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How to Restart Excel Without Losing Data

Cody Schneider•

When Excel suddenly stops responding, a feeling of dread can wash over you, especially when you’re hours into a project and haven't hit "Save." Before you force quit and hope for the best, know that there are several reliable ways to restart a frozen Excel application without losing your important data. This guide will walk you through the essential recovery steps and show you how to prevent this from happening again.

First, Be Patient: Is Excel Frozen or Just Thinking?

Sometimes, Excel isn't frozen, it's just really, really busy. If you’re working with a large dataset, running a complex calculation, or executing a macro, Excel might become unresponsive while it processes the task. Clicking frantically or trying to perform other actions will only make things worse and can lead to a genuine crash.

Before taking drastic measures, give it a few minutes. Check for these signs that Excel is processing:

  • The cursor has turned into a spinning circle or hourglass.

  • A progress bar in the bottom status bar shows a calculation is running (e.g., "Calculating: (4 Processors) 50%").

  • The title bar says "(Not Responding)," but you can hear your computer's fan running hard.

If you suspect this is the case, step away for 5-10 minutes. Go grab a coffee. If nothing has changed when you get back, it’s time to move on to the next step.

How to Safely Close and Restart Excel

If waiting doesn't resolve the issue, you'll need to manually close the program. The safest way to do this is with the Windows Task Manager or the Force Quit menu on a Mac.

Closing Excel on Windows with Task Manager

The Task Manager gives you a controlled way to shut down unresponsive applications.

  1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open the Task Manager directly.

  2. Look for Microsoft Excel in the "Apps" list under the "Processes" tab.

  3. Click on Microsoft Excel once to select it.

  4. Click the "End task" button in the bottom-right corner.

Windows will then attempt to close the application. This method is often cleaner than force-quitting through other means and can sometimes trigger Excel's built-in save recovery features more effectively.

Closing Excel on macOS with Force Quit

For Mac users, the process is very similar using the Force Quit utility.

  1. Press Option + Command + Esc to open the "Force Quit Applications" window.

  2. Select Microsoft Excel from the list of running applications.

  3. Click the "Force Quit" button.

  4. A confirmation pop-up will appear. Click "Force Quit" again.

Recovering Your Unsaved Work After a Restart

This is the moment of truth. After force-quitting, re-open Excel. In most cases, Excel’s built-in recovery features will have your back. Let's look at how they work.

Using the Document Recovery Pane

When you restart Excel after a crash, the very first thing you should see is the Document Recovery pane on the left side of the screen. This pane displays a list of all files that were open at the time of the crash, often with a note about when they were auto-saved.

You’ll typically see two versions for each file:

  • The Original Version: This is the last version you manually saved.

  • The AutoSaved Version: This is the latest version Excel's AutoRecover feature saved in the background. It will often have "[Recovered]" in the file name.

Click on the auto-saved version to open it. Check to see if your recent changes are present. If they are, immediately save this recovered file with File > Save As... to a new location or with a new name (e.g., "SalesReport_v2_Recovered.xlsx"). Do not just hit "Save," as you could accidentally overwrite your original file before confirming everything is correct.

Finding AutoRecover Files Manually

What if the Document Recovery pane doesn't appear? Don't panic just yet. Excel still saves these backup files, but you may need to find them yourself.

First, check your AutoRecover settings to find the file path where your backups are stored.

  1. In Excel, go to File > Options.

  2. Click on the "Save" tab in the "Excel Options" window.

  3. Look for the setting "Save AutoRecover information every X minutes" and make sure it’s checked.

  4. Below that, copy the file path listed in the "AutoRecover file location" box.

Common default locations are:

  • For Windows: C:\Users\[Your_Username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel\

  • For Mac: /Users/[Your_Username]/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Excel/Data/Library/Application Support/Microsoft

Tip: The AppData folder in Windows is hidden by default. In File Explorer, go to the "View" tab and check the box for "Hidden items" to see it.

Navigate to that folder using File Explorer (Windows) or Finder (Mac). Look for folders with names matching your unsaved workbooks or files with a .xlsb (binary) or .xar (auto-recover) extension. Copy these files to another location (like your Desktop), then try opening them from within Excel using File > Open.

Recovering Unsaved Workbooks

What if you were working on a brand-new workbook that you never once saved? It crashes, you restart Excel, and the Document Recovery pane is empty. There’s still one last place to look.

Excel has a feature specifically for recovering brand-new, never-before-saved files.

  1. Open a blank Excel workbook.

  2. Go to File > Info.

  3. Click the "Manage Workbook" button.

  4. Select "Recover Unsaved Workbooks" from the dropdown menu.

This will open a folder containing any unsaved files that Excel managed to back up. If you see your file in there, open it and save it immediately.

Proactive Measures to Eliminate Data Loss

The best way to handle a crash is to be prepared for it. Here are some best practices that can make data recovery a non-issue.

1. Turn On AutoSave

If you're a Microsoft 365 subscriber and save your files in OneDrive or SharePoint, AutoSave is your best friend. Unlike the older AutoRecover feature, which saves a backup every few minutes, AutoSave saves your changes in near real-time, just seconds after you make them. It essentially eliminates the need to press Ctrl + S.

You can find the AutoSave toggle in the top-left corner of the Excel window. If it's on, your document is continuously being saved to the cloud. You’ll also gain access to Version History, allowing you to restore older versions of your document if you make a mistake.

2. Customize Your AutoRecover Settings

If you aren't using OneDrive, make sure your AutoRecover settings are optimized. Go to File > Options > Save. By default, Excel may save a recovery file every 10 minutes. You can shorten this interval to something like 2 or 3 minutes. This increases how frequently Excel saves a backup, minimizing the amount of work you could potentially lose.

3. Use the "Open and Repair" Feature

Sometimes, Excel freezes not because of the application but because the workbook itself has become corrupted. If you notice Excel consistently crashes when opening a specific file, you can try to repair it.

  1. In Excel, go to File > Open.

  2. Browse to and select the problematic file, but do not double-click it yet.

  3. Click the small arrow on the "Open" button.

  4. Select "Open and Repair..." from the dropdown menu.

Excel will then scan the workbook for errors and attempt to salvage as much data as it can.

4. Keep Good Habits

Classic advice remains true for a reason:

  • Save Frequently: Get in the habit of pressing Ctrl + S (or Cmd + S on Mac) every few minutes, especially after completing a complex task.

  • Save in Versions: For critical projects, use "Save As" to create new versions periodically (e.g., Budget_v1, Budget_v2). If one version gets corrupted, you can easily revert to the previous one.

  • Simplify Your Workbooks: Extremely large files, volatile functions (like TODAY, NOW, OFFSET), and links to dozens of external workbooks can tax Excel's resources and increase the likelihood of a crash. Regularly review and simplify where possible.

Final Thoughts

An Excel crash can be frustrating, but it rarely means all your recent work is gone forever. By understanding how the Document Recovery pane, AutoRecover, and Unsaved Workbook features work, you can confidently retrieve your file, often losing only a few minutes of progress. Combining these recovery tools with proactive habits like using AutoSave and customizing your settings will give you robust protection against data loss.

Ultimately, when spreadsheets become too complex for manual reporting and analysis - leading to slowdowns and crashes - it’s often a sign that you need a more dedicated tool. Instead of tangled formulas, we use natural language at Graphed to help you connect your data sources directly and build real-time dashboards automatically. By moving routine marketing and sales reporting off of overworked spreadsheets and into a streamlined platform, you eliminate the risk of crashes and get back to making decisions, not recovering lost files.