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When clicking into a cell of a Excel 2013 sheet, the green border of the cell is animated while moving from the current cell to the new one.

This is really disturbing. How can I disable this animation?

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  • 7
    I instantly wanted to disable this when I experienced it.
    – vaughan
    Oct 24, 2013 at 8:14

7 Answers 7

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There is a registry setting that allows you to disable all animations across Office 2013 (thus not affecting other programs). It is explained in simple terms here: [Tip] Improve Microsoft Office 2013 Performance by Disabling Unnecessary Animations. There's a download at the end of the post with the corresponding .reg files to enable or disable animations; just double click on the "disable animations" one.

In summary:

  • create the following key in the registry if it does not exist yet: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\Graphics
  • create a new DWORD DisableAnimations in that key and set its value to 1

There's no way to selectively disable some of Office 2013 animations; it's an all-or-nothing proposition. sotong's answer to this question disables all animations across Windows.

EDIT

For those who don't have access to the regedit UI due to user privileges, this can also be done from the command line. Use (Win)+R, run cmd then paste in for Office 2013:

reg add HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\Graphics ^
/v DisableAnimations /t REG_DWORD /d 1

For Office 2016:

reg add HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Graphics ^
/v DisableAnimations /t REG_DWORD /d 1

(all on one line).

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  • 1
    Thanks for the answer. But I can't see the folder "Graphics" in my registry (Win8), but would be the better solution for the issue.
    – FiveO
    Apr 4, 2013 at 14:42
  • You may have to create it - I don't remember how it was. Have you tried it? Does it work?
    – s_a
    Apr 4, 2013 at 15:25
  • 2
    Yes, after adding the key Graphicsand then the DWORD DisableAnimations the Animations are gone. So this is even the better answer for that issue. Thanks
    – FiveO
    Apr 5, 2013 at 8:21
  • FYI I just ran the .reg file from the link I posted on a Win8 x64/Office 2013 x86 machine and it worked.
    – s_a
    Apr 5, 2013 at 14:31
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    I'm on a computer where I'm blocked from using regedit. Solved by running reg add "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\Graphics" /v DisableAnimations /t REG_DWORD /d 1 from the command line. Does the same thing but without the regedit UI.
    – ivarni
    Jun 23, 2015 at 11:14
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Another way to turn off animations in Office 2013, which does NOT involve going into the registry, is as follows (quoted from Excel 2013 built-in help):

"Turn off Office animations

Office 2013 is the first release to use hardware acceleration throughout the user experience to deliver beautiful, fluid animations. But if you use your computer without a display or just prefer to block unnecessary animations, you have the choice to turn them off.

1.Open the Ease of Access Center (shown below) by pressing the Windows logo key + U.

2.Under Explore all settings, click Use the computer without a display.

3.Under Adjust time limits and flashing visuals, click Turn off all unnecessary animations (when possible).

4.Click OK."

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    This assumes Hardware Acceleration is only used for the animations. I'm concerned this setting might affect other aspects too. Oct 2, 2014 at 15:45
  • Certainly a great alternative, as it doesn't involve admin authority and can be easily done in a workplace setting. Jun 23, 2015 at 16:36
6

You can turn off the animation by:

Control panel > System and security > System > Advanced system settings (in upper-left side) > Advanced tab > Settings in Performance box > Visual effects tab:

Uncheck the "Animate controls and elements inside windows."

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  • Remark from user s_a: This disables all animations across windows (which is in my opinion not a bad thing)
    – FiveO
    Apr 4, 2013 at 14:39
2

Hate that as well.

It appears to be a global setting unfortunately. You can disable it by going to Control Panel, Ease of Access Center, then click Make it easier to focus on tasks, and tick Turn off unnecessary animations. It will disable many other Windows animations though.

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  • Please notice it is NOT a global setting (though you can of course disable all animations in windows).
    – s_a
    Apr 5, 2013 at 14:32
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A simpler solution:

Excel 2013> Options> Advanced > Display> DISABLE Hardware Graphics Acceleration.

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  • 2
    That's not an appropriate solution for disabling a single animation. Oct 6, 2013 at 5:18
  • 1
    I've had this flag set for ages and this did not disable the animation described in the question.
    – RomanSt
    Dec 12, 2013 at 14:59
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Copy the following text in the notepad and rename the file as .reg and then open the and merge the entry.

----------------- Copy text below ------------

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\Graphics] "DisableAnimations"=dword:00000001

-1

In Windows 7, click on the Start icon and type this: "turn off unnecessary animations"

Then check the box by "turn off unnecessary animations" on the following screen.

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