[2025] How to Fix the Excel Lag to Streamline Calculations

Spreadsheets are a great way to organize data and perform calculations, which helps in sorting information. Their usefulness makes them highly important for business purposes, where they are regularly used to organize and manage large sums of data. However, at times, they take longer to load or even freeze while you perform calculations in them. As a result of this slowdown, even simple tasks get delayed more than expected.

Therefore, this article will discuss the common reasons behind Excel lag and its symptoms to identify the root cause. Apart from that, it will share detailed solutions to help you easily resolve this problem and streamline your calculations. Users will also learn about an advanced tool that will help repair workbooks and restore their data.

Part 1. Uncover the Symptoms & Reasons Behind Excel's Slowness

As errors are common in workbook programs, you need to identify the specific problem causing it. To know the reasons for Excel slowness, you must count symptoms first; some are given below:

Reasons Behind Excel Slowness

Once you know the symptoms, let’s now see what is causing the Excel running slow error on your device:

Note: Excel Not Responding? 5 Quick Fixes You Need to Try

Pro Tip. How to Resolve Excel Slowness Caused by Damaged Excel File

As said above, your spreadsheet software can slow down when your file gets damaged due to any reason. To solve this, you need to use a tool that can repair the damaged sections of the file while ensuring its data safety. For that purpose, we highly recommend using Repairit, as it can solve the Excel lag issue by repairing your damaged files.

With the power of advanced AI algorithms, the tool deeply analyzes the damaged sections on your spreadsheets. After identifying these sections, it immediately repairs them without changing their formatting or data. In addition, this tool supports the repair of damaged files in bulk to save you time. You can also preview the repaired files within the tool to see if the file and its components are accessible.

Key Features

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• Repair damaged Excel files with all levels of corruption, including blank files, files not opening, unrecognizable format, unreadable content, files layout changed, etc.

• Repairs all kinds of data stored in damaged Excel files such as tables, charts, formulas, comments, images, etc.

• Support all formats of Excel files: XLSX/XLSM/XLTX/XLTM/XLS

• Perfectly repair corrupted files with a very high success rate, without modifying the original file.

• No limit to the number and size of the repairable files.

• Support Windows 11/10/8/7/Vista, Windows Server 2003/2008/2012/2016/2019/2022, and macOS 10.10~macOS 13.

• Except for Excel, Repairit also supports all formats of PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, ZIP, and Adobe files.

Detailed Manual to Repair Corrupt or Damaged Excel Files in Repairit

Upon learning about its features, follow these steps to repair the damaged spreadsheets and solve the Excel slowness issue:

Step 1. Commence by installing the software and going to the “More Types Repair" tab in the Repairit toolkit. Next, press “Start” in the “File Repair” feature to proceed.

Step 2. Now, press the “+ Add” button and select the problematic spreadsheets from your device’s storage.

Step 3. Once the slow Excel files are imported into the tool, initiate the repair process by clicking the “Repair” button.

Step 4. Preview and save the spreadsheets

Part 2.Other Ways to Resolve Excel Running Slow on Windows 10/11

While the above method is highly useful against damaged files, the problem could be related to other reasons. That’s why we have shared a few useful solutions below when Excel is running slow on Windows 10:

Way 1. Start Excel in Safe Mode

The ideal and simplest way to resolve the performance issue is to run the spreadsheet program in Safe Mode. Doing so prevents any unnecessary extensions and settings from loading, which makes it easy to load heavy files. Additionally, this method helps identify if plugins are causing the issue in the software. Thus, follow these instructions to launch the workbook in safe mode when your Excel is lagging:

Instructions. To start the process, press “Windows + R” on your keyboard and access the “Run” dialog box. Afterward, type “excel /safe” in the dialog box and click the “OK” button to launch the software in safe mode.

Way 2. Disable All Unwanted Add-ins

Following up, if the software runs smoothly in safe mode, you should disable your plugins. Although they provide extra features, they can also cause problems and make your Excel sheet slow to respond. Since the tool worked fine in the safe mode, it means these plugins are causing the problem. Hence, follow the given steps to disable these add-ins in the workbook software:

Step 1. Initiate the process by launching the tool and pressing the “Options” settings on the left panel.

Step 2. Upon reaching the new screen, go to the “Add-ins” tab from the left menu. Afterward, click the “Go” button beside the “Excel Add-ins" drop-down.

Step 3. Once the small Add-ins window appears, uncheck all the extensions and press the “OK” button to disable their functionality.

Way 3. Turn Manual Calculation Mode On

When automatic calculation is enabled, formulas recalculate every time data changes. As a result, it causes the Excel slowness issue and even makes the software unresponsive. That’s why switching to manual calculation allows users to control when formulas update and reduce the lag. Additionally, this option is useful for users working with extensive formulas and complex data models. To solve the lagging workbook error, follow these instructions:

Instructions. Access your sheet in Excel and go to the “Formulas” tab from the top toolbar. Then, press the “Calculation Options” button in the “Calculations” section to access a drop-down menu. Finally, choose the “Manual” option to enable this calculation mode in the workbook.

Way 4. Disable Hardware Graphics Acceleration in Excel

Besides the above solutions, you can try disabling hardware acceleration to see if it resolves the problem. Hardware acceleration uses system resources to improve performance, but on some devices, it causes delays or visual glitches. Therefore, disabling this feature can help reduce lag and ensure smoother navigation. You can learn how to disable this feature and solve the Excel running slow Windows 11 problem with these steps:

Step 1. Start by clicking the “Options” button after launching the spreadsheet software on your computer.

Step 2. Afterward, go to the “Advanced” tab and navigate to the “Display” section on the new screen. Here, you need to check the “Disable Hardware Graphics Acceleration” option and press “OK” to complete the process.

Way 5. Repair Your Microsoft Office Hidden Errors

When none of the above methods work, the final solution would be to repair the Office installation. There might be issues with the tool itself due to some glitches or incorrect updates. That’s why the tool comes with its own repair protocols that eliminate most errors within a few minutes. Thus, you can follow the steps outlined below to solve the Excel file slow-to-respond problems using the official repair method:

Step 1. Initiate the process by going to the “Apps” tab in your desktop’s settings. Afterward, you need to choose the “Installed Apps” option, and once the list loads, find the tool’s setup. Then, tap the “Three Dots” beside it and press the “Modify” option.

Step 2. Now, select the “Quick Repair” option and then press the “Repair” button to move forward ahead.

Step 3. Confirm your choice and click the “Repair” button on the final screen to repair the Office installation.

Conclusion

To conclude, performance issues can cause the Excel slowness issue, but they can be fixed with simple adjustments. After identifying the cause behind this problem, you can start the tool in Safe Mode to see if it runs smoothly. When it works fine, disabling unnecessary plugins and switching to manual calculation mode will help it work without lag.

Apart from these solutions, turning off hardware acceleration and repairing the Office can further enhance performance. These methods work when the problem is with the tool itself but don’t consider issues with the spreadsheet. For that, you will have to use Repairit’s advanced features to repair the damaged sections of the affected file. When the file is repaired, you won’t find any lags or performance issues while working on it.