excel problem

Question

Excel consistently hangs when printing to network printers, even though other applications work fine.

This is a long-standing issue that wastes time and disrupts workflows.

Please prioritize fixing Excel’s printer handling so it matches the reliability of Word and other Office apps

Answer 1

Dear @Garth Herman,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

The recurring print hangs in Excel can be maddening, especially when Word and other apps work fine. Before giving you the best solution, could you please confirm these questions below to help me diagnose the issue more effectively: 

• May I please double confirm if the account in question is a Microsoft 365 educational account which is provided by your college/institution?  
• Are you printing from a physical PC or a virtual desktop (AVD/RDS) session?
• Do you see any error message?
• Is this happening only on your device, or have you tested on another browser or computer? or Does the issue occur on all network printers or just specific models/queues?
• Is the printer deployed via Group Policy or manually added by users?
• Does Excel freeze before the print dialog, after clicking Print, or during spooler processing?
• Does the hang happen with every workbook or only large/complex sheets (charts, pivot tables)?
• Does printing to Microsoft Print to PDF work without freezing?

If your environment uses virtual desktops (AVD/RDS), there’s a known behavior where printers don’t roam cleanly between sessions; re‑adding the printer in the session restores printing (Settings > Bluetooth and Devices > Printers & Scanners > Remove device > Add again). Symptoms include greyed‑out buttons or jobs never reaching the queue.

In the meantime, here are some steps I recommend you try:

Step 1: Start Excel in Safe Mode to rule out add‑ins

Press Win + R > type excel /safe > Enter. For reference: Open Office apps in safe mode on a Windows PC

Note: To stop Office Safe Mode, exit and restart your Office application. It will start in normal mode unless there's a problem opening the application.

Step 2: If printing works here, disable non‑Microsoft add‑ins:

File > Options > Add‑ins > COM Add-ins > Go or unchecking unnecessary ones. Many long‑standing freezes are add‑in related.

• In the Add-Ins available box, clear the check box next to the add-in that you want to remove, and then click OK.
• Note: This removes the add-in from memory but keeps its name in the list of available add-ins. It does not delete the add-in from your computer.
• To remove a COM add-in from the list of available add-ins and to delete the add-in from your computer, click its name in the Add-ins available box, and then click Remove.
• For reference: Add or remove add-ins in Excel

Step 3: Repair Office

If you can't start a Microsoft Office application in Office Safe Mode or you have recurring problems using applications in normal mode, you can try to repair Office. For more information, go to Repair an Office application

Step 4: Contact School IT Admin

If the issue persists and you are using an education account, I highly recommend contacting your school’s IT administrator directly. They can verify that your account and domain are correctly configured for OneDrive services and ensure that authentication settings are properly set up.

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow these steps and let me know if it works for you. If not, we can work together to resolve this. If I misunderstand anything, please feel free to reach out.

Please understand that our initial response does not always resolve the issue immediately. However, with your help and more detailed information, we can work together to find a solution.

Thank you for your patience and your understanding. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.

I'm looking forward for your reply.

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