This article walks you through the steps to resolve an issue where QuickBooks freezes or locks up while attempting to export data to Microsoft Excel.

Issue: QuickBooks locking up or freezing when attempting to export to Excel.

There are a couple of reasons this issue might occur. There are two possible solutions for this problem:

Solution 1: 

1. After pressing the Export to Excel button in QuickBooks, you will see the window pictured below.

2. Click the Advanced button.

3. Un-check the box labeled Freeze panes (keep headers and labels visible).  Press ok.

4. Press Export.  The data should now export without freezing.

5. Once the export is complete, if you need to view the resulting spreadsheet with the panes frozen, you can re-enable it by highlighting the appropriate cells (highlight the top row of the sheet if you only wish to freeze the column headers). 

6. Then, click the View tab and click Freeze Panes as shown below.

Solution 2: 

When attempting to export something from QuickBooks to Excel, unless you already had Excel open, QuickBooks will attempt to auto-launch the Excel application for you. Sometimes, Excel will request some information, such as your Office login. But because QuickBooks is the app that is launching Excel for you, these windows won't automatically pop-up in front. These windows may get stuck behind the QuickBooks application - but because QuickBooks freezes while trying to open Excel, these pop-ups won't appear or be easily accessible. 

What to do:

If this happens, hold down your Alt key on your keyboard and then press Tab.

You may need to press Tab several times (while holding down Alt) to find the Excel window you are looking for. Once you find the Excel window, perform whatever action is required by Excel to close the window. Once you're done, QuickBooks & Excel should function normally.

What to do if neither of these solutions work:

Contact IT Support at itsupport@mpioilfield.com