This browser is no longer supported.
Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(128, 8%, 22%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EA%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
I have a spreadsheet that I use daily that just started getting the stupid "Slow workbook? 50% of your workbook has unused formatting and metadata that can be optimized to improve performance...Check Performance" pop-up that I'm having to close out every time I open the workbook. It's super annyoying because the spreadsheet is formatted just the way I need it and the stuff "excel" wants to remove is stuff that I don't want removed. How can I make the popup stop? I've looked through the options and googled but can't seem to find a straight forward answer. Hoping someone has some kind of trick to make it stop.
The main issue seems to be that I have every other column formatted like pictured below. I did this so that I could easily see each column of data to make sure I was working in the correct one. Is there a easier way to do that?
A family of Microsoft spreadsheet software with tools for analyzing, charting, and communicating data.
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.
Adding my vote against "Check Performance". It's more 'bug' than 'feature'. Get on it Microsoft. And spare us all the excuses that it's technically difficult. Even if it really is technically difficult, just admit the idea was poorly implemented and remove it.
2024 December. It looks like the fix is even more complicated. No change.
Isn't about time this was sorted.
Just yet another example how Microsoft cannot leave anything alone.
Genuinely, how in all things holy is this not fixed yet. The incompetence is unbelievable. Sorry, but I'm just very frustrated.
After much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, and much online research, I found an obscure thread in reddit, and tried what it recommended.
First, open the spreadsheet and click the "x" to cancel the "check performance" banner. Then go to the "Review" toolbar and click on the "Check Performance" button. When the side panel opens, make no changes, just exit out of the side panel. Then, immediately save the file and close it. Then go back and re-open the file.
Don't ask me why, but this seems to have worked for me... I no longer get the annoying pop-up!
Hope this helps some of you.
Addendum: After experiencing the initial success, I decided to test the "fix" from other workstations on our Local Area Network. The pop-up no longer occurs for that file, but still occurs for other files. The "fix" appears to be "file-specific" not "workstation-specific".
Addendum: I have had several people say that it worked.... one that said it did. It worked for me with two different files.... maybe it was the whole thing at the cross-roads the other night.....