2 particular Excel .xlsx files opening very slowly alongside each other

Question

I have two particular .xlsx workbooks which aren't playing well. When the first one is open, the second opens slowly (5 - 10 mins). When the second is open, opening the first takes just as long.

A small progress bar appears at the bottom of the window and then quickly disappears after completion, several minutes before the file actually opens.

Other files open alongside either of the two files, without any problems.

I have tons of RAM (32GB), no add-ins, I've tried clearing the cache, tried the regedit fix with no luck.

One of the files has a lot of conditional formatting but removing them did nothing. The two files have vlookups between them and I wondered if that was an issue. Also, the files are used on another computer (shared old-fashioned style via usb key). Some of the links in the second file pointed to the wrong address, but fixing that hasn't changed anything.

This has me pulling my hair out, so if anyone can offer any advice, it would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Hi @A B,

I suggest you close all Workbooks and open a blank Workbook set the Calculation Options to Manual:

If you can open the Excel Workbooks without long time, this problem may related to the formula calculation, read this article about improving Excel calculation performance:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/tips-for-improving-excel-s-performance-a8294ac5-652d-47f2-8e89-1c3ce2c09439

Just checking in to see if the information was helpful. Please let us know if you would like further assistance.

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