Why Disable the Excel Splash Screen?
When you launch Microsoft Excel, you are briefly greeted by a green “splash screen” displaying the Excel logo, your Microsoft 365 licensing information, and loading status indicators. While this screen reassures you that the program is opening, it can slow down the launch process, particularly on older computers. If you frequently open and close multiple spreadsheets throughout the day, disabling this unnecessary graphic can shave valuable seconds off your launch times.
Disabling the Splash Screen via Desktop Shortcuts
Microsoft Office applications allow you to pass specific command-line arguments to them when they launch. You can use this feature to force Excel to open silently without the splash screen.
1. Locate your Microsoft Excel shortcut. If it is pinned to your taskbar, right-click the icon, then right-click the Excel text in the menu, and select Properties. If you use a desktop shortcut, simply right-click it and select Properties.
2. In the Properties window, ensure you are on the Shortcut tab.
3. Look for the text box labelled Target. This box contains the file path to the Excel executable program, usually ending in EXCEL.EXE".
4. Click inside the Target box and place your cursor at the very end of the text, after the final quotation mark.
5. Press the spacebar once to add a single space, and then type /e
6. Your target path should now look similar to this: "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\EXCEL.EXE" /e
7. Click Apply, then click OK.
The Benefits of the “/e” Command
The /e parameter instructs Excel to open without displaying the startup splash screen and without opening a new blank workbook. This provides the fastest possible launch time, opening a completely empty Excel shell where you can immediately use the File menu to navigate to your existing documents.