how can I get out of Excel Solver when stuck?

Question

with solver on Excel 2021 for Mac, after running several hours, solver shows the window "solver paused, current solution displayed on worksheet" - apart from the fact that the screen is blank showing nothing, the problem is that if I click "stop" right away or I guess within short time the worksheet shows indeed the solution, while in I wait some time (e.g. a few hours) Excel is blocked and non click produces any effect and I have to kill Excel to get out my question!: how can I awake Excel/solver in that situation? thanks

Answer 1

Hi RenatoRenai,

Thank you for posting on the Microsoft Community Forum. I hope you are well.

Based on your description, it seems to be that you have a problem getting out from the solver on Excel. Let's work together to find the best solution to this problem.

To better assist you, I suggest that you I suggest that you update your Office application. Please follow the step by step instructions on this support article. Update Office for Mac automatically - Microsoft Support

For more information about solver on Excel, please see these article here: **** Load the Solver Add-in in Excel - Microsoft Support

Sincerely,

ReynaldoB

Microsoft Community Forum Moderator

Answer 2

Hi, thanks for the support

The reply to my latest problem was suggesting to keep updated my Excel using the automatic online update, which I have always done

BTW and I have not updated my version for Mac 2021 to 2022 mainly because usually at every udate a number of previous problems (to which I probably have found workarounds) have been solved but new ones are introduced (and to which I have to find new workarounds...)

In conclusion, my latest problem is still unresolved

thanks again for the helping

Renato

PS A reply to a previous, and still actual, problem (Solver not running while Mac not in use) was suggesting to set appropriately the Energy Saver, thing that I hope I have always done correctly

Answer 3

Hi. One possible reason your Solver model is running "forever" could be that it is not set up correctly and has some logic errors.

This may be hard to detect at first. One step that helps is to set the Solver options to limit the "Max Time" to only a few seconds, and also set a small value to the # of iterations. Now, run Solver again. When it stops after a few seconds, stop the model, and take a look at the current state of the values. Why the model is not working may possibly be revealed here. Do any variables grow outside missing limits?, Does it look like the model is set up to examine millions of combinations and that a different approach is needed, ... etc.

Answer 4

when Solver is running with the non-linear option it generally finds a local maximum within reasonable time, but such solution is not what I'm looking for - the problem comes with the Evolutionary option, and most of the time there is no solution found until several hours after starting Solver - so sometimes it's a pity seeing that a value is shown in the bottom line but not being able to see the values of the variables because the sheet is totally blank with only the frozen window "Solver is paused..."

Answer 5

Hi RenatoRenai

Thanks for getting back.

I totally understand, however sometimes the autmatic update is not enough and needs a manual update. As it is showing on your Excel application, there's a notice for Office update. It only means that the Excel application needs an update. You can click on that Check for Updates button to manually check for updates then restart your Excel application.

Sincerely,

ReynaldoB

Microsoft Community Forum Moderator