Forum Discussion
Urgent Escalation: Excel Freezing and Hanging Issue Not Resolved After Troubleshooting
Dear Microsoft Support Team,
Greetings.
I would like to escalate an ongoing issue with Microsoft Excel that remains unresolved despite extensive troubleshooting.
Today, I spent more than 2–3 hours with your technical support representative, who remotely accessed my system to diagnose the issue. During the session, multiple troubleshooting steps were performed, including a complete uninstall and fresh reinstallation of Microsoft Office. Unfortunately, the problem still persists.
The issue is very simple but critical. In one of my Excel workbooks, whenever I try to delete even a single row, Excel immediately freezes and becomes unresponsive. After that, I am unable to continue working, and the application has to be force closed. This is significantly affecting my productivity and delaying important work.
Since the issue was not resolved after the previous support session, I request that this case be escalated to a senior technical engineer for further investigation. Kindly help identify the root cause and provide a permanent resolution at the earliest.
Please let me know if you require any additional information, logs, or diagnostic files from my end. I am available to cooperate with any further troubleshooting required.
I look forward to your prompt response and a quick resolution.
Thank you.
Kind Regards,
Farhan Mirza
1 Reply
I’m just another user here and not from Microsoft support, but I’ve seen this specific Excel behavior before and can share a few things that often help isolate it.
When Excel freezes specifically on deleting a row, it’s usually not an installation issue but something inside the workbook itself. A few things you can try to narrow it down:
1. Check if it’s file-specific
- Create a brand new blank workbook
- Try inserting and deleting a few rows
If this works fine, the issue is almost certainly inside the original file.
2. Look for hidden sheet complexity
This is one of the most common causes:
- Overextended conditional formatting ranges
- Corrupted or overly large Excel tables
- Heavy or volatile formulas (INDIRECT, OFFSET, TODAY, NOW)
- Merged cells near or across affected rows
- Formatting applied far beyond the real data range
3. Test in Safe Mode (add-in check)
- Run Excel in Safe Mode (excel /safe)
- Open the file and try deleting a row
If it works, an add-in is likely interfering.
4. Check calculation impact
Try:
- Formulas → Calculation Options → Manual
Then test deleting a row again.
If the freeze stops, it’s likely recalculation overload triggered by structural changes.
5. Quick workaround (for urgent work)
Not a fix, but may help you continue working:
- Open the file in Excel Online (OneDrive/SharePoint) and try deleting the row there
- Or copy the usable data into a new workbook and continue working from that
6. Copy into a clean workbook
This often resolves hidden corruption:
- Create a new workbook
- Copy only the used data range
- Paste using Paste Special → Values
- Avoid copying merged cells if possible
7. Check “Used Range”
Press Ctrl + End.
If Excel jumps far beyond your actual data, it may think the sheet is much larger than it really is, which can cause freezes during row operations.
8. If nothing works
Try:
- File → Open → Open and Repair
If it helps, you could also share:
- Whether it happens in all files or just this one
- File size / complexity (tables, Power Query, external links, etc.)
That might help narrow it down further.
This way, it’s very clear you’re a peer user sharing experience, not official support — which actually tends to make replies more trustworthy in many forums.
My answers are voluntary and without guarantee!
Hope this will help you.
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