2013 Excel Slow To Open Files When Double Clicked.
I am running O365 Office enterprise edition. I have a Pentium 7 computer with 32gb of Ram with SSD drives. I installed Windows 10 today and after the install it brought back an old problem that I had about a year ago. When I double click an Excel file on my local C drive or a network drive it takes anywhere from 45 seconds to 2 minutes to open the file. If I ope the same file from within Excel it opens instantly. I had this problem once before and found the fix online but for the life of me I can't remember what I did. I have already unistalled and reinstalled Office after the upgrade to Windows 10 with no luck. Any help would be appreciated.
July 30th, 2015 5:33pm

Hi Kelly,

Based on your description, did this issue only appear in Excel?

First please open the Word file in safe mode, if it works fine try to disable add-ins in Word.

Then go to File- Options- Advanced- check "Disable hardware graphics acceleration" option & Tick the option "Ignore other application that use Dynamic Data Exchange" 

Please try this method first and check if it works for you.

I'm glad to help and follow up your reply.

Regards,

Emi Zhang
TechNet Community Su

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July 31st, 2015 4:34am

Thanks Emi I should have addressed this is my original post. This is only happening in Excel and I have disabled any add-ins. I have disabled graphics acceleration and also ticked the option "Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange". All after trying all of this I still have the issue. I somehow think it must be tied to the registry because I fixed it once before and the problem did not return until I installed Windows 10, leading me to believe that something was changed back. I'm running an identical machine next to it that has never experienced this problem.
July 31st, 2015 10:20am

I have the exact same problem after installing Windows 10. Excel is very slow to open on Office 365 Home Edition. It was perfectly fine before the upgrade.
  • Edited by accote 7 hours 47 minutes ago
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August 1st, 2015 7:41pm

I have the exact same problem after installing Windows 10. Excel is very slow to open on Office 365 Home Edition. It was perfectly fine before the upgrade.
  • Edited by accote Saturday, August 01, 2015 11:41 PM
August 1st, 2015 11:41pm

I have the exact same problem after installing Windows 10. Excel is very slow to open on Office 365 Home Edition. It was perfectly fine before the upgrade.
  • Edited by accote Saturday, August 01, 2015 11:41 PM
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August 1st, 2015 11:41pm

I have the exact same problem after installing Windows 10. Excel is very slow to open on Office 365 Home Edition. It was perfectly fine before the upgrade.
  • Edited by accote Saturday, August 01, 2015 11:41 PM
August 1st, 2015 11:41pm

Yep, I'm having the same problem too - Excel (and only Excel - other Office apps are fine) and Windows 10. Excel takes anywhere between 10-30s to open a small file when you double click it in Windows Explorer, but if you open Excel first and then use File>Open the file opens instantly.

What I have found that is strange:

1. In Windows Explorer select the View tab, and enable Preview Pane

2. In Windows Explorer single-click on an xlsx file, and in a second or two the file will be previewed in the Preview Pane

3. Now you can double-click any Excel file in Windows Explorer (or single-click shortcuts), and the file will open almost straight away!

Unfortunately it's not a real solution because as soon as you close the Explorer window Excel goes back to opening files slowly. Suggests that the problem is maybe more of an Explorer problem than an Excel problem?

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August 2nd, 2015 3:16am

Yep, I'm having the same problem too - Excel (and only Excel - other Office apps are fine) and Windows 10. Excel takes anywhere between 10-30s to open a small file when you double click it in Windows Explorer, but if you open Excel first and then use File>Open the file opens instantly.

What I have found that is strange:

1. In Windows Explorer select the View tab, and enable Preview Pane

2. In Windows Explorer single-click on an xlsx file, and in a second or two the file will be previewed in the Preview Pane

3. Now you can double-click any Excel file in Windows Explorer (or single-click shortcuts), and the file will open almost straight away!

Unfortunately it's not a real solution because as soon as you close the Explorer window Excel goes back to opening files slowly. Suggests that the problem is maybe more of an Explorer problem than an Excel problem?

August 2nd, 2015 7:16am

Yep, I'm having the same problem too - Excel (and only Excel - other Office apps are fine) and Windows 10. Excel takes anywhere between 10-30s to open a small file when you double click it in Windows Explorer, but if you open Excel first and then use File>Open the file opens instantly.

What I have found that is strange:

1. In Windows Explorer select the View tab, and enable Preview Pane

2. In Windows Explorer single-click on an xlsx file, and in a second or two the file will be previewed in the Preview Pane

3. Now you can double-click any Excel file in Windows Explorer (or single-click shortcuts), and the file will open almost straight away!

Unfortunately it's not a real solution because as soon as you close the Explorer window Excel goes back to opening files slowly. Suggests that the problem is maybe more of an Explorer problem than an Excel problem?

Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
August 2nd, 2015 7:16am

Yep, I'm having the same problem too - Excel (and only Excel - other Office apps are fine) and Windows 10. Excel takes anywhere between 10-30s to open a small file when you double click it in Windows Explorer, but if you open Excel first and then use File>Open the file opens instantly.

What I have found that is strange:

1. In Windows Explorer select the View tab, and enable Preview Pane

2. In Windows Explorer single-click on an xlsx file, and in a second or two the file will be previewed in the Preview Pane

3. Now you can double-click any Excel file in Windows Explorer (or single-click shortcuts), and the file will open almost straight away!

Unfortunately it's not a real solution because as soon as you close the Explorer window Excel goes back to opening files slowly. Suggests that the problem is maybe more of an Explorer problem than an Excel problem?

August 2nd, 2015 7:16am

Yep, I'm having the same problem too - Excel (and only Excel - other Office apps are fine) and Windows 10. Excel takes anywhere between 10-30s to open a small file when you double click it in Windows Explorer, but if you open Excel first and then use File>Open the file opens instantly.

What I have found that is strange:

1. In Windows Explorer select the View tab, and enable Preview Pane

2. In Windows Explorer single-click on an xlsx file, and in a second or two the file will be previewed in the Preview Pane

3. Now you can double-click any Excel file in Windows Explorer (or single-click shortcuts), and the file will open almost straight away!

Unfortunately it's not a real solution because as soon as you close the Explorer window Excel goes back to opening files slowly. Suggests that the problem is maybe more of an Explorer problem than an Excel problem?

Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
August 2nd, 2015 7:16am

Yes I tested the preview pane and if works exactly as you described. Not a fix but an interesting find.
 The other thing I find strange is I have updated 5 pc's and I'm only having this issue on 1.
August 2nd, 2015 3:26pm

Yes I tested the preview pane and if works exactly as you described. Not a fix but an interesting find.
 The other thing I find strange is I have updated 5 pc's and I'm only having this issue on 1.
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August 2nd, 2015 7:24pm

Yes I tested the preview pane and if works exactly as you described. Not a fix but an interesting find.
 The other thing I find strange is I have updated 5 pc's and I'm only having this issue on 1.
August 2nd, 2015 7:24pm

Yes I tested the preview pane and if works exactly as you described. Not a fix but an interesting find.
 The other thing I find strange is I have updated 5 pc's and I'm only having this issue on 1.
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
August 2nd, 2015 7:24pm

Hi RAB,

Thanks for sharing the experience here!! It's a new discovery, and we will pay attention to this issue. Any updates we will let you know.

We recommend users to install the latest updates of Windows 10 and upgrade to the latest version of Office.

Regards,

Emi Zhang
TechNet Community Su

August 3rd, 2015 2:57am

I am encountering the same problem described with Access.  30-60 second delay.  Delays increase substantially when opening a second or third database concurrently.  This was not an issue on Windows 8.1.
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August 3rd, 2015 10:10am

Me too. Only started to happen once Windows 10 was installed
August 3rd, 2015 8:26pm

Same exact problem here. It happens when opening Excel, Access, and Project files from File Explorer. But opening Word, PowerPoint, Publisher, and Visio files is unaffected.

In addition, launching ALL files from the OneDrive site (for instance, clicking "Edit in Microsoft Word") is ludicrously slow (takes about 30 seconds). It appears to be a related problem.

This happened as soon as I upgraded to Windows 10.

Also, it is appears to be a local issue. I created other accounts on the computer and files open in those accounts just fine.

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August 3rd, 2015 10:51pm

Hello Kelly,

Thanks to Andrew at http://www.tenforums.com/members/andrew87.html, the problem appears to be Cortana Voice.

Try the following which worked for me, but eliminates talking to Cortana:

  1. Disable Cortana Voice    
    Cortana/Settings/
    "Hey Cortana" switch to off
  2. Stop Cortana Service
    Open Task Manager
    Find and Right-Click Cortana Service
    End Task

From here forward Excel should be back to normal even after Cortana restarts.  Some users have had similar issues with other voices services like Lenovo's so bear that in mind.

Good Luck

August 5th, 2015 6:59pm

Hello Kelly,

Thanks to Andrew at http://www.tenforums.com/members/andrew87.html, the problem appears to be Cortana Voice.

Try the following which worked for me, but eliminates talking to Cortana:

  1. Disable Cortana Voice    
    Cortana/Settings/
    "Hey Cortana" switch to off
  2. Stop Cortana Service
    Open Task Manager
    Find and Right-Click Cortana Service
    End Task

From here forward Excel should be back to normal even after Cortana restarts.  Some users have had similar issues with other voices services like Lenovo's so bear that in mind.

Good Luck

Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
August 5th, 2015 6:59pm

Hello Kelly,

Thanks to Andrew at http://www.tenforums.com/members/andrew87.html, the problem appears to be Cortana Voice.

Try the following which worked for me, but eliminates talking to Cortana:

  1. Disable Cortana Voice    
    Cortana/Settings/
    "Hey Cortana" switch to off
  2. Stop Cortana Service
    Open Task Manager
    Find and Right-Click Cortana Service
    End Task

From here forward Excel should be back to normal even after Cortana restarts.  Some users have had similar issues with other voices services like Lenovo's so bear that in mind.

Good Luck

August 5th, 2015 6:59pm

Hello Kelly,

Thanks to Andrew at http://www.tenforums.com/members/andrew87.html, the problem appears to be Cortana Voice.

Try the following which worked for me, but eliminates talking to Cortana:

  1. Disable Cortana Voice    
    Cortana/Settings/
    "Hey Cortana" switch to off
  2. Stop Cortana Service
    Open Task Manager
    Find and Right-Click Cortana Service
    End Task

From here forward Excel should be back to normal even after Cortana restarts.  Some users have had similar issues with other voices services like Lenovo's so bear that in mind.

Good Luck

Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
August 5th, 2015 6:59pm

Hello Kelly,

Thanks to Andrew at http://www.tenforums.com/members/andrew87.html, the problem appears to be Cortana Voice.

Try the following which worked for me, but eliminates talking to Cortana:

  1. Disable Cortana Voice    
    Cortana/Settings/
    "Hey Cortana" switch to off
  2. Stop Cortana Service
    Open Task Manager
    Find and Right-Click Cortana Service
    End Task

From here forward Excel should be back to normal even after Cortana restarts.  Some users have had similar issues with other voices services like Lenovo's so bear that in mind.

Good Luck

August 5th, 2015 6:59pm

Hello Kelly,

Thanks to Andrew at http://www.tenforums.com/members/andrew87.html, the problem appears to be Cortana Voice.

Try the following which worked for me, but eliminates talking to Cortana:

  1. Disable Cortana Voice    
    Cortana/Settings/
    "Hey Cortana" switch to off
  2. Stop Cortana Service
    Open Task Manager
    Find and Right-Click Cortana Service
    End Task

From here forward Excel should be back to normal even after Cortana restarts.  Some users have had similar issues with other voices services like Lenovo's so bear that in mind.

Good Luck

This is very interesting. This worked!... although I had to End the Cortana task a couple of times to see the effect. Excel, Access, and Project now load up instantly. Thank you!!!!

Note to Microsoft Engineers: total shot in the dark, but I suspect this issue is caused by Cortana hogging up the ancient DDE cross-process channel for some reason (roots in Windows 3.0!) and which Excel inexplicably uses to load up files when launched from explorer rather than a simple cmd %1 shell command, like Word uses. I could be wrong. But it would explain why I often see "Waiting for DDE... to close" when restarting the computer. I dunno.

P.S.

Also, the issue is not entirely caused by "Hey Cortana." The second I enabled Cortana, period, on one of the accounts on my computer, the issue surfaced on that account. I didn't even complete the Cortana wizard (signing into Microsoft Account).

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August 5th, 2015 7:50pm

Unfortunately, after a reboot, the problem returned. :-( Even with "Hey Cortana" disabled. 1) It does seem to be Cortana related regardless and 2) DDE Server Window related IMHO. I hope the MS engineers monitor these forums. 

[EDIT] I take it back. While the problem seemed to exist for the first 5 minutes after reboot, it went away. I have not tried reenabling "Hey Cortana." The above suspicions concerning DDE s

August 5th, 2015 8:56pm

Hello Kelly,

Thanks to Andrew at http://www.tenforums.com/members/andrew87.html, the problem appears to be Cortana Voice.

Try the following which worked for me, but eliminates talking to Cortana:

  1. Disable Cortana Voice    
    Cortana/Settings/
    "Hey Cortana" switch to off
  2. Stop Cortana Service
    Open Task Manager
    Find and Right-Click Cortana Service
    End Task

From here forward Excel should be back to normal even after Cortana restarts.  Some users have had similar issues with other voices services like Lenovo's so bear that in mind.

Good Luck

Awesome, this worked for me! Thank you so much, spent hours trying to figure this out. Did Office repair, changed every other setting possible and nothing worked.  

Edit: It seems if I turn on "Hey Cortana", excel sheets take a while to open up when double clicking on an excel file. :(

Once again, thank you!



  • Edited by Woozzy Thursday, August 06, 2015 1:21 AM
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August 6th, 2015 1:08am

Hello Kelly,

Thanks to Andrew at http://www.tenforums.com/members/andrew87.html, the problem appears to be Cortana Voice.

Try the following which worked for me, but eliminates talking to Cortana:

  1. Disable Cortana Voice    
    Cortana/Settings/
    "Hey Cortana" switch to off
  2. Stop Cortana Service
    Open Task Manager
    Find and Right-Click Cortana Service
    End Task

From here forward Excel should be back to normal even after Cortana restarts.  Some users have had similar issues with other voices services like Lenovo's so bear that in mind.

Good Luck

Awesome, this worked for me! Thank you so much, spent hours trying to figure this out. Did Office repair, changed every other setting possible and nothing worked.  

Edit: It seems if I turn on "Hey Cortana", excel sheets take a while to open up when double clicking on an excel file. :(

Once again, thank you!



  • Edited by Woozzy Thursday, August 06, 2015 1:21 AM
August 6th, 2015 1:08am

Hello Kelly,

Thanks to Andrew at http://www.tenforums.com/members/andrew87.html, the problem appears to be Cortana Voice.

Try the following which worked for me, but eliminates talking to Cortana:

  1. Disable Cortana Voice    
    Cortana/Settings/
    "Hey Cortana" switch to off
  2. Stop Cortana Service
    Open Task Manager
    Find and Right-Click Cortana Service
    End Task

From here forward Excel should be back to normal even after Cortana restarts.  Some users have had similar issues with other voices services like Lenovo's so bear that in mind.

Good Luck

Awesome, this worked for me! Thank you so much, spent hours trying to figure this out. Did Office repair, changed every other setting possible and nothing worked.  

Edit: It seems if I turn on "Hey Cortana", excel sheets take a while to open up when double clicking on an excel file. :(

Once again, thank you!



  • Edited by Woozzy Thursday, August 06, 2015 1:21 AM
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
August 6th, 2015 1:08am

Hello Kelly,

Thanks to Andrew at http://www.tenforums.com/members/andrew87.html, the problem appears to be Cortana Voice.

Try the following which worked for me, but eliminates talking to Cortana:

  1. Disable Cortana Voice    
    Cortana/Settings/
    "Hey Cortana" switch to off
  2. Stop Cortana Service
    Open Task Manager
    Find and Right-Click Cortana Service
    End Task

From here forward Excel should be back to normal even after Cortana restarts.  Some users have had similar issues with other voices services like Lenovo's so bear that in mind.

Good Luck

Yes indeed - this worked for me!
August 6th, 2015 1:48pm

If you look further down you will see that disabling Cortana resolves the problem  Also explains why there was no problem in W 8.1. 

I think MS need to get on top of this one (as well as Edge which is close to unusable).

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August 8th, 2015 5:45pm

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to reply, my wife has been in the hospital. I did try this and it seems to have resolved my issue. After a reboot the issue seems to come back but I'm still tweaking it. Thanks for all the help.
August 11th, 2015 9:07am

Yes -- I've been annoyed by the exact same problem with Excel ever since upgrading to Windows 10 (also using Office 365 - Small Business). I've got all updates applied, tried turning off anti-virus, turning off graphics acceleration in Excel, etc. The one suggestion that immediately fixed this problem was turning off Cortana: now I can double-click an Excel filename and Excel will once again open immediately and load the file. Turn Cortana back on, and I'm back to a 10 to 20 second pause before Excel loads when I double-click a filename.

A shame to have to turn Cortana off, but having efficient use of Excel is more important to me. Hoping a fix is found so I can turn Cortana back on without this problem resurfacing!

- Jon

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August 21st, 2015 11:05pm

bingo
August 27th, 2015 3:20am

Disabling "Hey Cortana" fixed the Excel slow startup when opening files for me also. I had the problem on 3 different laptops after upgrading to Windows 10 and enabling Cortana (a Lenovo ThinkPad W520, a Sager laptop, and a Microsoft Surface Pro 3). I had wasted a few hours searching the Internet and trying various proposed fixes (editing registry keys, etc.). But disabling "Hey Cortana" was finally the solution that worked for me. Surprised that Microsoft hasn't fixed this issue yet.
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August 30th, 2015 12:37pm

I have been on the phone with Windows and Office technical support for a couple of weeks about this. They have no resolution. They've had me uninstall/reinstall Office, disable virus programs and add-ins, etc. None of it has worked. I also just disabled "Hey Cortana" on my end and that does not help my situation. Files still take some 30 seconds to open if I double-click them vs. open from within Excel. The latest Microsoft support person is actually now trying to blame me, saying I have hardware issues (without validating it) and then tried to tell me it's normal now because Windows 10 was installed as an upgrade to Windows 8.1. Their reasoning was because of an upgrade vs. clean install I have less hard drive space so Excel takes longer to find the file. I hung up on them... This is only isolated to Excel - the rest of Office works normal as do other applications (i.e., Adobe suites, browsers, etc., etc.). It's very, very annoying this hasn't been resolved.
September 8th, 2015 2:46pm

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