Mac OS - MS Excel crashing when using the Search Function

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Hi Chris Mount

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A Forum and sharing your experience.

Based on the information provided, this issue appears to be related to Excel’s Search window triggering a macOS UI layout exception.

Since the behavior persists after a full Office reinstall, you may consider trying the following steps.

1, Clear Excel’s saved application state

• Quit all Office apps.
• In Finder, press Cmd + Shift + G and go to: ~/Library/Saved Application State/ > Delete com.microsoft.Excel.savedState if present.
• Also check: ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Excel/Data/Library/Saved Application State/ and remove the saved state folder if it exists.
• Restart the Mac and test Excel again.

2, Test without external monitors

• The crash log shows the Search window being rendered at a negative screen coordinate, which can occur with multiple displays. Disconnect all external monitors and use only the built‑in display.
• Restart Excel and test Cmd + F. If it works, move the Search window to the center of the screen, close Excel, then reconnect your monitors and retest.

3, Temporarily disable third‑party window management tools

• Utilities can interfere with macOS window layout. Quit or disable any such tools.
• Restart Excel and test the Search function again.

4, Reset Excel preferences and containers

• Quit Excel.
• Remove com.microsoft.Excel.plist from ~/Library/Preferences/.
• Move the entire folder ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Excel/ to the Desktop as a backup.
• Also check ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/ and delete the FontCache folder if present.
• Restart the Mac and test Excel.

5, Test in Safe Mode

Shut down your Mac, then press and hold the power button until you see startup options. Select your disk, then hold Shift and click "Continue in Safe Mode".

6, Test with a new macOS user profile

• Go to System Settings > Users & Groups and create a new administrator account.
• Log into the new account, open Excel, and test Search.

7, macOS beta compatibility consideration

The log shows a pre‑release macOS build. Excel production versions are not fully supported on beta macOS, and UI framework changes can cause crashes. If possible, please wait for Apple to release the official stable version of macOS and then retest Excel on that supported release.

Please let me know how things go on your side as your update can also assist others in the community who may be facing the same issue.

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