Forum Discussion
No fix for Excel crash
OK. Let's see if we can make some progress here. You've had over 60 views and no replies yet. That's probably because nobody knows exactly what to suggest as an answer; "nobody" includes me. I do have some experience in diagnosing issues, however, and can use that to ask a few questions which may (no guarantee) lead to some next steps, possible even eventually to a solution.
Let's start with your description: "But, Excel (for no reason) has started crashing whenever I select a suggested formula after typing the first few letters." and note that your "for no reason" isn't quite accurate; more accurate would be "for no known reason" or "no visible reason" -- after all, there IS a reason somewhere, somehow, and that's what we're seeking.
So, putting that parenthetical aside, the rest of your sentence requires some more precise or complete descriptions.
- "has started" -- this implies that Excel was working before some point in time when this crashing started. Could you confirm that, and spell it out a bit more precisely.
- For how long was it working?
- When did it stop working?
- Has it continued to not work?
- Or is there some pattern, however sporadic, whereby sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't?
- "whenever I select a suggested formula" --
- Are there any exceptions to "whenever"--i.e., does it ALWAYS happen when a "suggested formula" is selected
- if you just enter a formula (i.e., not a "suggested" one, but one from your own knowledge) perhaps a very basic one (e.g., =A1+B1) does it work?
- What do you mean by "suggested formula"?
- What's the source of the "suggestion"--an internal Excel prompt of some kind?
- How does the "selecting" occur (dialog window?)
- Presumably you have more than one spreadsheet or workbook. Is this happening in all of them, or just in one or two?
Going beyond those attempts at clarifying further your problem statement, some other questions:
- Was any other software on your PC updated (operating system included) just before this "crashing" commenced? Any hardware changes?
- What kind of functionality is it that you need that seems to be stressing the system so? (You allude to functionality that's not available in online browser versions, but don't specify what that is.)
- What kind of data are you working with when you experience this failure (the "crashing")?
- How large is the workbook in question?
- Do you have access to an altogether different system (e.g., a Mac, or just another Windows PC) where you could try (also with the 365 subscription) the same workbook and formulae?
And if there are other particulars you can think of that might help spell out the what-where-when-extent of the symptoms, those could offer clues as to underlying causes, form the basis for some hypotheses, and suggest steps to confirm or deny those hypotheses.
Thanks mathetes
- Excel was working perfectly (to my knowledge) up until the point it wasn't. I bought this machine about six months ago
- Excel started to exhibit this behaviour 24 hours ago and continues to act in this way
- There were no hardware or software changes/updates/installations that took place
- Excel crashes regardless of which formula I am using. If I type the formula out rather than selecting the suggestion, it works fine. As soon as I select a suggestion from the autogenerated list, it crashes without warning or an error message. It sounds like a trivial thing, but actually it's made me realise how much I rely on the suggested list to save time (I use Excel rather a lot). So yes, typing something like, "=max(a1:a12)" works fine. Typing "=ma" and then select Maximum from the list makes it crash instantly
- The suggestions are generated by Excel and normally a single or double (i forget which) click on the required formula selects it without issue
- This happens with every spreadsheet including opening a new empty sheet
- I update Windows and Office about a week ago, and have been using Excel without issue until yesterday
- I'm not placing a large amount of strain on my system, or Excel. Using Excel fluently is not really possible in the browser. Often my demands on Excel are high and Excel online is not a long-term solution
- This problem happens with all workbooks, empty ones and large ones
- I have another user account on this PC and an MS Office subscription which includes Excel, and this remains free of problems
Update: I had a call with Microsoft at lunch today. We installed a previous version of Office, created a new user account on my desktop and accessed Excel through the same credentials. The engineer was unable to identify the cause of the problem and has referred it to back-office consultants after recording the problem through Quick Assist and Steps Recorder. Apparently, this problem has not been encountered previously, but I'm hopeful for a solution as it makes life extremely difficult working with data and dashboards.
I would be eternally grateful if you know of some magic to solve this issue!
Thanks
- This is outside of Excel: I would take a look at the Windows Event Viewer logs to see if there are some clues. The Event Log can be cryptic, but it may give you something to go on.
- I have another user account on this PC and an MS Office subscription which includes Excel, and this remains free of problems
Based on this, I'm inclined to agree with Patrick2788 that the primary cause is outside of Excel. Yet clearly Excel is involved, or Excel on this particular user account.
Update: I had a call with Microsoft at lunch today. ... installed a previous version of Office ... a new user account ... accessed Excel ... The engineer was unable to identify the cause ... referred it to back-office consultants after recording the problem. ... Apparently, this problem has not been encountered previously, but I'm hopeful for a solution
I share the hope. Please let us know the outcome, just to close the loop.
Thanks both, I will be sure to let you know when this is resolved and (if I know) what the remedy was,
Sam
Sam_Newton I've recently encountered the exact same issue.
The first time I had this issue was yesterday, i was editing a large formula by inserting a "left" command, the suggested formula came up part way through typing, i double clicked on the suggestion, excel closed upon doing this and I lost a load of work.
I repeated the same thing and it happened again... I thought ok, maybe its the workbook, tried a blank workbook, happened again.
Uninstalled office 365 and removed all temp files, reinstalled and it happened again.
Not much of an idea on what to do now.
