting, save your current workbooks to avoid any data loss during application restarts, and check if the issue occurs in a newly created blank workbook to rule out file corruption.

Solution 1Recommended

Disable Hardware Graphics Acceleration

Disabling hardware graphics acceleration often resolves UI-related freezing and hanging issues when rendering fonts and styles in Excel.

Excel uses your computer's graphics hardware to improve performance, but conflicting display drivers can cause the application to hang when drawing updated UI elements, like bolded text.

Open Excel Options

Launch Microsoft Excel. Click on the 'File' tab in the top-left corner, then select 'Options' from the bottom of the sidebar.

Navigate to Advanced Settings

In the Excel Options dialog box, click on 'Advanced' in the left-hand menu.

Disable Acceleration

Scroll down the right pane until you find the 'Display' section. Check the box labeled 'Disable hardware graphics acceleration'.

Apply and Restart

Click 'OK' to save your changes, then close and restart Excel to test if the bold formatting issue is resolved.

Immediate Relief: For most display and formatting hangs, this setting provides an immediate fix without requiring a system reboot.

Solution 2

Run in Safe Mode and Disable COM Add-ins

Running Excel in Safe Mode helps determine if a third-party add-in is causing conflicts with the formatting shortcut.

Solution 3

Update Office and Test a New Windows Profile

If the issue persists, your Office installation may be outdated, or your Windows user profile could be corrupted.

Free Microsoft Office alternative

Avoid Excel Freezes with WPS Office

Tired of your spreadsheets crashing or freezing when performing basic formatting? WPS Office provides a lightweight, highly stable alternative that handles your data smoothly without the frustrating lag.

1. Download WPS Office: Visit the official WPS website to download and install the free office suite.
2. Open Your Spreadsheet: Launch WPS Spreadsheet and easily open your existing .xlsx or .xls files.
3. Format Flawlessly: Apply bold formatting, adjust styles, and analyze data without encountering frustrating freezes or crashes.

Fully compatible with Microsoft Excel formats (.xlsx, .xls, .csv).Stable performance without freezing during basic text formatting or calculations.Lightweight installation that runs flawlessly on older or low-spec Windows devices.Familiar ribbon interface with zero learning curve for Excel users.

microsoft office alternative - wps office

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does Excel only freeze when using the Ctrl+B shortcut?

This usually happens if another background application or a specific Excel COM add-in has hijacked or is conflicting with the Ctrl+B shortcut, causing an endless processing loop that freezes the program.

Will reinstalling Office fix the bold formatting freeze?

Reinstalling Office or running an Online Repair can fix corrupted program files. However, if the issue is tied to a corrupted Windows user profile, a problematic display driver, or a third-party add-in, a reinstallation might not solve the problem completely.

Does the size of the Excel file cause freezing when formatting?

Yes, applying formatting to a massive range of cells or an entire worksheet in a very large file can overwhelm system resources, leading to a temporary hang. Try selecting only the specific cells you need to format instead of entire columns or rows.

What should I do if disabling hardware graphics acceleration doesn't work?

If disabling hardware acceleration does not resolve the freeze, try performing a Windows Clean Boot to ensure no third-party antivirus software or background services are actively interfering with Excel's operations.

Excel & Data Problems