# Excel and Word stops responding; then starts again



## arsgs (Feb 18, 2009)

I have Windows 7 Home Premium, 64 bit; Microsoft Office 2007. I had no problems until several months ago. Then the problems started. When I am either working on a document in Word or a spreadsheet in Excel, when I use certain funtions I get the "stopped responding"; after 20-40 seconds it starts working again. This happens when I use the following functions: Copy, Paste and Format Painter (possibly others, but don't remember now). I do a lot of copy and pasting from a web site to the spreadsheet. In Word I only work on the document on screen (not from the web). I have scanned the computer for viruses, spyware, cookies, etc. Has been clean. I finally restored the computer back to an earlier date before automatic updates were installed from Microsoft and that seemed to fix it. A week later, had the "not responding" problems again. I assume that an update is causing this, but don't know for sure and which one. I have read on the internet that lots of people are having this problem but with other issues, like opening a file - so far I can open files with no problems. It is taking me more than 2 hours to do an 1 hour job because of the long pauses. I need help to fix this problem.


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## usasma (Apr 11, 2009)

I'm not real familiar with Office troubleshooting - please uninstall Office, then reinstall it - and see if that helps


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## arsgs (Feb 18, 2009)

I did that. Didn't help. Any more ideas anyone?


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## sobeit (Nov 11, 2007)

sounds more like a resource issue, tell about your computer, cpu, ram, c drive size and free space on it, video card.


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## arsgs (Feb 18, 2009)

I have a HP Pavilion Elite, model e9220y, AMD Phenom IIX4 Processor 2.60GHz, 8 GB Ram, C drive is 918GB with 759GB free; D drive is 12.3GB with 2.22GB freeATI Radeon HD 4350 display adapter. I have 2 monitors. My husband has Microsoft Fly Simulator Deluxe on this computer and it takes a lot of space and power. Never had this problem until recent months. Don't seem to have the problem on my HP Pavilion dv5-1235dx Notebook, but I really need the two monitors for working on a particular spreadsheet in Excel. I just finished uninstalling Office 2007 and re-installing and that didn't help.


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## sobeit (Nov 11, 2007)

and then again, maybe it is not a resource issue...looks like your computer should be able to handle it with resources to spare...

what about other spreadsheets - any issues? was the spreadsheet created with 2007? if not, did you convert it to 2007 or using the old format? what drive is the spreadsheet on?


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## arsgs (Feb 18, 2009)

This is only a problem on some spreadsheets - ones I use with copying and pasting from the real estate website. But, also note, that some pages (sheets) in the workbook or file do not have copying and pasting. I just type info right in the cell. Right now I am having this problem with 6 files, created in Excel 2007 saved as a 2007 workbook. There is very little calculation in each file. One page has subtraction of two cells into (another) total cell. Another page has % calculation based on two cells. The format painter from one line to another takes some time too. I have read that lots of people are experiencing this "not responding" problem. No one seems to know what to do to fix it!


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## usasma (Apr 11, 2009)

If there's very little in the way of calculations in the spreadsheet - and you've copied stuff from the web - try saving the spreadsheet as an older version of Excel.

Then close Excel and reopen it with the older version.
See if that has issues. 
If not, then you can save it as Excel 2007


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## arsgs (Feb 18, 2009)

Just saved the spreadsheet as a 2003 version. Then opened that one and had the same problem. I finally, today, started typing the info rather than copying and pasting and it worked fast like it should. Only problem is that it takes a lot of time to type a lot of info. It seems to work better with my laptop, but it is a big help having 2 monitors; 1 for the spreadsheet and the other for the web, which is my desktop computer. Never had this problem until several months ago. Could it be a setting in the registry or excel options or excel add-ins? Just looked and the only add-ins are in Excel Add-ins and none are checked. In Smart tags add-ins 2 are checked, but grayed out. On auto format as you type all 3 are checked. I don't remember making any changes here. Also, it says No Active Applications Add-ins. I just checked this against the laptop and everything is the same.


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## sobeit (Nov 11, 2007)

something to consider, when you copy and paste data in a large spreadsheet, you move multiple rows columns and change multiple formulas at the same time. This could take time and cause the problem you are having. when you manually type, it is only doing one change at a time so it would be faster. 

Not sure of the settings or what is available since I do not use office 2007 but check and see if you have one for auto calculate and disable it and see if it helps. Maybe you can make the necessary change then manually do the calculations. 

Just a suggestion, maybe give the spreadsheet in openoffice a try and see if it is any faster. It is pretty much microsoft compatible. You can get it from openoffice.org and its free. 

finally, make sure you have a backup copy of your spreadsheet while trying to figure this out - but you already knew this


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