Text box lagging when typing inside

Question

Hello, when i typing or moving inside a text box cursor lags, do you know why is this happening?

nikolinode · Answer

When typing or moving the cursor in a text field, you may experience lag or delays in input, especially in large or complex workbooks. There are several possible causes and solutions. Here are some possible causes.

First make sure:

Your GPU drivers are up to date.
Excel and Office are updated via File → Account → Update Options → Update Now.

Change in Excel’s bottom-right corner or via View → Zoom — e.g., 80%, 100%, 120%.

that text boxes lag more when Excel is not at 100% zoom (like 90%, 110%, or 130%).

So it’s worth setting the workbook zoom to exactly 100% to test.

Windows scaling:

This is your screen scaling in Windows Settings → System → Display → Scale and layout, where you might have:

100% (recommended for native DPI)
125%, 150%, 175%, etc.

When Excel runs on a high-DPI display (like a 4K or Retina screen) and the scaling isn’t handled cleanly, it can make text boxes laggy when editing or moving them.

That’s why I mentioned:

Right-click Excel → Properties → Compatibility → Change high DPI settings → Override high DPI scaling behavior → Application

This tells Windows to let Excel handle its own DPI scaling — which often reduces lag in text boxes and other drawing objects.

Too Many Shapes or Text Boxes

Each text box is treated like a separate drawing object. If you have dozens or hundreds of shapes, charts, or text boxes, Excel slows down.

Try reducing the number of text boxes if possible.
Use cell comments, cell notes, or merged cells with text wrapping instead, if feasible.

Third-Party Add-ins

Some add-ins hook into Excel’s rendering engine and cause lag.

Go to File → Options → Add-ins
At the bottom, select COM Add-ins → Go…
Temporarily uncheck all and restart Excel to test.

giorgos83 · Answer

I have tried all the recommendations except the DPI display setting in Excel properties which it wasn't there, and still the lag is the same.

peterbartholomew1 · Answer

Hi&nbsp;NikolinoDE​&nbsp;I had suspected that the lag came about with the introduction of AI, as if Excel were planning to offer some miraculous improvement to the formula but changed its mind.&nbsp; I assume you consider that unlikely?

nikolinode · Answer

You’re not the only one who’s noticed performance changes since Microsoft began integrating “Copilot” and other AI features into Office apps.

But I think it is very unlikely that the delay is directly caused by the AI or the copilot logic.

The AI integrations (like Copilot, formula suggestions, and autocomplete previews) run mostly in the background and are not active inside drawing objects such as text boxes.

However, you’re right that lag began showing up around the same time Microsoft started rolling out these AI-related updates.

Hypothesis...in my opinion

Excel AI or Copilot trying to “interpret” text box input interact with text boxes

I Think its very unlikely. AI features don’t interact with text boxes.

Rendering engine update related to Copilot rollout

Same subsystem, causes lag on some setups, can be likely.

GPU/Display scaling issue

Hardware acceleration & DPI scaling are top culprits.

You could perhaps try to temporarily disable Copilot and all online intelligence functions completely (without losing Excel access) – just to see if the performance improves...just a thought🙂

nikolinode · Answer

If the text box lag still persists even after disabling hardware acceleration, testing at 100% zoom, and simplifying the workbook, then we’re probably dealing with a rendering or memory leak issue that Excel sometimes develops with text boxes in newer builds (especially Office 365 and Excel 2021+).

First, I'd like to point out that it's always good to share information about the problem with the digital environment. Digital environments such as Excel version, Windows (OS) version, storage location (OneDrive, SharePoint, hard disk, etc.), how big the workbook is, allow you to arrive at a solution proposal more quickly and accurately.

Whatever the case, here’s some more set of steps you can try…

Run Excel in Safe Mode

This launches Excel without any add-ins, startup templates, or custom graphics hooks.

Close Excel completely.

Press Windows + R, type:

excel /safe

and press Enter.

Open your workbook and test typing in a text box.

If the lag disappears, one of your add-ins (even a Microsoft one like Power Query or PowerPivot) is interfering. You can then re-enable add-ins one by one under File → Options → Add-ins → COM Add-ins → Go….

Disable “Modern Comments” and other experimental UI features

Recent Office builds use web-rendered layers for comments, shapes, and text boxes — which can lag badly on some systems.

Try:

Go to File → Options → General.
Under Comments, choose “Use classic comments” (if available).
Restart Excel and test.

Clear Excel’s Rendering Cache

Corrupt graphics cache files can cause lag in shape/textbox editing.

Close Excel.
Press Windows + R → type:
%appdata%\Microsoft\Excel
Delete any files named Excel*.xlb (these store toolbar/cache settings).
Restart Excel — it’ll recreate them automatically.

There are still a few suggested solutions, but you would have to go into the “regedit” and make changes that might not be helpful if you don't know in advance what digital environment you are dealing with.

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Text box lagging when typing inside

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