Excel not responding, hangs, freezes or stops working

This article discusses troubleshooting steps that can help resolve the most common issues when you receive an Excel not responding error, Excel hangs or freezes when you launch it, or open an Excel workbook. These types of problems may occur for one or more of the reasons listed below.

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Follow the solutions provided in this article in order. If you have previously tried one of these methods, and it did not help, please go to the next solution in the list.

Safe mode troubleshooting

When you run Excel in safe mode, it bypasses functionality and settings such as alternative startup location, changed toolbars, startup folders used by Excel, Excel add-ins, and most COM add-ins. While add-ins can enhance your experience, they can occasionally interfere, or conflict with Excel.

You can safe mode troubleshoot in one of two ways:

1.Use the Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant to automate safe mode troubleshooting

2.Manually perform safe mode troubleshooting yourself

Automate safe mode troubleshooting

The Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant fully automates the safe mode isolation process to let you know if the problem is due to add-ins, files in startup folders, or toolbar settings.

Manually perform safe mode troubleshooting

If you didn't use the Assistant, manually open Excel in safe mode. Do one of the following:

If you are on Windows 11 or Windows 10, choose Start > All apps > Windows System > Run. Type Excel /safe in the Run box, and then click OK.

If you are on Windows 8 or Windows 8.1, click Run in the Apps menu, type Excel /safe in the Run box, and then click OK.

If Excel starts in safe mode, continue with the steps in the COM Add-ins section of this article.

If Excel does not start in safe mode, continue with the Install the latest updates section of this article.

COM add-ins

Use the following steps to determine if a COM add-in is causing the problem:

Click File > Options > Add-ins.

Select COM Add-ins, and click Go.

Clear all the check boxes in the list, and click OK.

Close and restart Excel in normal mode (not in safe mode).

If the issue does not occur when you restart Excel in normal mode, start enabling your add-ins one at a time until it does. This will allow you to figure out which add-in is causing the problem. Be sure to restart Excel each time you enable an add-in.

If disabling COM add-ins did not resolve your issue, see if the issue is due to an Excel add-in.

Excel add-ins

Start Registry editor. To do this, press the Windows key + R to open a Run dialog box. Type regedit.exe and then press OK.

Locate and then select the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\<1x.0>\Excel\Options

In the Name column, look for any REG_SZ value equal to OPEN.

If you don't find a REG_SZ value whose name is OPEN, continue with the Investigate possible issues with files in Startup folders section.

Right-click OPEN, and then select Rename.

Rename OPEN to RenamedOPEN, and press Enter.

Repeat steps 4 and 5 by adding "Renamed" to the beginning of any REG_SZ value that starts with OPEN. For example, rename OPEN1 to RenamedOPEN1.

Start Excel in normal mode.

If the issue does not occur when you restart Excel in normal mode, start re-enabling your Excel add-ins one-by-one by removing "Renamed" from the name. You'll be able to identify the add-in that's causing the problem. Remember to restart Excel each time you re-enable an add-in in the registry.

If disabling COM add-ins and Excel add-ins did not resolve your issue, continue to the Investigate possible issues with files in Startup folders section.

Repair your Office programs

Repairing your Office programs can resolve issues with Excel not responding, hanging or freezing by automatically repairing errors in Office files. For instructions on doing this, see: Repair an Office application.

If repairing your Office programs did not resolve your issue, continue on to the next item on the list.

Check to see if your antivirus software is up-to-date or conflicting with Excel

If your antivirus software is not up-to-date, Excel may not function properly.

Check whether your antivirus software is up-to-date:

To keep up with new viruses that are created, antivirus software vendors periodically provide updates that you can download from the Internet. Download the latest updates by visiting your antivirus software vendor’s website.

For a list of antivirus vendors, see: Consumer security software providers.

Check whether your antivirus software is conflicting with Excel:

If your antivirus software includes integration with Excel you may experience performance issues. In this case, you can disable all Excel integration within the antivirus software. Or, you can disable any antivirus software add-ins that are installed in Excel.

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