How to Stop Excel from Automatically Updating the Screen While Running Power Query (Fast Data Load)

Power Query is a remarkably powerful tool built into Microsoft Excel that allows you to connect to external databases, clean up messy data sets, and load millions of rows of transformed data directly into your workbook. However, when you execute a massive Power Query refresh, you may notice that Excel becomes incredibly sluggish and the screen constantly flickers as data is pumped into the sheet.

This happens because Excel is attempting to automatically redraw the graphical user interface and visually update the spreadsheet on your monitor in real-time as every new chunk of data arrives. If you are loading 500,000 rows from a SQL database, forcing the graphics card to update the screen thousands of times acts as a severe bottleneck, massively slowing down the total query execution time.

You can utilize the “Fast Data Load” feature to force Excel to temporarily suspend visual updates while the query runs, drastically speeding up the process.

How to Enable Fast Data Load in Power Query

You must enable this setting within the global Data Options menu.

1. Open your workbook in Microsoft Excel.
2. Click on File in the top-left corner of the ribbon.
3. Click on Options at the bottom of the left sidebar.
4. In the Excel Options window, select Data from the left-hand navigation pane.
5. Look for the section labeled Show legacy data import wizards and scroll down to the bottom of the Data pane. (Note: Depending on your Excel version, the exact location may vary; look for the “Data Load” section).
6. If you are using Microsoft 365, open the Power Query Editor (Data tab > Get Data > Launch Power Query Editor).
7. Inside the Power Query Editor, click File > Options and settings > Query Options.
8. In the Global pane on the left, click on Data Load.
9. Under the “Default Query Load Settings” or “Background Data” section, check the box labeled Enable Fast Data Load.
10. Click OK.

When Fast Data Load is enabled, Excel will prioritize raw processing power over visual feedback. The screen may appear frozen or display a simple progress bar while the query runs, but it will finish downloading and transforming your database significantly faster.