How to stop Excel from automatically checking Workbook performance?

Yes, we need an alternative to Microsoft.

I think the idea behind the performance checking is great but typical of Microsoft, they do in a way that makes it virtually unusable and DO NOT let users turn it off which should be an option on all new features that interfere with general operation!!

The optimization has no idea how the spreadsheet is intended to be used and in so many cases the user has added extra formatting for a specific purpose, perhaps to mark pending changes or issues that need resolved - I personally use orange red and green to mark progress whilst making changes, items that need changing or are in progress and red for areas to delete. I usually mark these in Column A. The optimizer thinks these should be removed as they are excessive formatting!!

I am now building almost exclusively with dynamic arrays and have set formatting to allow for he expansion of these arrays so that they are formatted. The optimizer thinks these should be cleaned which means when the values change and the arrays spill, they will be un-formatted!!

Finally, when reviewing the suggestions made by the optimizer, it actually tells you which ranges need to be optimized. Great. But why not when I click on this range can it not highlight it on the sheet and then let me choose to optimize that particular range or mark it to be ignored. That would be really useful. But no, I have to do all the optimization or none. I can't choose selectively thus rendering the tool completely useless!!

Come on Excel team. You have created a great product and the dynamic arrays are awesome - don't wreck it by introducing half built tools (I'm being polite here as I do not think the intention was to make them better but I live in hope) and then forcing them on users!!

Listen to the users. Add a checkbox to allow this to be disabled - and preferably from a link on the optimization ribbon so that users then don't have to hunt around the options looking - eg "Disable further optimization checking on this file". And perhaps when the optimizer is more useful by enabling selective optimizations, more people will use it. As it is, who is going to risk giving it carte blanche to wreck a model!!

I also vote YES!

Microsoft representatives, do you have any evidence of need for this feature? I know you've spent time investing in it but if you are receiving so much grief about it at what point do you give up on it?

Dear all,

Thank you for your feedback and details. It is much appreciated.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but for workbooks that are local or on a network share and intentionally prepared with many empty formatted cells, our previous solution to suppress the notification upon first dismiss (click "X") seems inadequate because:

• When you share these workbooks with others, they also need to dismiss (click "X") the first time they open the workbook locally.
• When you download them locally and create new workbooks from them, you need to dismiss (click "X") the notification the first time you open each new workbook.
• And there may be other similar scenarios involving local sharing or reuse of these workbooks wherein such repeated dismissals aren’t productive.

Sorry for the inconvenience this has caused. To alleviate this, we are working on providing a setting to suppress the notification for the local Excel desktop and will provide more details as we approach release.

Please let me know if I’ve still missed anything.

thanx,

Prash