Forum Discussion
Excel freezes when opening
I am trying to open a spreadsheet - any spreadsheet, not a particular one - and it hangs while it tries to find a printer to connect to. As strange as it may seem to Microsoft, I don't want to print the file, I just want to make some changes to it and so the printer remails switched off. Sometimes I can press the ESC key and it will stop trying to connect, sometimes will will hang indefinitely and I either use Task Manager to kill Excel, or in extreme cases reboot the PC.
This "feature" is driving me nuts - can I stop it?
1 Reply
Set a Virtual Printer as Default
This is the most effective fix for stopping Excel from freezing at startup.
Steps:
- Open Control Panel → Devices and Printers
- Right-click Microsoft Print to PDF or XPS Document Writer
- Select Set as Default Printer
If you don't see either, you can add one:
- Go to "Add a Printer"
- Choose "The printer that I want isn't listed"
- Select "Add a local printer" → choose Microsoft Print to PDF
This prevents Excel from stalling when it can’t find a physical printer.
Repair Office
If the issue persists even with default printer changes, try repairing Office:
- Go to: Control Panel → Programs → Programs and Features
- Select Microsoft Office → click Change
- Choose Quick Repair, or try Online Repair if needed
If the issue persists again…
Open Office apps in safe mode on a Windows PC
I hope I could help
