Excel 2016 (Office 365) user interface (GUI) freezes but I can still save and close workbooks

Anonymous
2015-12-11T12:17:04+00:00

I frequently have a problem with Excel 2016 (Office 365). Without apparent cause, most of the GUI freezes. I.e.:

  • I can't select cells anymore;
  • the menu ribbon is frozen;
  • sometimes main elements of the ribbon go green and the spreadsheet appears empty where there should be content;
  • BUT the Save, close (x) and resize buttons at the very top still work.

Saving all files and closing all Excel windows and restarting Excel solves the problem.

I work with Excel a lot and the problem occurs approximately once a day.

Any input is welcome. I don't even know what to search for to see if others have the same problem. I also don't know if it is a problem with one of the workbooks that I'm working on, if it is an Excel problem or even a Win 10 problem (I also have the issues with the graphics driver crashing all the time that so many other Win 10 users have). I installed Office 2016 after doing a clean install of Win 10.

I'm running this on a Surface Pro 3 (256GB, i5). UPDATE (April 28, 2016): Just got a new Surface Pro 4 (256GB, i7) and started from a clean slate - still the same problem...

UPDATE (April 2016)

I found another work-around:

Hi, thank you for that suggestion! I have been using Excel without hardware graphics acceleration for a few weeks now and the problem is mostly solved. I have not had the complete GUI freeze anymore (see suggestion further down in this forum). So this is a good work-around.

The only thing I notice now, is that the interface around the box that shows the formula in a selected cell is often not showing up properly. For example, the "insert function" button or the buttons next to it do not show up properly.

UPDATE (Feb 1, 2016)

I found a work around:

I am 100% certain by now that this is a problem relating to the display driver. Something gets set wrong in the display driver (sorry if my language is technically not 100% correct, I'm not a software engineer). So I figured if I get the display driver to reload or at least update some basic parameters of my display, Excel should be displayed normally again.

My first attempt was to disable the display driver. Windows complained a bit but, sure enough, it did the trick. My next step was to change the display resolution (just to revert the changes right away). Worked again.

The simplest trick for me is to turn off my external display and turn it on again.

It's not ideal but not the worst solution either. And hopefully at some point Microsoft will fix the issue.

UPDATE (Jan 11, 2016):

I have an UPDATE to my first post:

Another major issue I have been dealing with since I upgraded to Win10 and Office 2016 is that my display / graphics card driver has been crashing frequently (I'm using a Surface Pro 3).

A couple of days ago Excel acted up on me again and I was about to close out everything and restart Excel. Just then, I got a notification that display driver has crashed and has recovered AND right when the notification came up, Excel's GUI returned to normal. Everything worked again. It is hard for me to pin down the causation but I'm certain now that the two are related. I have Excel open 99% of the time. So it's hard for me to tell if Excel is causing trouble with the graphics card driver or the other way around. In fact, I can't say for sure whether Excel is the only (Office) program that has this problem. It just happens to be the one I work with A LOT.

I also think I can rule out a specific spreadsheet as being the cause of the problem. I have had the problem with a couple of spreadsheets now.

Seems like the Microsoft moderators quickly ran out of ideas. Does anyone else have some ideas what the problem/solution might be?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-01-11T12:02:25+00:00

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-07-17T02:07:49+00:00

    Problem persists, even with latest Intel graphics driver.

    It's happening only with two of our Notebooks:

    • HP ProBook 640 G1
    • Intel Core i5
    • 8 GB RAM
    • Intel HD 4600 Graphics
    • Windows 10 Pro x64 Spanish
    • Office 365 Business Premium x64 Spanish (Deferred Channel, latest build)

    On a third HP ProBook 640 G1 notebook, but with Spanish Windows 7 Professional x64 (upgrade to Windows 10 delayed because of this), it's working fine, without errors.

    And, with other computers, even other Notebooks with 4th generation Intel HD 4600 (HP EliteBook for example), also works okay.

    Very strange.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-02-17T16:52:43+00:00

    Hi Frank,

    Thanks for your response.

    Ensure you have installed all Office Updates as well as Windows updates, restart the computer and check if it helps.

    If the issue still persist, you may refer to the following steps to disable Hardware Acceleration in Excel and check how it works.

    1. Click the File tab.
    2. Click on Options. And Click on Advanced tab.
    3. Under Display, select the Disable hardware graphics accelerationcheck box.
    4. Click Ok and verify the results.

    Hope it helps. Try the suggestions and let us know the result at your earliest convenience.

    Thank you.

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-12-11T17:52:13+00:00

    Hi,

    Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Office Community.

    We understand how you feel about this issue, let me assist you further.

    Let’s open Excel in application Safe Mode and check how it works.

    To do that, press the ‘Windows + R’ key on the keyboard.

    In the Run open box type in ‘Excel /safe’ and hit ok.

    Note: There is a space between excel and /.

    If application safe mode works, try disabling the add-ins associated with Office applications and check.

    To do that, do the following:

    1. Open Word or Excel Click on File and then click on options.
    2. In the Options Window click on Add-ins.
    3. Select Com Add-ins in the Manage list in the Add-ins section and click Go. Now uncheck the all the add-ins and click Ok.

    Hope it helps. Try the suggestions and let us know the result at your earliest convenience.

    Thank you.

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  5. Anonymous
    2015-12-11T16:42:08+00:00

    I have a very similar issue. Several times a day I encounter the following issues:

    1. Images in a spreadsheet will "disappear"
    2. The menu ribbon will "disappear" (but if I click the top right corner where I know the X, the file will close and save)
    3. The cursor will disappear and I cannot click on anything, whether to select a cell or bring up a menu. However the arrow keys still work.

    The above issues seem to only affect one spreadsheet and not other open spreadsheets. The issues are all rectified by closing down the spreadsheet in question and reopening it.

    1. I have noticed that when I am in the Select Data box, if I add a new item then amend anything in the right hand side (typically where dates go), it will forget any changes I already made (such as adding a new item).

    I am running Excel 2016 on Office 365, Windows 10 Home, on a Dell Inspiron.

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