How to Fix Severe Lag and Freezing in Microsoft Excel 365
Question details
The user needs to resolve severe performance issues, such as lagging and freezing, while using Microsoft Excel 365 on a capable computer.
- Product
- Microsoft Excel 365
- Device & OS
- Windows
- Scenario
- Opening, editing, or navigating through workbooks in the Microsoft Excel application.
- Observed behavior
- Excel becomes extremely slow, unresponsive, or completely freezes, even when running on a computer with powerful hardware components.
Ensure that your Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 suite, and graphics card drivers are updated to their latest versions before proceeding with the troubleshooting steps below.
Disable Hardware Graphics Acceleration
Turning off hardware graphics acceleration can resolve rendering conflicts that cause Excel to freeze or lag on certain system configurations.
Hardware graphics acceleration is designed to improve performance by offloading rendering tasks to your GPU. However, incompatible or outdated graphics drivers can cause severe conflicts, resulting in Excel becoming unresponsive. Disabling this feature forces Excel to rely on software rendering, which often stabilizes the application.
Launch Microsoft Excel. Click on the 'File' menu in the top-left corner, and then select 'Options' at the bottom of the sidebar.
In the Excel Options dialog box, click on the 'Advanced' tab located in the left pane.
Scroll down to find the 'Display' section. Check the box next to 'Disable hardware graphics acceleration'.
Click 'OK' to save your changes, then completely close and restart Excel to see if the performance has improved.
Start in Safe Mode and Disable Faulty Add-ins
Safe Mode allows you to run Excel without any active add-ins, helping you identify if a third-party extension is causing the lag.
Perform an Online Repair of Microsoft 365
Running an online repair can fix corrupted installation files or misconfigured settings that lead to application instability.
Experience Lightning-Fast Performance with WPS Spreadsheet
If Microsoft Excel continues to lag and freeze, consider switching to WPS Office. It is a highly optimized, lightweight productivity suite that runs smoothly even on older hardware, offering a familiar interface and excellent compatibility without the heavy resource demands.
- 1. Download and Install: Download WPS Office for free from the official website and run the lightweight installer.
- 2. Open Your Files: Launch WPS Spreadsheet and instantly open your existing Excel workbooks without converting formats.
- 3. Work Without Lag: Enjoy a fast, responsive editing experience, even when working with complex formulas and large tables.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is Excel lagging even though I have a high-end PC?
Excel can experience severe lag on powerful computers due to software-level conflicts, such as incompatible third-party COM add-ins, outdated graphics drivers interfering with hardware acceleration, or corrupted Office installation files.
Will disabling hardware graphics acceleration affect my other Office apps?
Yes, disabling hardware graphics acceleration in Excel is a suite-wide setting. It will apply the change globally across other Microsoft Office applications like Word and PowerPoint, which often improves overall stability across the suite.
How do I know if a specific workbook is causing the lag?
You can test this by opening a completely blank workbook. If Excel runs smoothly without any lag or freezing, the performance issue is likely isolated to the specific file you were previously working on, which might contain excessive formatting, complex macros, or hidden objects.
What should I do if Excel still freezes in Safe Mode?
If Excel continues to freeze even in Safe Mode, the issue is not being caused by add-ins. You should proceed to update your graphics card drivers, run an Online Repair for your Microsoft 365 installation, or temporarily disable your antivirus software to check for background conflicts.
