[bug]: excel starts to freeze when nvda is running

[marrie]

Steps to reproduce:

1. launch nvda
2. launch excel. This could be an open spreadsheet of any length.
3. notice over time excel slows to a crawl tgaking nvda witgh it. This is a random bug which can be hard to reproduce.

   Actual behavior:

I can't really use speach history as the behavior os not spoken, however excel and nvda slow down so muich that I can heardly use the screen reader. I submitted feedback to microsoft regarding this issue. Ther workaround is to reboot the computer as relaunching excel with a blank workbook even causes excel to hang. Launching narrator brakes as well as it seems like when a screen reader is launch and excel is closed, memory does not release.

Expected behavior:

I should not have excel freeze only when a screen reader is launched.

NVDA logs, crash dumps and other attachments:

System configuration

NVDA installed/portable/running from source:

nvda is installed.

NVDA version:

2023.1

Windows version:

Windows 11 22H2 (AMD64) build 22621.2134

Name and version of other software in use when reproducing the issue:

microsoft excel 365 16.0.16626.20170;

Other information about your system:

DxDiag.txt

Other questions

Does the issue still occur after restarting your computer?

no

Have you tried any other versions of NVDA? If so, please report their behaviors.

n/a

If NVDA add-ons are disabled, is your problem still occurring?

n/a. I've seen ;this with add ons disabled to the best of my knowledge.

Does the issue still occur after you run the COM Registration Fixing Tool in NVDA's tools menu?

yes

[KimUmbach]

I am having same issue with Excel Hanging as described in this issue. Using NVDA 23.1 with Windows 10 and Microsoft 365. Excel will stop working and hang for 5 - 10 minutes at a time and happens repeatedly when trying to navigate through a simple worksheet. It is making Excel virtually unusable. I can't restart the computer every time I move to a new cell.

[marrie]

Have you tried the UI options under advanced. It does not work all the time but I’m encountering less freezing mostly. I also like I said submitted feedback to Microsoft, feel free to upvote there as well.

[Adriani90]

Could you try NVDA 2023.2 Beta 3 please and see if the freeze is still occuring?

Also please provide an NVDA log while the screen reader is sluggish. That would help. Ideally with addons disabled.

Do you have any addins installed in your Microsoft Excel?

[Adriani90]

Is UIA for Excel disabled? or enabled in your NVDA advaced settings?

[marrie]

I can’t really provide a log as the screen reader slows down so much that I can’t even start narrator to grab anything. The whole machine comes to a crawl. I’ve had this thing freeze I think without add ons as well. And it happens at random. When it does happen however it is annoying to say the least. I will try and come up with something and make it freeze consistently.

[marrie]

UIA is enabled It was when I reported the freeze. The freeze will happen at random with no warning as to when it will in fact happen. If I close excel the freeze is gone. When I reopen even a blank workbook it freezes to the point where I need to reboot to release the memory. I indicated this as well in the Microsoft feedback.

[Adriani90]

So how is it when you disable UIA for Excel? Can you reproduce the freeze then?Von meinem iPhone gesendetAm 24.08.2023 um 22:59 schrieb Sarah Alawami @.***>: UIA is enabled It was when I reported the freeze. The freeze will happen at random with no warning as to when it will in fact happen. If I close excel the freeze is gone. When I reopen even a blank workbook it freezes to the point where I need to reboot to release the memory. I indicated this as well in the Microsoft feedback.

—Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: @.***>

[marrie]

I cannot reproduce it all the time. it will sgtill freeze with UIA on and off, it just depends on when it happens. This has been going on probably for several months at least in my case.

Thanks.

[marrie]

I managed to just now produce the freezing. I will attach the document as well as my logs if I can. Basically I managed to restart with debug on and save the document. It took me 10 minutes. the thign only had 5 rows and 4 columns. file which caused the freeze.xlsx my debug log thanks.

[Adriani90]

@marrie, @KimUmbach are you still able to reproduce this issue in the last nVDA alpha version? Also is your MS Office 365 uptodate? You can download the last alpha version of NVDA here: https://www.nvaccess.org/files/nvda/snapshots/

[marrie]

This seems to be a random bug which keeps occurring and not all the time.; It happened last week when I was editing a spreadsheet with 10 or so rows once, and that's it. It happened when I was editing a spreadsheet of 37 rows and no more. I tried with and without UI setting in advanced nvda config and nothing seems to help over here. I'm not sure if any of my troubleshooting is connected nor am I sure if this is an excel only issue. I'm running office version 16.0.17029.20028 of course with the m365 subscription and Windows 11 22H2 (AMD64) build 22621.2715 and now nvda 23.x.

[Adriani90]

@marrie, @KimUmbach, could you please test with NvDA 2024.3 Beta4? Is this issue still occuring?

[pranavlal]

@marrie I can duplicate this bug. It happens both on windows 10 and on windows 11. This happens particularly on my wife's work laptop where she runs windows 10. Her employer is running a version of office 365 but I am not sure of the exact version number. I can see a lot of nvda freezes as well as UIA access issues. Even if I run excel generally and if it does not freez, I see many errors in the log. nvda_excel_nonf_log.log

I am running nvda version 2024.3 (2024.3.0.33433) excel version: Microsoft® Excel® for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2407 Build 16.0.17830.20056) 64-bit