Issues with Excel after latest updates

Question

Issues with Excel after latest updates

sean patrick 45

Both Excel & Apple IOS have recently updated. Since, Excel locks up almost every time I attempt to save & Exit. Only way out is to reboot ipad. The new data entered is not saved. This is only happening in Excel.

Andrew Johnson 5 Reputation points

2026-09-23T14:19:48.34+00:00

None of these help. What you are saying is the most basic function does not work. You want me to continue to strunggle to…SAVE, come on. I hade a conflict with 365 I think, signed out of that and issues may have been solved. No, not solved. Also, shuts down often so waiting for saves or forcing local saves is not an option.
Guillermo F. Saenger 0 Reputation points

2026-09-25T14:43:21.6166667+00:00

I’ve tried all suggestions and none of them work. The recent Excel update was a serious step back. Synchronization loop and loss of data in a number of different worksheets. I’ve been providing feedback directly through the Excel App but it seems to me that no one checks it. This needs urgent attention from Microsoft, please.

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Andrew Johnson 5 Reputation points

2026-09-23T14:19:48.34+00:00

None of these help. What you are saying is the most basic function does not work. You want me to continue to strunggle to…SAVE, come on. I hade a conflict with 365 I think, signed out of that and issues may have been solved. No, not solved. Also, shuts down often so waiting for saves or forcing local saves is not an option.
Guillermo F. Saenger 0 Reputation points

2026-09-25T14:43:21.6166667+00:00

I’ve tried all suggestions and none of them work. The recent Excel update was a serious step back. Synchronization loop and loss of data in a number of different worksheets. I’ve been providing feedback directly through the Excel App but it seems to me that no one checks it. This needs urgent attention from Microsoft, please.

Answer 1

Elena-VH 1,890 Independent Advisor

Dear sean patrick,

Since the recent updates to both Excel and iPadOS, Excel appears to freeze when you try to save and exit, requiring a device restart and causing newly entered data to be lost. Because this is occurring only in Excel, it may be related to the Excel app itself, the specific workbook, or a compatibility issue introduced by a recent update.

To help narrow down the cause, could you let me know:

Does the issue occur with all workbooks or only a specific file?
Are the files stored locally on the iPad, in OneDrive, or in SharePoint?
Does the same file save normally if opened in Excel on another device or in Excel for the web?
Are you signed in to Excel with a work or school account provided by your organization, or with a personal Microsoft account such as Outlook.com, Hotmail.com, or Live.com?

In the meantime, please try the following troubleshooting steps:

Step 1: Sign out of Excel > Force-close Excel > reopen it and sign back in‌

Step 2: Create a new blank workbook, enter some test data, and see whether Save and Exit work normally‌

Step 3: In some cases, as a workaround, you can temporarily turn off Wi-Fi or enable Airplane mode when Excel freezes lets the app become responsive again. After access returns, you can reconnect to Wi-FI or disable Airplane mode and test saving.

Step 4: In Settings > Excel > Reset, select Reset Cloud Settings, then restart Excel.

Step 5: If the problem persists, uninstall and reinstall the Excel app (ensure your files are synchronized to OneDrive or otherwise backed up before doing so).

Also, check whether your iPad has enough free storage. If storage is running low, applications may have trouble saving data or may become unresponsive. You can check this under Settings > General > iPad Storage.

If you have any questions, or if I have misunderstood anything, please feel free to reach out. Looking forward to your update.

Elena-VH 1,890 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-09-22T03:21:10.7333333+00:00

Dear sean patrick,

I hope you're doing well. I just wanted to check in and see if there is any update from you.

If you're still facing any problems, please feel free to share more details about the current error or the steps you're stuck on. I’ll be happy to assist further.

Looking forward to your update.
Zach Green 5 Reputation points

2026-09-22T19:49:03.12+00:00

We have a department of 5 people all having similar issues. We're all using cloud saving on one drive, and issues seem to happen randomly. I've been able to do 1-2 files in the morning with them autosaving without problem, around the third and for the rest of the day the freezing starts. Disconnected cellular hasn't worked. Going to try reinstalling Excel and having the reset cloud settings on. Problems started last week, assumed it was our IT, no longer thinking that.
Aaron Cannon 0 Reputation points

2026-09-22T20:10:00.58+00:00

We're having similar issues as well. After the latest IOS update, Excel gets into a state of saving constantly even when nothing has changed. When exiting the file the saving animation spins continuously, and you have to kill the app which then loses your changes. We've tried all the steps above including deleting the app and reinstalling with no luck. Seems to be working fine on the desktop but our mobile IOS users are all having issues.
L W 0 Reputation points

2026-09-23T09:51:30.7233333+00:00

I’m having this problem excessively now (in the last few days, some but less so in the last couple/few months). If I go into a file, make 1 quick change and exit, it typically works. But if I’m in the file for as brief as 10 minutes and/or make multiple edits, it hangs up while exiting and changes are not saved - though at least the file wasn’t corrupted and can be reopened after a hard reboot of the iPad. This is unmanageable.

The issue happens regardless whether I’m saving to the iPad or iCloud. I’m primarily in a not-simple-file, but upon cutting the file size in half there was zero improvement in performance. Until a couple/few months ago, this was never an issue.
Elena-VH 1,890 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-09-23T14:45:34.65+00:00

Dear all,

Thank you for the update. Based on the reports from other users experiencing the same behavior after the recent iOS and Excel updates, this may not be an isolated issue.

If the problem still persists after trying all the troubleshooting steps above, I highly recommend contacting your IT Administrator and asking them to create a support ticket with Microsoft through the Microsoft 365 Admin Center for further investigation. For reference: How do I find my Microsoft 365 admin? and Get support for Microsoft 365 for business

Since multiple users in your organization appear to be affected, the IT Administrator can report the issue directly to Microsoft in Microsoft 365 Admin Center > Health > Service health for any related advisories. For reference: How to check Microsoft 365 service health

As a community member like you, my ability to investigate backend service issues is limited, but Microsoft's support team can review logs and perform a deeper analysis of the issue. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Hasan Turkkan 0 Reputation points

2026-09-23T22:33:38.7133333+00:00

My organisation has been affected by this exact same problem.

We use spreadsheets to track employment and unfortunately since the last update it has become almost impossible to use the spreadsheet all on IOS. Our work around at the moment is force closing and hoping the data is saved. Having to enter data multiple times and verifying if the data has been saved is extremely tedious.

@Elena-VH I have tried all of the above troubleshooting steps. None seem to work for our current workbook/spreadsheet. Although, creating a new blank spreadsheet seems to save and exit and save all entered data correctly as it should.

I wonder if our spreadsheet has become corrupted due to the recent updates and possibly exporting all the data to a new spreadsheet somehow may fix the problem?
Elena-VH 1,890 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-09-24T15:48:00.6733333+00:00
Dear Hasan Turkkan,

Thank you for sharing your experience. Since you've already tried the troubleshooting steps and a newly created blank workbook saves and exits normally, this suggests the issue may be related to the existing file.

In this case, you can also try saving the workbook as a new file name, creating a copy, or moving the data into a brand-new workbook to see if the issue persists. For more information and troubleshooting steps, please refer to: Repairing a corrupted workbook

However, based on reports in this thread, multiple organizations and users appear to be experiencing very similar issues after recent Excel and iOS updates.

If the problem persists, I highly recommend reaching out to your IT Administrator and asking them to create a support ticket with Microsoft through the Microsoft 365 Admin Center for further investigation. The IT Administrator can also check Health > Service health in the Admin Center for any related advisories and report the issue directly to Microsoft.

For reference:

How do I find my Microsoft 365 admin?

Get support for Microsoft 365 for business

How to check Microsoft 365 service health
Jason Beaumier 0 Reputation points

2026-09-24T19:10:26.14+00:00

Also an issue for my org, we tried turning off "download over wi-fi only" and resetting / reinstalling Excel with no luck.