High CPU Usage When Copying A Cell In Excel 2013

Any time I copy a cell in Excel 2013 my CPU spikes. This includes opens a brand new, fresh spreadsheet and copy cell A1. I have tried disabling hardware graphics acceleration, multi-threaded calculations among other features with no success. It's pretty weird that with no data or formatting at all, the CPU still spikes.

Any ideas? I'm open to almost anything.

Thanks in advance.

March 14th, 2014 11:30pm

Hi,

In regarding of the issue, I have some questions.

  • Which operation system did you use?
  • Did the issue occur only in Excel or some other programs?
  • Did the issue occur during the copy/paste behavior or some other operation?

To narrow down the issue, please first test this issue in Office safe mode:

Starting the application in Safe Mode is a great way to find out if the problem is caused by and add-in. To do this, go to your Start screen in Windows 8 or click Start > Run in Windows 7, and type one of the following commands:Type excel /safe and press Enter to start Excel 2013.

If the Excel works well, lets disable the add-ins one at a time.

Secondly, s going on:

Process Explorer v15.40

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx

Detail steps you can refer this blog:

How to troubleshoot high cpu in the System process

http://blogs.technet.com/b/yongrhee/archive/2009/08/07/how-to-troubleshoot-high-cpu-in-the-system-process.aspx

It could help you to determine which process detailed under svhost.exe cause the issue.

My suggestions are:

  1.        For the third part applications causing this issue, please remove it to check the results. Or we can install the updates for this app.
  2.        If this issue happened relating to drivers, lets try to update it to compatible with Windows 8.1.
  3.     Upgarde the Office patches.
  4.     Repair Office.

Let me know the result after you tried the methods.

Regards,

George Zhao
TechNet Community Support



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March 17th, 2014 1:32am

1. Windows 7 SP1, fully updated.
2. Only in Excel
3. Only Copy/Paste

The problem does not happen in safe mode in Excel.

I'll try disabling the add-ins and work from them.

Thanks for the tips!

March 18th, 2014 7:34pm

It seems to be graphical in nature. If I copy a cell, the CPU spikes to 100%. When I open a new window of program and completely hide Excel, the CPU goes down to normal.

Example:

I open a new Excel file fullscreen. I copy cell A1. The CPU spikes. I Alt+Tab to Internet Explorer in fullscreen. The CPU lowers.

I have already checked the option to disable hardware acceleration. Not sure what else there is, settings-wise. I am using an older Radeon X1650 video card with the last know drivers. Could that be part of of the problem?

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March 19th, 2014 9:34am

Hi,

In regarding of the issue, we'd better collect the log to analysis.

Please try to use the Windows Performance Recorder to collect the log and share it to me by using OneDrive.

More detailed information:

Troubleshooting Windows Performance Issues Using the Windows Performance Recorder

http://blogs.technet.com/b/askpfeplat/archive/2013/03/22/troubleshooting-windows-performance-issues-using-the-windows-performance-recorder.aspx 

Regards,

George Zhao
TechNet Community Support

March 19th, 2014 9:57pm

Hi,

I'm having the same issues on my Win8.1 Excel 2013 .

When copying between two or more Excel files the CPU usage spikes and Excel is just not usable anymore.

Now I've had two Excel windows opened, I copied the text from one to another - 1 box, about 15 words. Than I went to Chrome and Copied 1 sentence from there and pressed CTRL V in Excel - in that moment it freezes and I have to kill the app.

I have tried your Safe Mode solution but it repeats - screenshot attached 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20097938/Excel%20Issue.jpg

It's happening every time and it's really annoying when you use excel everyday, but from what I see on the forums there is still no solution to it. 


  • Edited by z4yd4 Tuesday, August 05, 2014 8:21 AM
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August 5th, 2014 11:19am

Could someone who still has that issue try to run the EXCEL by right clicking it and choosing the Run as Administrator mode, please? 

It seems that this solved the issue for me, but I have to test more.

August 5th, 2014 11:38am

I have this exact same issue, and it is not helped by Running as Administrator.

I have a moderate sized spreadsheet in Excel 2013 / Windows 8

If I highlight a (small) range, all is fine, but as soon as I hit Ctrl-C, CPU usage spikes - and stays high. It also stays high if I minimise the window.

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January 30th, 2015 1:13pm

I'm running into the same problem: Windows 8.1, Excel 2013 32-bit (Office 365 Personal), both fully updated. I am repeatedly pasting text in one cell after another and sooner rather than later, excel.exe stops responding.

Task manager shows excel.exe "inactive", constantly using around 25% CPU on my i7-4510U (dual core, 4 logical processors).

I've tried the following options without success:

  • Running Excel in safe mode
  • Running as administrator
  • Running maximized
  • Running non-maximized
  • Disabled hardware acceleration
  • Disabled flash fill
  • Disabled live preview
  • Repair install (quick and full)

I do not experience any problems when using Excel 2007 on the same machine.

BTW: I am using a touchscreen and I'm selecting the cell by touch before pressing Ctrl+V. Gonna check if the problem also occurs when using mouse only...

  • Edited by nodots 17 hours 9 minutes ago
May 14th, 2015 7:29am

BTW: I am using a touchscreen and I'm selecting the cell by touch before pressing Ctrl+V. Gonna check if the problem also occurs when using mouse only...

Yep, confirmed. This problem is touch-related on my box. Did quite some work using only the mouse, and whenever I tested touch again, boom.

Any ideas?

  • Edited by nodots 17 hours 7 minutes ago
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May 14th, 2015 10:23am

I'm running into the same problem: Windows 8.1, Excel 2013 32-bit (Office 365 Personal), both fully updated. I am repeatedly pasting text in one cell after another and sooner rather than later, excel.exe stops responding.

Task manager shows excel.exe "inactive", constantly using around 25% CPU on my i7-4510U (dual core, 4 logical processors).

I've tried the following options without success:

  • Running Excel in safe mode
  • Running as administrator
  • Running maximized
  • Running non-maximized
  • Disabled hardware acceleration
  • Disabled flash fill
  • Disabled live preview
  • Repair install (quick and full)

I do not experience any problems when using Excel 2007 on the same machine.

BTW: I am using a touchscreen and I'm selecting the cell by touch before pressing Ctrl+V. Gonna check if the problem also occurs when using mouse only...

  • Edited by nodots Thursday, May 14, 2015 2:21 PM
May 14th, 2015 11:28am

BTW: I am using a touchscreen and I'm selecting the cell by touch before pressing Ctrl+V. Gonna check if the problem also occurs when using mouse only...

Yep, confirmed. This problem is touch-related on my box. Did quite some work using only the mouse, and whenever I tested touch again, boom.

Any ideas?

  • Edited by nodots Thursday, May 14, 2015 2:23 PM
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
May 14th, 2015 2:23pm

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