Excel is not responding - Microsoft Excel 2010

Recently one of my team members had started getting an error message in Excel 2010. Every time when he tried to open Excel file, MS Excel would crash instantaneously with an error message “Excel is not responding”. He was very frustrated and contact me to resolve the problem. I had recommended him a list of solutions to resolve this particular error message. In this article I will describe all the solutions.

Solution 1: Install the latest updates

It is the simplest method! Try this method first before anything to fix the problem. Installing recommended or optional updates can fix the problem by replacing the old files.

Solution 2: Repair MS Office application

In some cases, it might be possible that one of the important file of MS Office application has been corrupt, damaged or deleted. So it might be very helpful to try an automatic repair option of MS Office. It will fix the entire problem related to the MS Office. To perform this, follow below steps:

1. First, close all the MS Office programs that are running, for example Excel, Word, PowerPoint etc
2. Now Open the Control Panel.
3. Select "Programs and Features".
4. Look for "Microsoft Office 2010" in the list.
5. Click on the "Change" button at the top.
6. Now select “Repair” from the list and click on the Continue button.
7. You have done.

Solution 3: Uninstall & Reinstall MS Office application

It is very helpful method for severe cases. You can do this manually or with the help of Office uninstaller.

Solution 4: Start in safe mode

If above solutions do not work for you then try this method. It is likely one that will work for you. In some of the cases; crashing or not responding issues happen due to add-ins problems. When you start MS Office programs in safe mode then it does not load any add-ins that is possible cause of crashing.

How to do this: To start excel in safe mode, follow below steps:

1. Open the Run window manually or press Windows+R key to get the Rum window.
2. Now type “Excel.exe /safe” in the text box.
3. Disable the add-ins.

Note: There is a space between the .exe & /

Solution 5: Test the File

If not responding issue is happening with any particular file that was created with the third party software then it might be possible that some of the feature not work properly in the MS Excel. First test the file outside the third party application and make sure third party is aware with this issue.

Solution 6: Change the default printer

When you open any MS office documents like .xls, .xlsx, .doc, .docx or any other the MS Office application communicate with the printer to figure out the margins supported by installed printer. If communication fails due to any reason then application will be crash. To fix the issue you have to change the default printer. Follow below steps to fix the issue:

1. Open the MS Excel.
2. Go-to the devices and printers windows.
3. Now right click on the printer and choose as a default printer.
4. Now open you file again.

Your Turn:
Have you ever experienced with the discussed error message? How did you fix the problem? Did you find this article useful? Please let me know through comments!