When Ctrl+Break Doesn't Work

[MrExcel]

In Excel 2010, I've been working on a workbook off and on for a month or so. I am guessing I last clicked Save four days ago. {I cringe writing that sentence and every time I read it, too}

Someone sent me an Excel question, so I started a second workbook in the same instance, then wrote a quick little macro to solve their problem. Then I wanted to make the macro better and added a second loop. I clicked Run and something is wrong - first VBA and then the Excel grid have greyed out with Not Responding. Ctrl+Break in either window is getting no reaction.

Normally, I would just Ctrl+Alt+Delete and stop the application. But I really don't want to lose the first unsaved workbook. Sure - AutoRecover might offer the last autosaved version of the workbook, but it might not.

Any tips or thoughts here? What do you do when Excel won't respond to Ctrl+Break?

Thanks

Bill Jelen

 

[RoryA]

What do you do when Excel won't respond to Ctrl+Break?

Swear a lot, usually.

In 2010 I find that holding Esc (or Ctrl+Break) down after selecting the main excel window rather than the VBE can sometimes work but mostly autorecover has been pretty good to me so far.

 

[MrExcel]

(The macro is still running.)
Rory - I tried Esc for a while with no results.

Just in case someone finds themselves in a similar situation, here is how to check out what AutoRecover files are there:
Go to Windows Explorer and type %AppData% in the address bar and press Enter. This redirects you to the application data folder.
From that folder, navigate to the Microsoft\Excel\ folder.

On my computer, there are 46 subfolders. It looks like there is one folder for every workbook that was ever AutoSaved but then never opened again. Some of these are a few years old - in many cases, it looks like incidental files that might have been open in the background when Excel crashed and then I never went back to the file.

I found the folder with my original workbook. There are five autosaved versions - ranging from May 18 to May 21. I copied the latest, pasted in a new folder, opened in Excel 2013 (or another instance of Excel 2010 would work), and my notes from this morning are there. The file is marked read only, so I had to do a File, Save As to make sure I had a good copy.

Now I feel better about killing the Excel process in the task manager.

 

[Akashwani]

Hi,

Would changing the Save AutoRecover information (alt F I S) to every 1 minute be a wise move or not?
I currently have mine set to 10 minutes.

Thanks

Ak

 

[daverunt]

Try it. The larger the document the longer the delay/interruption when auto-saving, add an increased frequency and you may just get irritated.