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Excel Keeps Crashing - Here's How to Fix It

Excel crashing mid-spreadsheet is painful. Doubly so when you forgot to save.

Before you blame Microsoft (fair), try these fixes. Most Excel crashes have simple causes.

1. First: Turn on AutoSave

Before we fix anything - stop this from hurting you again.

If you have Microsoft 365:

  • Save the file to OneDrive or SharePoint
  • AutoSave toggle appears in top-left
  • Turn it On

If you don't:

  • File → Options → Save
  • Set "Save AutoRecover info every" to 1 minute

Now let's fix the crashing.

2. Check if it's one specific file

Does Excel crash with every file or just one?

Just one file: The file is corrupted or too complex. See fixes #5 and #6.

Every file: Excel itself has a problem. See fixes #3 and #4.

3. Start Excel in Safe Mode

This opens Excel without add-ins - the most common crash cause.

How:

  1. Hold Ctrl key
  2. Click Excel icon
  3. Click "Yes" when asked about Safe Mode

If Excel works fine in Safe Mode: An add-in is the problem. Go to fix #4.

Still crashes in Safe Mode: Excel installation is broken. Skip to fix #7.

4. Disable dodgy add-ins

Add-ins are the #1 cause of Excel crashes. That PDF converter or data tool you installed? Probably the culprit.

Disable them:

  1. File → Options → Add-ins
  2. At bottom: Manage → COM Add-ins → Go
  3. Uncheck everything → OK
  4. Restart Excel

Works now? Re-enable add-ins one by one to find the bad one.

Common troublemakers: Adobe PDF maker, old data connectors, antivirus plugins.

5. Your file is too big

Excel struggles with:

  • Files over 20MB
  • More than 100,000 rows
  • Hundreds of formulas referencing each other
  • Loads of conditional formatting

Check file size: Right-click file → Properties

If it's massive:

  • Delete unused sheets
  • Remove old data you don't need
  • Copy-paste values instead of formulas (Paste Special → Values)
  • Clear conditional formatting on large ranges

6. Conditional formatting has gone mad

This is a sneaky one. Conditional formatting can accumulate invisibly and slow everything down.

Check it:

  1. Select all (Ctrl + A)
  2. Home → Conditional Formatting → Manage Rules
  3. Show rules for: This Worksheet

See hundreds or thousands of rules? Clear them:

  • Conditional Formatting → Clear Rules → Clear Rules from Entire Sheet

Then re-apply only what you actually need.

7. Repair Office

If Excel keeps crashing regardless of file:

Windows:

  1. Settings → Apps → Apps & features
  2. Find "Microsoft 365" or "Microsoft Office"
  3. Click → Modify → Repair
  4. Try "Quick Repair" first
  5. If that fails, try "Online Repair"

Mac:

  • Re-download from office.com/myaccount

8. Check for updates

Outdated Excel = buggy Excel.

  1. Open Excel
  2. File → Account → Update Options → Update Now

The nuclear option

Nothing worked? The file might be corrupted beyond easy repair.

Try this:

  1. Open Excel (blank)
  2. File → Open → Browse to your file
  3. Click the little arrow on "Open" button
  4. Select "Open and Repair"

This sometimes recovers corrupted files.

Still crashing?

At this point it's either:

  • Serious file corruption needing manual recovery
  • System-level issues
  • Hardware problems (bad RAM can cause random crashes)

Need help? I fix Excel nightmares for small businesses. Get your data back, spreadsheet working, sanity restored.

Get in touch →

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Excel crashing in the middle of work is the worst.

Usually it's one of these culprits:

- The file got too big
- Add-ins are fighting each other
- Your Office install is corrupted
- Conditional formatting went mad

Before you lose another hour of work, here's how to fix it (and stop it happening again).

Bonus: Turn on AutoSave. Seriously.

https://alexsusanu.com/blog/excel-keeps-crashing/