Forum Discussion
My MS-Excel window goes black partially and intermittently.
- I already solved this issue. In case someone out there has the same problem, here is the proven solution:
Disable the graphics acceleration:
1. From Excel's main menu select Options.
2. At Excel Options window, choose Advanced on the left pane.
3. At the right pane, under Display options, CHECK the "Disable hardware graphics acceleration" checkbox and click OK.
This solution was provided on September 2022 by: Ravikumar Vadamalai, Independent Advisor, Microsoft Community.
Greetings to the Microsoft Tech Community.
Disable the graphics acceleration:
1. From Excel's main menu select Options.
2. At Excel Options window, choose Advanced on the left pane.
3. At the right pane, under Display options, CHECK the "Disable hardware graphics acceleration" checkbox and click OK.
This solution was provided on September 2022 by: Ravikumar Vadamalai, Independent Advisor, Microsoft Community.
Greetings to the Microsoft Tech Community.
ElizabethAnneVH I don't have that option in the right side?! "Disable hardware graphics acceleration" checkbox that is. What to do next?
veebee7 You can try disabling graphics acceleration from Windows settings. Of course, this will affect graphics performance of all your apps, like games, but it may solve your screen issues in Excel app.
To disable graphics acceleration from Windows settings go to:
System --> Display --> Graphics --> Default graphics settings --> Turn off the Optimizations option
If you don´t have any option available for disabling graphics acceleration (neither in Excel app nor in Windows Settings), then it is possible that your hardware does not support graphics acceleration. In this case, there is nothing you can do through this configuration. You will need to look for other configuration options.
Best regards,
Elízabeth Anne Villegas
México.
I'm finally jumping in after finding this thread... I've been dealing with this for several years now.
A client and I both use Excel (I'm on 16.0.18 in Windows 10 Pro 22H2) with massive spreadsheets, containing charts and graphs and images embedded in them. We both deal with this every day. She has a high-end workstation with a monster graphics card. I have a high-end Mac running windows in a virtual machine. I have played with all kinds of VM graphics and RAM settings to no avail. Excel is the only app having this problem in Windows 10 and it is a royal pain. I have searched the forums looking for answers, and have found everything people are saying here: the option to disable graphics acceleration was removed from Windows 10, registry editing hacks do not fix the issue, and I just tried disabling the gaming option that you had recommended but it didn't work either (I closed and restarted Excel and it seemed to a help for a few minutes but then went back to the same garbled text, locked up the Excel window, and blacked out contents). Extremely frustrating. Much of the time I can overcome it by switching tabs and it seems that Excel will re-generate the sheet contents when I do that. However, sometimes that does not work and the only option is to use hotkeys to save and close Excel.
This is a mainstream product. Is this issue only seen by a handful of people??
Not much I can do here, but I've tried both High and Power-saving.There is no longer an option to disable hardware acceleration.
This is not a viable long term solution. Nobody would normally WANT to Disable hardware graphics acceleration. That's just a band-aid solution.
When will Micro$oft actually FIX the underlying problem that just started causing this problem after a recent Windows Update?
I do! I have been working my Excel with disabled hardware graphics acceleration for some years and I am pretty fine. However, I do agree that this problem should be solved by Microsoft. I still do not know if this issue is present in specific machines with specific CPUs and graphics cards, like my HP, or if it is a general issue for all types of hardware. This is something you could help to clarify, if you mention what brand, model, is your computer and graphics card.
Greetings.
ElizabethAnneVH I have the same issue. I tried all the steps and I can't get it to work. Like you said Microsoft really needs to fix this issue. I have a fairly new Lenovo T14 laptop and using 2x 4k External Monitors and the issue applies on all of my screens.
ElizabethAnneVH Your solution really works. Thanks.
Kofiagbalenyo I am very glad this solution worked for you. Thank the original provider, mentioned above. I am charmed to help.
Lovely regards,
Elizabeth Anne
Mexico.
Tried the proposed solution but "Disable hardware graphics acceleration" does exist at the specified location,
- Hello,
You have to click on the "disable graphics acceleration" option. This option does exist, but you have to put a checkmark to it.
Best regards.- Hi - I would click on it if it was there somewhere. Under File>Options>Advanced the following are choices none of which show a graphics acceleration option: "Display"; "Display options for this workbook"; "Display options for this worksheet". My workaround is to close the workbook and reopen it and that solves the keep working issue but doesn't solve the problem.
