Microsoft Excel - Pivot Tables causing crashes

Miriam Tessmer 0 Reputation points
2026-11-03T02:47:17.5066667+00:00

I have a spreadsheet that I have been using for some time and as of today, when I try and adjust my existing pivot tables, or to create new pivot tables, Excel crashes completely. Nothing I've tried has any effect except for Excel to crash, again. A message pops up that says, "There was a problem with Microsoft Excel and we apologize for the inconvenience. Microsoft Excel will attempt to recover your work."

My Mac is new and is running macOS Tahoe 26.6.2

Excel is Version 16.114.1 (26102031) (I have a 365 subscription)

Any help or insight would be very appreciated!

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | MacOS
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  1. AI answer

    2026-11-03T02:47:36.9333333+00:00

    This looks consistent with an Excel for Mac crash issue rather than a workbook-only problem. The documented causes for Excel crashing at startup on Mac include corrupted Excel preferences, background programs interfering with Excel, corrupted application files, or a corrupted macOS user profile. Since the crash happens whenever pivot tables are adjusted or created, the most practical supported troubleshooting path is:

    1. Quit all apps first.
      • Quit Excel and other running apps.
      • If an app will not quit, press Command + Option + Esc, select the app, and choose Force Quit.
    2. Remove Excel preferences.
      • Quit all Microsoft Office for Mac apps.
      • In Finder, select Go > Home.
      • Open Library. If Library is hidden, hold OPTION while opening the Go menu.
      • Open Preferences.
      • Drag com.microsoft.Excel.plist to the desktop.
      • Open Excel and test the pivot table action again.
      • If Excel still crashes, quit Excel, restore the file, and continue.
    3. Remove the secondary Excel preferences file.
      • Quit all Office for Mac apps.
      • Go to Home > Library > Preferences > Microsoft.
      • Drag com.microsoft.Excel.prefs.plist to the desktop.
      • Test Excel again.
    4. Test with a new macOS user account.
      • If Excel works under a newly created user account, that points to corruption in the existing macOS profile.
      • In that case, the documented guidance is to troubleshoot the existing account with Apple support, or continue using the new account.
    5. If the issue still continues, remove and reinstall Office.
      • The documented next step after the preference and user-profile tests is to remove and reinstall Office.

    Also check whether this started immediately after a recent Excel update. A similar reported issue tied pivot-table crashes to a recent Microsoft 365 update and suggested reporting it through Help > Feedback > Report a problem in Excel for consumer accounts.

    If the workbook opens but crashes specifically on pivot actions, test the same pivot operation in a brand-new workbook as well. If both old and new workbooks crash the same way, that further points to the Excel app/profile side rather than damage in one file.

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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  2. Norah-L 13,140 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-11-03T07:17:16.73+00:00

    Hello Miriam Tessmer,

    I have seen several users reporting the same PivotTable crashes in recent Excel for Mac versions, including version 16.114.1.

    As a test, back up your workbook and try installing an earlier Excel version such as 16.113.4, using the official individual installer from Microsoft’s Office for Mac update history. Temporarily turn off automatic updates in Microsoft AutoUpdate before testing, otherwise the latest version may be installed again. In Excel, select Help > Check for Updates, then clear Automatically keep Microsoft Apps up to date. Re-enable it after testing.

    Let me know how it goes!

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    4 people found this answer helpful.
  3. EmilyS_726 34,010 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2026-11-04T23:24:20.5133333+00:00

    Hello,

    I've noticed several other users reporting the same issue in this forum over the past few days. However, I haven't seen any official acknowledgment from Microsoft yet, so this appears to be an emerging issue rather than an isolated case.

    Based on user reports, switching to the Beta channel (version 16.116, build 26102843) appears to resolve the issue. However, please note that this is an unofficial workaround, not a confirmed fix from Microsoft. Beta builds may also introduce other issues.

    Another workaround reported by other user is

    First, quit Excel completely. Then reopen Excel. Very important - don't open any workbook, not even a blank one. Just open the app itself.

    Go to Help > Clear Application Data > clear Experimental Features.

    Once done, restart Excel.

    ========================

    I also strongly encourage you to report this issue directly through Excel's Help > Feedback feature to make engineer team aware of this.

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    2 people found this answer helpful.
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