How to Fix a Slow Cursor in Excel

If the cursor feels slow or laggy in Excel, turn off animations. In Excel, go to File > Options > Ease of Access and uncheck Provide feedback with animation (in Excel 2016 or 2019, it’s on the Advanced tab). Microsoft also says that turning off animations in Windows turns them off in Excel and the other Office apps.

This guide follows Microsoft’s Turn off Office animations and Excel not responding, hangs, freezes or stops working articles. It covers the Excel animation setting, the Windows setting, hardware graphics acceleration, add-ins, and other causes of a sluggish cursor.

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Why the Excel Cursor Feels Slow

Newer versions of Excel animate the cell cursor, so it glides from one cell to the next instead of jumping. Microsoft says Microsoft 365 uses hardware acceleration for these animations. On some computers, or for people who just don’t like it, that glide feels like lag. Turning animations off makes the cursor move instantly again.

Fix 1: Turn Off Animations in Excel

Open Excel and click File > Options.
In Microsoft 365, select Ease of Access. In Excel 2016 or 2019, select Advanced.
Uncheck Provide feedback with animation.
Click OK.

Result: Excel stops animating the cell cursor, so it moves straight to the next cell. This change only affects Excel.

Illustration of the steps to turn off feedback animation in Excel — Illustration: the steps to turn off feedback animation in Excel.

Fix 2: Turn Off Animations in Windows

Microsoft notes that turning off Windows animations automatically turns off animations in Office apps. Use this if Word and PowerPoint feel slow too.

Windows 11

Follow these steps:

Press Windows key + I to open Settings.
Select Accessibility in the sidebar.
Choose Visual effects.
Turn Animation effects off.

Result: Windows saves the change right away, and animations stop across Windows and Office. Restart Excel if the cursor still glides.

Illustration of the steps to turn off animation effects in Windows 11 — Illustration: the steps to turn off animation effects in Windows 11.

Windows 10

Press Windows key + U to open the Ease of Access settings.
Under Simplify and personalize Windows, turn off Show animations in Windows.
Close the Settings window.

On Windows 7 or 8, Microsoft says to open the Ease of Access Center with Windows key + U, choose Use the computer without a display, and check Turn off all unnecessary animations (when possible).

Fix 3: Disable Hardware Graphics Acceleration

If animations are already off, the problem may be graphics related. Try this setting:

Click File > Options > Advanced.
Under Display, check Disable hardware graphics acceleration.
Click OK and restart Excel.

Result: Excel stops using hardware graphics acceleration. This fixed laggy cell movement on a PC where nothing else worked. Not every version of Excel shows this option. Also try updating your graphics driver from the card maker.

Other Things That Slow Down Excel’s Cursor

Add-ins: Microsoft suggests starting Excel in safe mode to test this. Open Run, type Excel /safe, and press Enter. If the cursor is fine in safe mode, go to File > Options > Add-ins, choose COM Add-ins, select Go, clear the check boxes, and restart Excel normally. Turn add-ins back on one at a time to find the culprit.
Out-of-date Office: Microsoft lists installing the latest updates as a fix. Go to File > Account > Update Options > Update Now.
Big or formula-heavy workbooks: a sheet that recalculates a lot of formulas can lag. Switching to manual calculation while you edit can help; see how Excel’s calculation options work.
Filter Keys: if the arrow keys feel slow, make sure Filter Keys is off in Windows accessibility settings, since it slows down key repeats.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does changing my mouse speed fix a slow Excel cursor?

Usually not. The Windows mouse pointer speed setting only affects the mouse pointer, not the cell cursor you move with the arrow keys. The animation settings above are what change how the cell cursor moves.

Will turning off animations affect anything else?

If you turn off animations in Excel only, other apps aren’t affected. If you turn them off in Windows, menus and windows open without fading or sliding effects, and Office animations turn off too.

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Matthew Burleigh

Matthew Burleigh has been writing tech tutorials since 2008. His writing has appeared on dozens of different websites and been read hundreds of millions of times.

After receiving his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science he spent several years working in IT management for small businesses. However, he now works full time writing content online and creating websites.

His main writing topics include iPhones, Microsoft Office, Google Apps, Android, and Photoshop, but he has also written about many other tech topics as well.