Excel Broken for many in Sequoia, MS has no fix or doesn't care

[ikramerica]

I have been unable to launch Excel for MacOS from "365" on Sequoia ever since my install of Sequoia in the fall. Bounces twice and then nothing, Application Not Responding, must Force Quit. Has happened all the way from 15.1 to 15.3.1.

This is a known issue, some sites say it's a font issue, but I checked all fonts for problems and deactivated ALL user fonts as well, and that only allowed me to open a file by double clicking the file in the Finder (not by trying to open Excel first). As soon as I tried to click on a cell, spinning beachball. Now it won't launch at all again. Safe mode allowed me to launch a blank sheet. Open a file. Open 3 files at once. Try to edit the file and beach ball.

I have been using Excel for Mac since 1992 and Windows since 1990 and I am no stranger to troubleshooting both over the last 30+ years. But I can't even figure out where, if anywhere, Excel is saving caches or prefs or support files to trash.

I trashed the App itself and had MS reinstall it. That made no difference.

One "solution" is to reinstall my OS, but that's a bridge to far to fix MS's issues whenever. There is obviously a corruption somewhere that Excel just can't ignore while every other app installed on my system doesn't care about, including Word, Powerpoint, etc.

 

[chabig]

One "solution" is to reinstall my OS

That is not a solution, as the "new" OS would be identical to what you've already got. Every Mac has exactly the same operating system as every other Mac, down to the individual bit level. That's how it works now.

What I would suggest is that you download a small app called Onyx, and run its maintenance feature on the same account where you're having problems. Often, that'll get things working again.

Titanium Software | Operating System Utilities for Mac - Home

This website contains free operating system utilities for macOS that are developed by Titanium Software: OnyX, Maintenance, Deeper, CalHash, and Access Menu.

titanium-software.fr

 

[ifxf]

Create a new user and launch excel under that user account. If it works then it is some excel generated file in your original user Library directory. I would then just trash any of those files.

 

[IowaLynn]

There are support files in ~/ (you, home library) "Application Support" as well as other sub-folders for Cache and more.

Excel works here running 15.4b2 - Word 3.02 and Excel was my reason to buy a Mac 1988

 

[ikramerica]

There are support files in ~/ (you, home library) "Application Support" as well as other sub-folders for Cache and more.

Excel works here running 15.4b2 - Word 3.02 and Excel was my reason to buy a Mac 1988

I don’t see anything in Application Support anywhere in any Library.

Which subfolders for cache are you speaking of?

I know Excel works for most people. But a search reveals this same issue with Sequoia with no know fix for quite a few.

I barely use excel and had to edit a file through the excel web app instead, which is slow and clunky.

What gets me is that it started in Safe Mode. Then beachballed when I first tried to edit a cell in a blank sheet.

Also, when you check for updates with MS updater or whatever, it lists all MS apps as up to date, but it doesn’t show Excel as existing at all.

It’s like getting the WOPR to play GloboThermo Nuclear War. I keep expecting MS to suggest a nice game of chess.

 

[tonmischa]

Try users/<you>/Library/Containers/Microsoft Excel