Why is MS Excel saving so painfully slow?

Question

I use large MS Excel files (160 MB) and the files have become painfully slow to save. Saving can take up to 60 minutes. This problem seemed to have started to occur in the last year or so. Interestingly enough, once a file finally saves, if it is kept open and further edits are made to the file and the file is saved again, the file then saves somewhat faster but still long enough to hamper productivity.

I've converted my .xlsx files to .xlsb files in an attempt to improve save time, however, the time to save improvement has been negligible. Another observation is that the file calculation percentage that shows near the bottom right portion of the spreadsheet when the file is saving, seems to get to the 85-95% range relatively fast and then the displayed percentages increment slows to a snails pace thereafter.

I've seen many complaints on this MS Excel slow saving issue and I believe the problem is associated with the MS Excel application and/or MS Office environment itself. I've been tolerating the problem for a while now but as a customer, I think the MS Excel community deserves better performance from MS Excel and I trust that Microsoft can quickly resolve the issue.

Thanks,

NB_3

Answer 1

Hello NB_3

Thank you for posting to the Microsoft community.  

I understand your concern regarding the slow saving of large Excel files. T

his issue can be caused by various factors such as the size of the file, the complexity of the formulas, the number of calculations, and the available system resources.

Here are some troubleshooting steps that you can try to resolve the issue:

1. Update Microsoft Office: Make sure that you have the latest updates installed for Microsoft Office. To do this, open Excel, click on File > Account > Update Options > Update Now.
2. Disable Add-ins: Add-ins can sometimes cause Excel to slow down. Try disabling any add-ins that you are not using. To do this, click on File > Options > Add-ins. Select COM Add-ins from the Manage drop-down list and click Go. Clear the check box for any add-ins that you want to disable.
3. Clear the Excel cache: Clearing the Excel cache can sometimes help to improve performance. To do this, click on File > Options > Advanced. Scroll down to the General section and click on the "Clear" button next to "Clear the Excel Cache".
4. Increase available system resources: If your computer is running low on memory or processing power, Excel may run slowly. Try closing any unnecessary programs and increasing the amount of available memory by closing other applications.
5. Use the "Manual" calculation mode: Excel's automatic calculation mode can slow down the saving process. Try switching to the "Manual" calculation mode by clicking on File > Options > Formulas. Select "Manual" from the Calculation options and click OK.
6. Split the file into smaller files: If the file is too large, try splitting it into smaller files. This can help to reduce the amount of time it takes to save the file.

I hope these steps help to resolve the issue. If the issue persists, please let me know and we can explore other options. Additionally, here is an article that provides more information on how to troubleshoot slow performance in Excel:

Tips for improving Excel's performance - Microsoft Support

We look forward to your response.   Truly Yours,FatimaMicrosoft Moderator

Answer 2

Thanks for your response.

Regarding your suggestion #3, I see no “Clear” button under “General” in Advanced and I’m using the latest version in Excel.

Answer 3

Hi

Good day!

Can you check this link nd follow the steps and let me know if this works on your device:

Delete your Office Document Cache - Microsoft Support

We look forward to your response.   Truly Yours,FatimaMicrosoft Moderator

Answer 4

Thanks for the follow-up

This link refers to users of OneDrive.

I am not using OneDrive.

The problems I’m having are associated with process MS Excel uses as it calculates cells in my workbook.

As the workbook is calculating, I see the calculation progress percentage displayed at the bottom right of the spreadsheet.

Sometimes my spreadsheet makes progress up to 80% or 95% or 99% or some other percentage quite quickly and then after that, progress then climbs at an unacceptably slow pace until it gets to 100%.

When I make further changes and try to save the document the same slow calculation process occurs again before the file finally saves many minutes later … even up to an hour or more which is quite ridiculous when you consider that my Excel workbook is running with 10 threads and a 3.2GHz processor.

MS Excel clearly should perform better than this or at least message the user as to what is causing the slow calculation.

This problem is a huge productivity killer and others who are using the same spreadsheet on their respective computers are having the same problem.

I’ve also read of many other MS Excel users having the same slowness issues with their respective spreadsheets.

I’ve been using MS Excel for decades and have never encountered this slow updating and saving issue until recently.

Thanks for your help in resolving.

Answer 5

Hi

Good day!

Thank you for your response. , In this case I would highly suggest to reach out our Live support team, there may be a technical issue that requires further investigation and since they do have more advance tools that can use in regards for your issue. I recommend contacting Microsoft support for further assistance.

You can find their contact information on the Microsoft support website.
Contact Us - Microsoft Support

Thank you for understanding.  

Truly Yours, 

Fatima  

Microsoft Moderator