If Excel is stuck on Processing when saving a document, the solutions provided in this article will help you. According to the reports, when users try to save their Excel document, it gets stuck on the processing screen. The processing screen stays forever, and users cannot save the document.
Excel stuck on Processing when saving
Use the following suggestions if Excel is stuck on Processing when saving a document:
- Preliminary fixes
- Disable Add-ins
- Monitor your system resources
- Disable your antivirus
- Check the issue in a Clean Boot state
- Create a new user account
- Roll back Office to the previous version
- Repair Office
All these fixes are explained below in detail.
1] Preliminary fixes
Before proceeding with the advanced troubleshooting steps, try these basic fixes and see if they work.
- Sometimes, issues occur due to a bug. If so, updating Office to the latest version can help.
- Save the file to another location. You can also try creating another copy of the file with a different name.
- You can also enable the Autosave feature for your problematic file. The Autosave feature saves your data in Excel automatically. However, for this, you need to put the file in OneDrive.
- The issue may be due to corrupt Excel cache. Try clearing Excel cache.
2] Disable Add-ins
Sometimes, problems in Office applications occur due to some problematic add-ins. This can be the case with you. To check this, disable all add-ins in Excel and then save the file. If this works, you need to find the problematic add-in. You can do so by enabling all the add-ins one by one and saving the file after enabling each add-in. Once you find the culprit, look for an alternative or contact its support team.
3] Monitor your system resources
If your Excel file contains massive data, your computer might struggle to handle the file. Check this in the Task Manager. Open the Task Manager and monitor your RAM and CPU consumption. If Excel causes high CPU usage, troubleshoot accordingly or consider upgrading your hardware.
4] Disable your antivirus
Sometimes, antivirus software conflicts with other programs installed on a computer. Check if this is the case with you. Disable your antivirus temporarily and then save the Excel file. If this resolves the issue, you can add the Excel exe file as an exception to your antivirus.
If adding the Excel exe file as an exception does not help, you need to contact your antivirus provider for further assistance.
5] Check the issue in a Clean Boot state
A third-party background application or service might be interfering with Excel and causing this issue. To check this, terminate all third-party background applications through the Task Manager, then save the file. If this works, you can find the problematic background application interfering with Excel.
To find the third-party service, enter the Clean Boot state by using the MSConfig. Once you are in the Clean Boot state, open the Excel file and save it. If this works, your next step is to find the problematic third-party service.
Be careful while entering the Clean Boot, as disabling all the services will make your system unstable and you may have to reinstall Windows to fix this issue.
6] Create a new user account
The problem might be associated with your user profile. To check this, create a new user profile. Now, log in to that user profile and open Microsoft Excel. Check if you can save the file. If this works, you can transfer your profile data to the old profile to the new profile.
7] Roll back Office to the previous version
When the automatic update option is enabled in Office, all the Office applications are updated automatically without letting you know. If Excel was working fine previously, an update might have been installed, and that update may have caused this issue. Just like Windows Updates, you can also roll back Office to the previous version. This option is available only for the Office Click-to-Run applications.
If this works, you can keep using the previous version of Office until Microsoft rolls out the next update. However, Office can also install the latest update automatically. To stop Office from updating automatically, disable the automatic update option after rolling it back to the previous version.
8] Repair Office
If none of these fixes fix your issue, your Office application might have been corrupted. To fix this, repair Office. Run an online repair.
That’s it. I hope this helps.
Why is Excel taking so long to process?
If Excel is taking so long to process, that might be due to limited system resources available for Excel. If your Excel file contains massive data, this can happen. Check your CPU and RAM consumption while using Excel. If your system is under load while running Excel, you may need to upgrade your hardware.
How do I clear Excel cache?
To clear Excel cache, open Excel and navigate to File > Options > Save. Scroll down and click the Delete cached files button under the Cache Settings section on the right side.
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