How to Clear Cache in Excel (7 Ways)

Method 1 – Disabling a Recent Document List

Steps:

• Select the File tab on your Excel ribbon.
• Select Options from the left side of the backstage view.

• • The Excel Options box will open up.
  • Select the Advanced tab from the left side of this box first.

• Scroll down on the right until you find the Display sections.
• Set zero in the box beside the Show this number of Recent Workbooks option.
• Click OK.

This will disable the recent document list in Excel and clear a lot of the cache.

Method 2 – Using the Office Upload Center

Steps:

• Open the Upload Center by searching it in the Windows search bar.
• Go to Settings.
• In the box, check the Delete files from the Office Document Cache when they are closed option under the Cache Settings.
• Click on Delete cached files.
• A pop-up will appear to confirm the action.
• Confirm it by clicking on the Delete Cached information in the confirmation box.

Method 3 – Using Disk Cleanup

Steps:

• Open Disk Cleanup by searching it through the Windows search bar.
• Select the file where your Office files are located.

• Click on OK.
• Another box will pop up for that particular disk’s cleaning.
• Check the Temporary files option under the Files to delete section in the box.

• Click OK.

The Disk Cleanup will clear all the cache of Microsoft Office including Excel.

Method 4 – Remove Cache Automatically

Steps:

• Select the File tab on your ribbon.
• Select Options from the left side of the backstage view.

• Select the Trust Center tab from the right of the Excel Options
• Select Trust Center Settings, as shown in the figure below.

• The Trust Center box will open up this time.
• Select the Trusted Add-in Catalogs tab.
• Check the Next time Office starts, clear all previously-started web add-ins cache option on the right.

• Click OK.

Excel will automatically clear out the cache every time you restart the application.

Method 5 – Manually Deleting Local Files

Steps:

• Open the Run dialog box by pressing Win+R.
• Insert the following formula in the box:

• Click OK.
• As a result, the file explorer will open up with the local cache files.

• Delete them all and restart Excel.

You can clear the Excel cache by manually deleting local files.

Method 6 – Clear PivotTable Cache

Steps:

• Right-click on any cell of the Pivot Table.
• Select PivotTable Options from the context menu.

• The PivotTable Options box will open up.
• Select the Data tab in it first.
• Select the Number of items to retain per field to None.

• Click OK.
• The action should be set into motion at this point. However, to see its effect immediately, right-click on any cell of the pivot table and select Refresh from the context menu.

This will remove the pivot table caches and won’t store them. As a consequence, you will reduce the Excel cache.

Method 7 – Embedding VBA Code

Steps:

• Go to the Developer tab on your ribbon.
• Select Visual Basic from the Code.

• As a result, the VBA window will open up.
• Click on Insert and select Module from the drop-down menu.

• Select the module if it hasn’t been selected, and insert the following code: (you can also find the code in the workbook.)

Sub Workbook_Open()
Dim xPtble As PivotTable
Dim xWkst As Worksheet
Dim xPcch As PivotCache
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
For Each xWkst In ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets
For Each xPtble In xWkst.PivotTables
xPtble.PivotCache.MissingItemsLimit = xlMissingItemsNone
Next xPtble
Next xWkst
For Each xPcch In ActiveWorkbook.PivotCaches
On Error Resume Next
xPcch.Refresh
Next xPcch
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

• Press F5 to run the code.

Download the Practice Workbook

You can download the workbook containing all the illustration sheets from the link below.

Clear Cache in Excel: Knowledge Hub

• Clear Excel Memory Cache Using VBA

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