How to Clear Excel Cache on Windows 10

To clear Excel’s cache on Windows 10, save your work, then in Excel select File > Options > Save, scroll down to Cache Settings, and select Delete cached files. Confirm the prompt, select OK, and restart Excel. That clears the Office Document Cache, which holds local copies of workbooks you opened from OneDrive or SharePoint.

“Excel cache” can also mean temporary files, the recent workbooks list, the Office add-in cache or a PivotTable’s stored items. Each one fixes a different problem, so the first section below helps you pick the right one.

Applies to: Excel for Microsoft 365, Excel 2024, 2021, 2019 and 2016 on Windows 10. Older versions that still have the separate Upload Center app are covered too. The cache steps follow Microsoft’s page on managing the Office document cache.

Windows 10 reached end of support on October 14, 2025. Microsoft 365 apps still get security updates on Windows 10 through October 10, 2028, so these steps keep working there.

Which Excel cache do you need to clear?

Match your problem to the right fix before you delete anything.

What you’re seeing	What to clear	Where it’s covered
A OneDrive or SharePoint workbook won’t save, shows an upload error, or opens an old copy	Office Document Cache	Method 1
Low disk space, or leftover files after an Excel crash	Temporary files	Method 2
You don’t want others to see which workbooks you opened	Recent workbooks list	Method 3
An Office add-in shows old content or won’t load	Office add-in cache	Method 4
Deleted names still appear in a PivotTable filter	PivotTable cache	Method 5

If Excel is simply slow in one big workbook, clearing a cache rarely helps. Heavy formulas, unused formatting and stored pivot data are the usual causes, and shrinking an Excel file is the better fix.

Before you start

• Save every open workbook. For cloud files, wait until Excel shows the file as saved.
• Check for files that didn’t upload. In Microsoft 365, select File > Open and look for Files Needing Attention. This section only appears when a cloud file failed to save. Open each listed file and save it again before you clear the cache.
• Close Excel completely before you delete files in File Explorer. If a file says it’s in use, press Ctrl + Shift + Esc, find Microsoft Excel in Task Manager and select End task.
• Don’t delete AutoRecover or UnsavedFiles content. Those may hold the only copy of work you haven’t saved. See Leave recovery files alone.

Method 1: Delete the Office Document Cache in Excel Options

This is the supported way to clear the cache Office uses for cloud files. Use it when a workbook stored in OneDrive or SharePoint keeps failing to upload, opens an out-of-date version, or Office shows a document cache error.

1. Open Excel. Any blank workbook is fine.
2. Select File, then Options at the bottom of the left pane. If you only see More, select it first, then Options.
3. In the Excel Options window, select Save on the left.
4. Scroll to the bottom of the page to Cache Settings.
5. Select Delete cached files. A confirmation box opens.

6. Select Delete cached files in the box to confirm. In newer Microsoft 365 builds (Version 2512 and later), a second prompt warns about files that still have changes waiting to upload. Only select Delete there if you’ve already saved those changes somewhere else or don’t need them.
7. Select OK to close Excel Options, then close and reopen Excel.

The cache is shared by Excel, Word and PowerPoint, so this clears cached copies for all three. Your files in OneDrive or SharePoint aren’t deleted. The next time you open one, Office downloads it again, which can take a little longer for large workbooks.

Other cache settings on the same page

• Days to keep files in the Office Document Cache: fewer days uses less disk space, more days makes cloud files open faster. Files with changes still waiting to upload are kept regardless.
• Delete files from the Office Document Cache when they are closed: clears each file’s cached copy when you close it. It’s useful on a shared PC, but if you close a file before its upload finishes, Office asks you to wait or save a copy elsewhere.

Microsoft advises against deleting the cache folder (%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Office\16.0\OfficeFileCache) by hand in File Explorer. Doing that can make Office crash, cause “File not found” errors and lose changes that hadn’t uploaded. Use the button instead.

Older Office versions: the Upload Center

Microsoft 365 replaced the Upload Center with Files Needing Attention and moved the delete option to Cache Settings. If your version of Office doesn’t have Cache Settings under File > Options > Save, select Start, type Upload Center, open Microsoft Upload Center, then select Settings > Delete cached files.

If Office reports that the cache is damaged and its own repair fails, follow Microsoft’s steps to delete a damaged Office Document Cache, which use a clean boot so the cache files aren’t locked.

Method 2: Clear Excel’s temporary files

Excel writes temporary files while you work and normally removes them when it closes. After a crash, some get left behind in your Windows Temp folder.

1. Save your work and close Excel and other Office apps.
2. Press Windows + R, type %temp% and press Enter. File Explorer opens your Temp folder (C:\Users\YourName\AppData\Local\Temp).
3. Select the files you want to remove. Press Ctrl + A to select everything, or sort by Date modified and pick older files.
4. Press Delete. If Windows says a file is in use, select Skip. That file belongs to a running program.
5. Empty the Recycle Bin if you want the space back right away.

For a hands-off option, open Settings > System > Storage, select Temporary files, tick Temporary files and select Remove files. Leave Downloads unticked unless you mean to empty it. More detail is in the walkthrough on deleting temporary files in Windows 10.

Method 3: Clear the recent workbooks list

The list under File > Open isn’t really a cache, but it’s what many people want gone. Clearing it doesn’t delete any workbooks.

1. In Excel, select File > Open.
2. Right-click any file in the recent list.
3. Select Clear unpinned Workbooks (the wording may say Documents or Items), then Yes. Pinned files stay.

To remove a single entry, right-click it and choose Remove from list. Be careful not to pick Delete file, which deletes the workbook itself.

To stop Excel listing files at all, go to File > Options > Advanced, scroll to Display, set Show this number of Recent Workbooks to 0 and select OK. The Windows side of this, such as Quick Access and jump lists, is covered in the guide to clearing recent files in Windows 10.

Method 4: Clear the Office add-in cache

Web-based Office add-ins (the ones you get from Home > Add-ins) are cached on your PC. If one shows old content or stops loading, clear the add-in cache. This removes cached data for all web add-ins in Excel, Word and PowerPoint, and they reload on next use.

Option A: let Office clear it (Office Version 2108 or later)

1. Select File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings.
2. Select Trusted Add-in Catalogs.
3. Tick Next time Office starts, clear all previously-started web add-ins cache and select OK.

4. Close and reopen Excel.

Option B: delete the folder contents

1. Close all Office apps.
2. Press Windows + R, paste %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Wef\ and press Enter.
3. Delete everything inside the Wef folder, not the folder itself.
4. If %userprofile%\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Win32WebViewHost_cw5n1h2txyewy\AC\#!123\INetCache\ exists, delete its contents too.

Both steps come from Microsoft’s instructions for clearing the Office add-in cache. Clear the whole folder: deleting individual files in it can stop every add-in from loading.

Method 5: Clear old items from a PivotTable cache

Each PivotTable keeps a copy of its source data in the workbook. Even after you delete a name or product from the source and refresh, it can linger in the filter list.

1. Right-click any cell in the PivotTable and choose PivotTable Options.
2. Open the Data tab.
3. Set Number of items to retain per field to None and select OK.

4. Right-click the PivotTable again and select Refresh.

Open the filter drop-down: only items that still exist in the source should be listed. On the same Data tab, clearing Save source data with file makes the saved workbook smaller, but you’ll need to refresh the PivotTable after opening it. Pair that with Refresh data when opening the file if you want it automatic.

Leave recovery files alone

Some cleanup guides suggest emptying Office’s UnsavedFiles folder. Don’t do that as part of a cache cleanup. AutoRecover copies are how Excel gives back work after a crash or when you close without saving.

To check them first, select File > Open and choose Recover Unsaved Workbooks at the bottom of the recent list. Open anything you need and save it under a new name. AutoRecover settings, including Save AutoRecover information every x minutes and Keep the last AutoRecovered version if I close without saving, are under File > Options > Save, as described in Microsoft’s guide to recovering unsaved files.

If clearing the cache doesn’t help

• The same upload error comes back. Check that you’re signed in to Office with the account that owns the file, that you have edit permission and that OneDrive itself is syncing. If OneDrive is the problem, try resetting the OneDrive cache on Windows 10.
• A file won’t delete from Temp or Wef. Excel or another Office app is still running in the background. End it in Task Manager or restart the PC and try again.
• Excel crashes when it starts. Hold Ctrl while opening Excel and choose Yes to start in Safe Mode. If it opens, turn off add-ins in File > Options > Add-ins one at a time.
• Problems continue across Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Repair Office: right-click Start, select Apps and Features, select your Microsoft 365 or Office entry, choose Modify, then Quick Repair. If that doesn’t work, run Online Repair, which takes longer and needs an internet connection.
• Data in a workbook looks stale. That’s usually not a cache. Select Data > Refresh All to update connections, queries and PivotTables.

How to tell it worked

Reopen the workbook that had the problem and repeat what failed before, such as saving to OneDrive or loading the add-in. The fix worked if your latest changes appear in the cloud copy and the error is gone. Restarting Excel without an error isn’t proof on its own. Nothing needs undoing: Office rebuilds the document and add-in caches automatically as you open files.

Frequently asked questions

Does clearing the Excel cache delete my spreadsheets?

No. The Delete cached files button removes local copies, and the originals stay in OneDrive or SharePoint. The real risk is changes that never finished uploading. Save them or check Files Needing Attention first.

Where is the Excel cache folder on Windows 10?

The Office Document Cache is in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Office\16.0\OfficeFileCache by default, though an organization’s IT policy can move it. Clear it from Excel Options rather than deleting the folder.

Why is Delete cached files grayed out or missing?

Older Office versions keep this button in the Upload Center app instead of Excel Options. On a work PC, IT settings may also control the cache. Ask your administrator before deleting anything by hand.

How often should I clear Excel’s cache?

Only when you have a problem it can fix. Office manages the cache on its own and removes closed files after 14 days by default, so routine clearing just makes cloud files download again.

Does this work the same in Windows 11?

Yes. The Excel steps are identical, and only Windows Settings looks different. For broader cleanup there, see how to clear the cache in Windows 11 and remove temporary files in Windows 11.

Will clearing the cache make Excel faster?

Usually not by itself. The document cache affects cloud files, not how fast formulas calculate. If one workbook is slow, look at its size, volatile formulas and add-ins instead.

If you’re tidying up before a cleanup, it can help to find every Excel file on your Windows 10 PC so you know where your real workbooks live. Start with Method 1 if you only clear one thing: it’s the cache most Excel problems point to.