Excel files slow to load when double clicking in Explorer

I have Office 2021 (not 365) installed on my 8-month-old Lenovo notebook, which has an SSD. Windows updates are switched on and should be current.

If I open an Excel workbook through File/Open from inside Excel, it's as quick as you'd expect. Nearly instantaneous. But. If you double-click the file in Explorer, or select it and hit Enter, then it takes 10 or so seconds to open. Meanwhile, Word is equally fast with either method.

Ideas, anyone?

Just a random thought: are these files saved to a OneDrive or DropBox folder?

garlin said:

Just a random guess: are these files saved to a OneDrive or DropBox folder?

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Nope. Data files for both Excel and Word are on the local c:\ drive in My Documents.

Buddy said:

Data files for both Excel and Word are on the local c:\ drive in My Documents.

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Do you know for a fact your documents folder is on your C drive?? Right click on your documents folder in file explorer, select properties, click on location tab. What is the location??
If you set up the laptop using a MS account, the default location for Desktop, Documents, and Pictures folders is Onedrive unless you manually moved the folders to C:\users\yourusername using this procedure Turn On or Off OneDrive Folder Backup Syncing Across Windows 11 Devices Tutorial

@glasskuter I went through the drill of disabling OneDrive about two days into owning this computer.

My OneDrive cloud storage is completely empty. Also empty is C:\Users\buddy\Onedrive\Documents.

C:\Users\buddy\Documents is where the Excel files reside, per properties.

Thanks for asking, though. It was good to confirm that a Windows update hadn't restarted OneDrive without telling me. I haven't completely uninstalled it, just disabled it, so I wonder from time to time if MS might decide to restore its function.

Buddy said:

so I wonder from time to time if MS might decide to restore its function.

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You and me both. When it comes to Onedrive I don't trust them at all as they seem determined to push it on us. Thank you for checking.
I can see how opening a large spreadsheet outside of Excel could take slightly longer than opening one from within Excel after the application is already open, but not 10+ seconds.
I wish I had one to open myself as a test to see what mine would do, but I don't do spreadsheets. Maybe someone with 2021 and large spreadsheets will test .

I see you opened another thread earlier this year so you've been dealing with this a while.

I recently had a problem with Office & I contacted their chat support. I was very surprised how knowledgeable the rep was. I gave her control of my PC and she had it worked out in minutes, BUT before contacting them I would first do the following because they will ask you to do it anyway.
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1.Make sure Office is getting updated. Open a Word doc, click account, click about word. This is the latest version released 8/8/23


2. Open command prompt as admin, and run sfc /scannow Make note if it fixes any corrupted system files or has files it can't fix.

3. Perform a clean boot to eliminate software conflict causing the issue. If it doesn't happen in a clean boot, you have some software conflicting with Office.. Brink's procedure will help you weed out which one. Perform a Clean Boot in Windows 11 to Troubleshoot Software Conflicts Tutorial

If issue still persists go here to contact support. Contact Us - Microsoft Support

Office 365 user here. No such issues with Excel here. I've a few spreadsheets and they're all fine here - one contains a database of over 3000 CDs to also include a vinyl section as well as a couple of pivot tables. Another spreadsheet covers all my electronics to also include every PC build I did.

No issues here. And I also keep them in the OneDrive folder so I may access them from anywhere. No slowdowns here.

glasskuter said:

I can see how opening a large spreadsheet outside of Excel could take slightly longer than opening one from within Excel after the application is already open, but not 10+ seconds.

I see you opened another thread earlier this year so you've been dealing with this a while.

Click to expand...

They aren't even large or complicated spreadsheets. It happens with every one, regardless of size or complexity.

I'd forgotten even posting about it earlier. And yeah, it's been going on for a while, it's just testing my patience recently.

I'll try the stuff you mentioned and check back in. Could be a day or two, other tasks beckon.

Yeah, spreadsheets typically don't get large in size unless you're including stuff like images and media files. The files I mention are less than a meg.

Also, even if in the OneDrive folder as my files are, there's still no delays when opening. That said, I used shortcuts pinned to the taskbar to open files I need. But yes, per the post here, I double checked from file explorer, and zero delays.