Excel 2024: Check Performance in Excel

A new feature debuted in 2023. Go to the Review tab and choose Check Performance. If you have a workbook that you've been using for years, you should check performance. It looks for excess formatting, unused cell styles, unneeded metadata that can slow your workbook down.

The results appear in a task pane on the right side.

I have a four-year old workbook that I update daily. When I ran Check Performance, Excel found eight ranges where I had previously pasted stray text and then deleted it. The Check Performance offered to clear the text alignment and text properties of these empty cells. That is a great find.

It is tempting to use the Optimize Button in the lower right. But avoid this temptation. Check each worksheet and each range. There are a lot of things that you meant to include

Here are some examples of things that I've done on purpose and Check Performance wanted to fix:

• With an image over cells, I had adjusted the height of a row in the middle of the image to allow room for the image before the next text. There is no picture in the tall row, just a picture that extends from above the row to below the row. Check Performance wanted to change the height of this empty row back to the default size.
• I had never heard of it, but there is something called Pixel Art that is apparently popular in Excel. Check Performance sees this as stray fill color in otherwise empty cells and will remove it.