Excel is very helpful to ease and speed up our work, but sometimes it also consume our patience when the Excel is running slow or not responding then crash and we don't know what's really going on.
It is very frustrating when we need to finish task as soon as possible but excel not allow us to do it, but don't worry here I will share How to Fix Excel Running Slow and Not Responding which may help you to get back work to finish your task as fast as possible.
Disable Excel Add-in
Add-in is additional program in excel to add its functionality, but if you don't really need it you can disable it, because too much Add-in actually make your Excel heavier. To disable excel add-in you can follow below instruction:
- Click File
- Choose options
- Choose add-ins tab
- On manage option, choose add-ins you want to disable
- Click Go, and untick each add-ins you don't need.
Remove Unused Cell Formatting
Sometimes if you want to format all cell at once for example giving font color or background color, you just hit Ctrl + A and start formatting and you don't realize if actually all cells including unused one is also get the format. Excel store this information in the memory, which affecting the file size and loading time.
To check the unused cell you can press Ctrl + End the cursor will jump to the end of your workbook, delete any cell outside your data.
Compress Picture in Excel File
If you have any picture in your Excel file it is better to compress it, big picture resolution will make the file size bigger and make the loading of your excel longer.
To compress picture in excel file you can follow below steps:
- Click one of picture
- Press Ctrl + A on keyboard
- Click Format
- Choose "Compress Pictures"
- Untick on "apply only to this picture"
- On target output choose "E-mail (96 ppi)
Remove Hyperlink to Another Excel File
If you have multiple Excel file data source for calculation connected by link, its recommended to remove it and move your data into one workbook. Hyperlink to many files will take more process to do because excel will jump into another file to get information for calculation.
Set Formula Calculation to Manual
If you feel the excel formula calculation still slow, It is probably because your excel always automatically do calculation. To stop this automatic calculation you can set the formula calculation into manual, how to do it?
- Click formula
- Calculation options
- Choose manual
But remember every time you will save document, you should click "Calculate Now", to ensure all formula updated.
Excel Still Slow?
If your excel still feel slow to respond you can Copy your work book data and paste as values (Paste Special > Values) to new workbook. (Also read: Easy Way To Reduce Excel File Size Up To 20MB).
You already try all above method but your excel still slow, seems there is problem with your Microsoft Excel. You can try other free application like WPS office which I think more lightweight for old computer.
If it is necessary you also can try to speed up your pc (read: How To Make Your Slow Windows PC Faster Than Ever).
Summary
Excel can be slow because of many reason it is usually because of low spec of computer so we need to make some adjustment to make it not consume our computer resource ex: disabling add-ins, remove unused cell, remove hyperlink also set formula calculation into manual. But if above still not help you can try another program like WPS office.
If you have another method feel free to share on comment section below, thanks for visiting.