Getting High CPU usage in Excel – How to Fix?

Excel is the most popular spreadsheet software available in the Microsoft Office package. It is easy to use and it provides many useful features. But recently, Windows users have been complaining that Excel is using too much CPU.

Also Read: How to Remove Macros From an Excel File

If Excel starts getting high CPU usage, it will slow down your computer. You won’t be able to run other applications, the battery of your computer will drain faster, and you can also lose unsaved works. In order to avoid all these issues, you need to fix the high CPU usage problem of Excel as soon as possible. And to help you with that, we have provided a few useful solutions below.

What causes the High CPU Usage problem in Excel?

Here’s a list of possible reasons that can provoke Excel to use too much CPU.

Outdated Microsoft Office application
Corrupted Excel file
Interference by third-party applications
Problematic Add-ins

Now that you have become familiar with the issues behind high CPU usage of Excel, let’s move forward to the solutions to these issues.

How to fix high CPU usage in Excel?

Solution 1: Remove Excel Add-ins

When you attach add-ins to Excel, they introduce additional functionality in the Excel spreadsheet. But the add-ins could be the reason behind the high CPU usage of Excel. To figure out this, you need to run Excel in Safe mode. If running Excel in Safe mode reduces CPU usage, then add-ins were indeed problematic. Follow the steps.

First, you have to press and hold the Ctrl key and double-click on Excel to run it in Safe mode.
Then, check the CPU usage of Excel.
If the CPU usage decreases, remove all the Add-ins one by one.

Solution 2: Perform Clean Boot with your system

In some cases, the third-party applications that run in the background cause the high CPU usage issue. To solve this problem, you need to perform a clean boot on your system. Follow these steps given below.

Click on the Windows Search bar.
Type “msconfig” and press Enter.
From the search results, choose the System Configuration option.
Open the Services tab.
Tick the box beside Hide all Microsoft services.
When you click on the “Disable all” option, all the third-party applications will get disabled.
Then, go to the Startup tab.
Choose Task Manager.
Stop all programs from starting when the system restarts.
Save all the changes.
Reboot your computer.

Solution 3: Update Microsoft Office

Microsoft Excel comes as a package with Microsoft Office. If there is something wrong with the Microsoft Office, then that will surely affect Microsoft Excel. The Microsoft Office updates come along with Windows updates. So, we are going to follow the steps for the Windows update and fix this problem.

Press Windows key +I.
Open Settings.
Select the Update & Security option
In the left pane, click on Windows Update, and in the right pane, click on the “Check for updates” option.

If updating your computer didn’t solve the issue, follow the next solution.

Solution 4: Fix damaged or corrupted Spreadsheet

Sometimes a damaged or corrupted Excel spreadsheet starts getting high CPU usage, and it can also create more problems. To fix the corrupted Excel spreadsheet, follow these steps given below.

Type “Control” in the Windows Search bar.
Click on “Control Panel” from the search results.
Select Programs
Choose the “Uninstall a program” option.
Find and then right-click on “Office.”
Select “Repair“
After the Office installation is repaired, reboot your computer.

Solution 5: Delete Excel configuration files

If repairing Excel didn’t work, the problem may lie in the configuration files of Excel. You can try to manually delete the configuration files of Excel and see if that can fix the high CPU usage issue. Here’s a quick guide on how to find the configuration files.

If you are using Excel in the background, make sure you close the Excel window before moving forward.
Now, go to the following path in the Windows Explorer.

C:\Users\Your Username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel

When you reach the Excel folder, copy everything from the folder.
You can paste that content somewhere else for backup.
Now, delete all the contents from the Excel folder.
Reboot your system.
Check the Excel CPU usage.

Solution 6: Uninstall Microsoft Office

If none of the above-mentioned solutions worked for you, then the last thing you should do is perform a clean reinstallation of Microsoft Office. But before that, you have to uninstall Microsoft Office. Follow these steps.

First, back up your Microsoft Office license key.
Download the Fixit tool.
You only have to run the Fixit tool and follow its instructions.
After you successfully uninstall Microsoft Office, restart your system.
Install Microsoft Office again and check CPU usage.

Microsoft Excel has created milestones for all the spreadsheet software out there. It is the most reliable and useful Office software. But even the most advanced programs can show some problems from time to time.

You don’t have to worry anymore. Using our solutions, you can easily fix the high CPU usage issue of Excel. Go through the solutions given above one by one and see which one works for your case. We hope this article was insightful. And you were able to learn everything about the high CPU usage issue of Excel. If you have any queries or feedback, please write down the comment in the below comment box.