How to stop Excel from automatically checking Workbook performance?

Question

Performance check??

The Excel sheet is the way I want it to look and don't want to change it for better performance. I just want Excel to stop prompting me.

Every time I open an Excel sheet, it wants me to do a performance check because of:

"Excess formatting and unneeded metadata cause large, slow workbooks. Check for improvements to performance"

So I find myself X-clicking away this message every time. Because there is no 'excess' of formatting. The Excel sheet simply is a nicely layouted workbook and we want it to be looking this way. We don't need Excel trying to outsmart us and giving this suggestion every time you open the workbook to remove information.

It is only very confusing for not-very-experienced users who also make use of my Excel sheet.

How and where can I set Excel in a way that is stops asking this unwanted question?

• The question mostly pops-up in the Web version of Office 365.
• I tried unchecking boxes in the performance check tool, in the desktop version, but to no result.

Would be lovely if someone has a workaround or knows which box needs to be un-checked.

And it would be awesome if a MS engineer helps giving priority to this problem, so that it can be switched of universally.

Answer 1

This thread shows that there are a significant number of people complaining about this. Unfortunately, this is only a user forum, we understand your problem, but we cannot do anything to fix it. Only the Excel developers can do this if they are instructed to do so.

As previously stated, this is simply a statistical problem, Microsoft must first recognize that this is a problem. Unfortunately, this is not so easy considering that more than 200,000 people work at Microsoft.

There is a feedback portal where you can cast your vote. There is already a feed on this topic, unfortunately with very few votes. I'm sure if we get as many votes as this post has been viewed, then Microsoft will react.

Anyone reading this, please follow these steps:

Click on this link:
https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/idea/89bb523d-b197-ef11-95f6-0022484d7a88

1. Sign in
2. Click the Vote button

@HanzieV:

If you mark this reply as answer, it will be the first to appear when someone views this thread. I hope we can encourage as many people as possible to draw Microsoft's attention to this problem. Unfortunately, this is all we can do for you.

Andreas.

Answer 2

Hi HanzieV,

Greetings! Thank you for posting to Microsoft Community.

You can try optimizing your workbook it could remove that notice permanently.

Go to the Review tab and select “Check Performance” in the ribbon. This opens the Workbook Performance sidebar on the right.

At the top of the sidebar, you’ll see how many cells are used and the number of cells to optimize in the workbook.

Do you have slow workbooks due to size bloat? Give us a try at speeding up. - Microsoft Community Hub

You can also send feedback to Microsoft. Help> Feedback to disable this feature.

Best Regards,

Snow Lu

Answer 3

Thanx for reaching out HanzieV! Btw, could you please consider sharing your file in private via Advance Tools -> Initiate Private Message? We'd like to understand better why this is happening in your case, because the tool should only show the pop-up when the majority of cells in a workbook have such unused formatted cells comprising a minimum of many 10s of thousands of them, hence asking.

thanx,

Prash

Answer 4

Hi HanzieV,

Could you share us your file via private message? The Microsoft engineer need your file to check the issue. You can send it via private message by clicking the icon below.

Answer 5

I'm having the same issue with a workbook I use daily. I've reviewed the recommended changed and do not want to apply the changes it is recommending, but it pops up constantly. Is there a way to prevent this from popping up? or ignore the recommendations and have it stop recommending the same changes?

Thanks for any suggestions.