Mobile Excel syncing

Question

Mobile Excel syncing

Daniel Milligan 5

Mobile Excel will not auto save/save to OneDrive or My iPhone. I have not had issues since creating the document last October and suddenly started having issues this week. I’ve tried logging in and out of my one drive as well as creating multiple new sheets but still have the problem. Can you help me?

Pratik Karadia 10 Reputation points

2026-09-24T09:13:40.02+00:00

I am reporting the same problem.

On iPhone, AutoSave is on and like Mike Lamb, it spins on closing and becomes unresponsive. I have created a new workbook with literally nothing in it apart from some text in 1 cell to test and even whilst in it, the cloud icon is spinning all the time and never reaches a tick. Tried all of the above methods, nothing has fixed it. I have been using OneDrive reliably/successfully since 2020 with no problems. Unlike Daniel Milligan my spreadsheet is extremely simple with 1 SUM formula. It cannot be the case the spreadsheet has become too complex for Mobile Excel to handle reliably.

On laptop, when pasting a file into a shared folder, it continues to spin and error message reports the file is open by another user - which it is not.

I am using 1% of the allocated 1TB. I have uninstalled, unlinked, reset everything, started again, logged in, re-linked, and the problem still persists.

As there is syncing issues on both laptop and iPhone, I would argue there is an underlying issue somewhere else and not with our devices or complexity of our files.
Cihan Kaplan 0 Reputation points

2026-09-24T16:53:30.19+00:00

Hello,

For the past two weeks, I have been experiencing a OneDrive synchronization issue while using Excel on my iPhone.

I have been editing the same Excel file regularly for approximately two years without any major issues. However, recently even very small changes are taking an unusually long time to save.

Sometimes, the changes are not saved at all. When I try to close or exit the file, Excel can take approximately 5–6 minutes to finish saving and syncing the changes to OneDrive.

This issue started only within the last two weeks. Before that, the same file and workflow worked normally.

Could you please help me identify what may be causing this synchronization and saving problem?

Thank you.
Tim Chapman 0 Reputation points

2026-09-26T01:13:38.02+00:00

Same for me but it seems to be the case for all Excel files on iOS.

same file on web Excel is fine.

started about 2 or 3 weeks ago

occasionally some changes get saved but not all

occasionally all changes get saved.

I've deleted and reinstalled Excel and OneDrive, no change.
John Austwick 0 Reputation points

2026-09-30T10:11:00.83+00:00

I have exactly the same problem - ever since my iphone upgraded to the new iOS 27

2 answers

Your answer

Pratik Karadia 10 Reputation points

2026-09-24T09:13:40.02+00:00

I am reporting the same problem.

On iPhone, AutoSave is on and like Mike Lamb, it spins on closing and becomes unresponsive. I have created a new workbook with literally nothing in it apart from some text in 1 cell to test and even whilst in it, the cloud icon is spinning all the time and never reaches a tick. Tried all of the above methods, nothing has fixed it. I have been using OneDrive reliably/successfully since 2020 with no problems. Unlike Daniel Milligan my spreadsheet is extremely simple with 1 SUM formula. It cannot be the case the spreadsheet has become too complex for Mobile Excel to handle reliably.

On laptop, when pasting a file into a shared folder, it continues to spin and error message reports the file is open by another user - which it is not.

I am using 1% of the allocated 1TB. I have uninstalled, unlinked, reset everything, started again, logged in, re-linked, and the problem still persists.

As there is syncing issues on both laptop and iPhone, I would argue there is an underlying issue somewhere else and not with our devices or complexity of our files.
Cihan Kaplan 0 Reputation points

2026-09-24T16:53:30.19+00:00

Hello,

For the past two weeks, I have been experiencing a OneDrive synchronization issue while using Excel on my iPhone.

I have been editing the same Excel file regularly for approximately two years without any major issues. However, recently even very small changes are taking an unusually long time to save.

Sometimes, the changes are not saved at all. When I try to close or exit the file, Excel can take approximately 5–6 minutes to finish saving and syncing the changes to OneDrive.

This issue started only within the last two weeks. Before that, the same file and workflow worked normally.

Could you please help me identify what may be causing this synchronization and saving problem?

Thank you.
Tim Chapman 0 Reputation points

2026-09-26T01:13:38.02+00:00

Same for me but it seems to be the case for all Excel files on iOS.

same file on web Excel is fine.

started about 2 or 3 weeks ago

occasionally some changes get saved but not all

occasionally all changes get saved.

I've deleted and reinstalled Excel and OneDrive, no change.
John Austwick 0 Reputation points

2026-09-30T10:11:00.83+00:00

I have exactly the same problem - ever since my iphone upgraded to the new iOS 27

Answer 1

Ossiepossie 0

For me the syncing problem seems to be solved by duplicating the Excel file, just from the Finder, and use the duplicated file instead of the original.

0 comments

Answer 2

John Jefferson Doyon 88,935 Independent Advisor

Hi, @Daniel Milligan

If you haven’t tried it yet, first make a copy of the workbook so you don’t risk losing any recent changes.

Then please check whether OneDrive itself can still upload files from your iPhone. Open the OneDrive app and try uploading a small photo or file manually.

Also, in Excel, open the workbook and check where it currently shows as saved. AutoSave normally works when the file is stored in OneDrive. A file saved under "On My iPhone" would need to be saved locally instead.

To help narrow down the issue:

When you tap "Save" or "Save a Copy" in Excel, do you get an error message, or does nothing happen?
Can you upload a file normally through the OneDrive app?
Does this happen with every Excel workbook, including a brand-new blank workbook?

Click "Add comment" to let me know.

Thanks!

Daniel Milligan 5 Reputation points

2026-09-20T02:27:47.2266667+00:00

One Drive does let me upload pictures. When it tries to auto save on the Excel App, the icon just spins. When I try to save the workbook manually, it gets stuck “saving”. The only thing I could think of is maybe I have too many formulas in the workbook. Like I said though, I didn’t have any issues for the first 9-10 months using this. I did add some long IFERROR formulas about a month ago.
Daniel Milligan 5 Reputation points

2026-09-20T11:50:38.41+00:00

I also noticed once the text stops showing in the “text box”, that’s when the workbook does not have a chance to save.
John Jefferson Doyon 88,935 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-09-20T16:56:43.0033333+00:00
Thanks, that helps.

The workbook may be becoming unresponsive before the save can complete. The newer IFERROR formulas could be contributing, especially if they reference large ranges or many other formulas.

If you haven’t tried it yet, first make a copy of the workbook before changing anything. Then try removing or simplifying a few of the formulas you added recently and see if the copy starts saving normally again.

To help narrow it down:

Does a brand-new blank workbook with only a few cells save normally in Excel?

Approximately how large is the affected workbook?

If you open the same workbook in Excel for the web or Excel on a computer, does it open and save normally there?

Thanks!
Daniel Milligan 5 Reputation points

2026-09-20T19:40:54.0766667+00:00
Yes, I made a new workbook with no formulas and it was saving fine to my iPhone.

The original workbook is 6.1 MB.

it is saving normally on my computer with it being linked to OneDrive. I deleted the IFERROR formula on previous pages that I will not be using anymore. As for Mobile Excel, with it linked to OneDrive now and it is still struggling to save.
John Jefferson Doyon 88,935 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-09-20T20:04:53.31+00:00

Thanks. At this point, the issue appears to be with how Mobile Excel is handling this particular workbook.

OneDrive is working, a new workbook saves normally on your iPhone, and the same 6.1 MB workbook saves normally on your computer.

The workbook may have become too complex for the mobile app to handle reliably, especially with the formulas and text boxes you mentioned.

For now, I recommend editing and saving this workbook from Excel on your computer or Excel for the web. You can still open it on the iPhone, but I would avoid making important changes there if it keeps getting stuck on "Saving."

Thanks!
Anonymous

2026-09-23T16:11:46.9166667+00:00

Stopped working for me as well. I have AutoSave on and when you close the spreadsheet, it spins on Closing:... indefinitely. Tried turning AutoSave off and saving manually, but no improvement. Works as normal on my laptop.
Daniel Milligan 5 Reputation points

2026-09-24T10:45:19.03+00:00

@John Jefferson Doyon Do we know if any issues have been found or if There’s a fix in place? There’s also multiple people on another thread I commented on that are having the same issues.
Daniel Milligan 5 Reputation points

2026-09-27T23:16:33.28+00:00

Okay thanks…