How to stop Excel from automatically checking Workbook performance?

Anonymous
2023-03-06T17:17:06+00:00

Performance check??

The Excel sheet is the way I want it to look and don't want to change it for better performance. I just want Excel to stop prompting me.

Every time I open an Excel sheet, it wants me to do a performance check because of:

"Excess formatting and unneeded metadata cause large, slow workbooks. Check for improvements to performance"

So I find myself X-clicking away this message every time. Because there is no 'excess' of formatting. The Excel sheet simply is a nicely layouted workbook and we want it to be looking this way. We don't need Excel trying to outsmart us and giving this suggestion every time you open the workbook to remove information.

It is only very confusing for not-very-experienced users who also make use of my Excel sheet.

How and where can I set Excel in a way that is stops asking this unwanted question?

  • The question mostly pops-up in the Web version of Office 365.
  • I tried unchecking boxes in the performance check tool, in the desktop version, but to no result.

Would be lovely if someone has a workaround or knows which box needs to be un-checked.

And it would be awesome if a MS engineer helps giving priority to this problem, so that it can be switched of universally.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For business | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Answer accepted by question author
Andreas Killer 144.1K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2025-01-25T10:37:57+00:00

This thread shows that there are a significant number of people complaining about this. Unfortunately, this is only a user forum, we understand your problem, but we cannot do anything to fix it. Only the Excel developers can do this if they are instructed to do so.

As previously stated, this is simply a statistical problem, Microsoft must first recognize that this is a problem. Unfortunately, this is not so easy considering that more than 200,000 people work at Microsoft.

There is a feedback portal where you can cast your vote. There is already a feed on this topic, unfortunately with very few votes. I'm sure if we get as many votes as this post has been viewed, then Microsoft will react.

Anyone reading this, please follow these steps:

Click on this link:
https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/idea/89bb523d-b197-ef11-95f6-0022484d7a88

  1. Sign in
  2. Click the Vote button

@HanzieV:

If you mark this reply as answer, it will be the first to appear when someone views this thread. I hope we can encourage as many people as possible to draw Microsoft's attention to this problem. Unfortunately, this is all we can do for you.

Andreas.

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  1. Anonymous
    2025-04-30T22:11:04+00:00

    IT. HAS. BEEN. TWO. YEARS.

    Two years where a feature that literally nobody asked for and nobody wanted destroyed hundreds of hours of work from your most loyal customers.

    Yes, I know you have data, but you don't seem to know what it means. The reasons people optimise wipe sheets and don't fix them is because they don't know how or what happened. If I send a P&L worksheet to a department that is not tech savvy, I design it so all they have to do is fill in their numbers, and they get everything caluclated for them. But because they don't know better and the feature is super-opaque, they'll "optimize" it. And then, not wanting to admit they (actually you at Micrsoft) messed up, and not knowing how to fix it, they'll just use it as is, and send back some janky thing they made to try and hide their your mistake. Then I need to spend MY time to clean it all back up. That's why you have so many users who keep using the optimized broken workbooks.

    If you'd y'know, ASKED users if this is a thing we'd want, explained what you were doing, intead of unilaterally rolling it out with no clue what the hell you were doing? We would have told you no.

    But that's not what you do. You make decisions based on "data" with no freaking context. You think you're gods who know what users need. And finally, after TWO YEARS, you finally did what you should have done right away: disable the damn feature. Thank you.

    We've given you ways to fix the tool.

    1. Let the worksheet creator disable optimization for all users.
    2. Have the Optimize feature TELL users exactly what it's going to change—with a clear warning it may have unintended consequences.
    3. Have it actually check system performance. My workstation with 64GB of RAM and 16 threads? It's not going to have a problems with ANY sheet. There's never a reason to want to "optimize".

    Guys. This isn't rocket science. Find out what your users ACTUALLY want before you change things. If you want a simpler app for casual users? Make one. You used to have MS Works. Do it again. But don't break OFFICE. We NEED IT. For WORK,

    Kindly STOP BREAKING OUR TOOLS.

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-10-16T19:56:29+00:00

    Dear Prash,

    I appreciate that you and Microsoft are ‘working on this’. And a local solution is nice and all… but please listen to us.

    The main problem is not working ‘locally’. I personally know - by now - very well that I simply click the ‘x’ and nothing of the formatting changes.

    However the REAL problem is in online collaboration with all those other inexperienced users who dumbly follow silly suggestions of the almighty Microsoft, even if the Microsoft suggestion messes things up.

    We’re not looking for a solution where all individual users have to click the right button. That’s trouble ahead!

    Why is this option there in the first place??? Is it for some **** people who don’t know how to create an Excel file and therefore are stuck with too much formatting and colours?? Well, let them sort their own sluggish Excel sheets, but allow people who know what they are doing to efficiently use your brilliant tool.

    If this would be a Poll:

    Should the functionality of checking performance be removed entirely?

    I VOTE YES!!!

    Please. Help.

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-09-03T19:07:11+00:00

    HanzieV posted their question on March 6, 2023. Today is September 9, 2024 and this issue has still not been resolved. We still do not have a way to turn off the "Slow Workbook?" prompt.

    How does it take a year and a half to address your customer concerns?

    I am on build 17928.20114.

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