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 Prash,

The file I use is from local mainframe share drive, not Cloud or SharePoint and OneDrive. I am the the owner of this file and share it with the rest of the team.

Thanks,

Amex. L

Answer 3

Dear all,

Thank you for your feedback, and apologies for any issues you are still encountering!

Regarding our solution to suppress the business bar notification, which was implemented in Excel Windows build 16.0.17830.20138 or later:

• For those who did not see the business bar suppressed, could you confirm if this occurred with workbooks opened locally from local file locations?
• And for those who did see the suppression, could you confirm if it worked for workbooks opened from Cloud locations like SharePoint or OneDrive?

Our assessment suggests that our solution should successfully suppress the business bar for workbooks opened from Cloud locations such as SharePoint and OneDrive, but not for those opened locally from local file locations. If this is not accurate, please inform us, as it will help us address any remaining issues more effectively.

And in response to the question, "Are there plans to fix Excel Online as well?"—we are currently developing a solution for Excel Online. We also intend to incorporate learnings gained from the current Excel Windows rollout to ensure better reliability before releasing of the solution for Excel Online.

Thanks,

Prash

Answer 4

Hello Prash,

I am on Microsoft® Excel® für Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2408 Build 16.0.17928.20114) 64 Bit (not sure if version was different yesterday)

• I open my files locally, but from network server (not one drive nor sharepoint)
  The business bar notification is GONE - in all workbooks where I closed the bar and saved the workbook
• but the the bar is still there in workbooks I haven't open for some time and therefor where I haven't closed it via the X and savedYesterdayEDIT: But today it seemed to be gone no matter which workbook I open, yesterday it still came :)

Isn't it clear that for BUSINESS this should be deactivated entirely everywhere?

As there is the button under Review where users can use it - if they want.

Answer 5

Thanks for taking the time to update us. This is of some help to those who create sheets not shared with others. I have produced several large sheets shared with multiple users on Sharepoint. The formatting on the sheets is by design and the performance is fine, but every time one of my colleagues opens one of these sheets Microsoft gives them the convenient option of wiping out the formatting I have painstakingly designed. Apparently I could suppress this warning with VBA but that will just result in more warnings for the user.

Please could you include an option in settings to turn this checking on or off at the sheet level, so that each user doesn't need to be trained to hit the X and not hit the dreaded "Check Performance" button, which will give each user with edit access the power and encouragement to utterly decimate the formatting I spent days perfecting.