Excel Frozen on Mac | How to Recover the Excel file on Mac [macOS Sonoma Included]

Are you experiencing Excel frozen on Mac issues with macOS Monterey, Ventura, or Sonoma? The complete list of reasons why an Excel program or a particular Excel workbook crash is difficult to list, but the troubleshooting steps are almost the same. In contrast to the problem of Excel crashing completely, we are here to discuss the case of Excel freezing.

In this article, we will show you how to fix the Excel frozen on Mac problem and recover your frozen Excel files without data loss! Keep reading.

Why Excel Frozen on Mac

When you are cutting and pasting files on a Mac, saving your Excel files, deleting rows or columns, undoing changes, or loading a new Excel file, Excel for Mac may suddenly stop working, the window freezes and becomes unresponsive.

Mac Excel freezes without warning, and it seems as if every which way is prone to cause Excel to freeze and sometimes even become unresponsive forever unless you force restart your Mac.

There are many reasons for this phenomenon, the main ones being hardware failure, which also causes MacBook Air to freeze, lack of storage space on the Mac, software not being upgraded, virus attacks, etc. Before fixing the Excel frozen error on your Mac, it's suggested that you back up your Excel files first to avoid data loss.

Recover Frozen Excel Files on Your Mac

Can you recover a frozen Excel document on your Mac? We would like to introduce a powerful and trusted Excel file recovery tool, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Pro, which can recover numerous file types under different situations, including accidentally clicking Don't Save Excel on Mac.

With the EaseUS file recovery software on your Mac, you can recover unsaved Excel files on your Mac. Check out the following steps:

Note: You can create a backup by clicking the "Disk Backup" on the left first. The software will recover the document from the backup image. It can prevent further damage to your disk and data, making it safer and more reliable.

Step 1. Scan for lost documents

Select the location where your important Word/Excel/PPT/Numbers/Pages documents were lost and click "Search for lost files".

Step 2. Find lost documents on Mac

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac will immediately start a scan on your selected disk volume. Meanwhile, the scanning results will be presented in the left pane. Select "Documents" and you can quickly filter the DOC/PDF/PPT/XLS files you've lost earlier.

Step 3. Recover lost/deleted documents

Select the target files and preview them by double-clicking them. Then, click "Recover" to get lost documents back at once.

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How to Fix Excel Frozen on Mac

Excel frozen on Mac is a very frustrating thing; you have to wait for it to return to normal use or close it early. Here are 5 practical fixes to solve this problem:

Fix 1. Restart Your Mac

Rebooting or hard restarting your Mac will solve most minor problems caused by settings or hardware malfunctions:

Step 1. Click the Apple icon in the top menu.

Step 2. Click "Restart" to reboot your Mac and check if the Excel app is back to normal use.

Fix 2. Open the Excel App in Mac Safe Mode

You can open the Excel app in Mac Safe Mode to check if it has errors and repair corrupted Excel files on Mac using the EaseUS file recovery software. Follow the steps below:

Step 1. Shut down your Mac and press the power button to reboot your Mac.

Step 2. Press and hold "Shift" and wait for the Apple logo to appear. Release the shift key when the login window displays

Step 3. Launch the Excel app in Mac Safe Mode to check.

Fix 3. Reinstall and Update the Excel App

If neither of the above approaches is of much use to the Excel frozen problem, consider uninstalling your Excel app and downloading it again from the App Store or Microsoft official website. This is because there may be a malfunction in the program that is causing it to freeze.

Fix 4. Free Up Mac Storage Space

If you have installed the latest version of Excel from a reliable source and are sure that your Mac does not have any hardware failures, your Excel still keeps freezing. Consider maybe it's because your Mac doesn't have enough storage space.

Fix 5. Reinstall or Update macOS

If none of the above works, then consider updating your system. It is possible that your system is not compatible with changing the version of Excel. You can reinstall macOS or update your Mac. Follow the steps below:

Step 1. Click "System Settings > Software Update".

Step 2. Click "Check for Updates".

Step 3. Click "Upgrade Now" to update your Mac. You can enable "Automatically keep my Mac up to date".

Final Words

This article introduces 5 possible solutions to fix the Excel frozen on Mac problem: opening the Excel app in safe mode, reinstalling it, restarting your Mac, freeing up Mac space, and updating macOS.

To avoid data loss during the fixing process, install EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Pro to recover the frozen Excel file first.

Excel Frozen on Mac FAQs

Here are questions people also ask when they search for how to fix the Excel frozen on Mac error. Take a look!

1. How do I fix Excel not responding on Mac?

Suppose your Excel is frozen; don't worry, you can force quit it by pressing "Option + Command + ESC". But note that if you don't save your editing Excel file before quitting it, you may lose data. In this case, install EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac Pro to recover the unsaved Excel file.

2. How do I unfreeze Excel when not responding?

Here are 5 effective ways to unfreeze the Excel app when it is unresponsive:

• Restart your Mac
• Open the Excel app in Mac Safe Mode
• Reinstall the Excel app
• Free up storage space on Mac
• Reinstall or update your Mac