Severe 1-2 minute delay for archive update/repack dialog after closing modified file (Excel)

[zhugecaomao]

Hi all

I am experiencing an issue regarding how TC handles modified files inside archives.

When I open an archive, open a spreadsheet file (.xlsx / .xls) inside it with Microsoft Excel, modify it, save it, and close Excel, the expected "File changed, repack?" confirmation dialog does not appear immediately. Instead, it takes a painful 1 to 2 minutes for the repack prompt to finally pop up.
This workflow used to be near-instantaneous in previous versions of TC.

Steps to reproduce:
1. Open any archive (e.g., .zip) in a Total Commander panel.
2. Double-click an Excel spreadsheet file inside the archive to open it.
3. Make a quick modification in Excel.
4. Save the file and close Excel completely.
5. Watch the Total Commander window and wait for the update prompt.

Actual behavior:
Total Commander remains unresponsive to the file change for about 1 to 2 minutes before the update/repack dialog finally shows up.

Expected behavior:
The repack dialog should appear immediately after Excel is closed and the file lock is released, matching the behavior of previous TC versions.

Additional Notes:
• This issue seems specific to recent versions; it was working perfectly fine before.
• I suspect it might be related to how TC tracks the Excel process or handles file change notifications/temporary file locks (~$... files that Excel creates).
• Is anyone else experiencing this lag with Office documents or external editors?

Environment:
• Total Commander version: 11.57 x64 final
• OS: Windows 11 64-bit
• Office version: Microsoft 365 latest version

[ghisler(Author)]

I cannot reproduce that with local files. Here the re-pack files dialog comes up almost immediately. However, I'm not using Excel, but LibreOffice. I tested with an .xlsx and .ods file, the dialog appeared within less than a second.
Something must be blocking Total Commander during these 1-2 minutes, e.g. a virus scanner making an online scan or similar.

Can anyone else reproduce this?

[zhugecaomao]

Thanks for reply. After testing few rounds, now I suspect this is because after save and close Excel, the Excel did not terminate its process immediately

[ghisler(Author)]

Ah, that makes sense - can you check on the Details page of the task manager (Ctrl+Shift+ESC) whether Excel is still running during these 1-2 minutes?

[zhugecaomao]

Ah, that makes sense - can you check on the Details page of the task manager (Ctrl+Shift+ESC) whether Excel is still running during these 1-2 minutes?

Tested, Microsoft Excel keep its process running 1~2 minutes after closing, do not know what Microsoft is trying to do. Anyway it is not TC issue, we can close this topic from here, thanks

[ghisler(Author)]

I see - probably to make opening the next file faster. You could try these things:
1. Define an internal association for *.xlsx in menu Files - Internal Associations. This bypasses the Windows dynamic data exchange system and opens a new instance of Excel
2. In addition to 1, keep a minimized copy of Excel open in the background so Excel itself doesn't need to stay open after being launched separately.

I don't know whether any of these suggestions work, but it can be tested very quickly, so it's worth a try.

[zhugecaomao]

I see - probably to make opening the next file faster. You could try these things:
1. Define an internal association for *.xlsx in menu Files - Internal Associations. This bypasses the Windows dynamic data exchange system and opens a new instance of Excel
2. In addition to 1, keep a minimized copy of Excel open in the background so Excel itself doesn't need to stay open after being launched separately.

I don't know whether any of these suggestions work, but it can be tested very quickly, so it's worth a try.

thanks, I will try it

[ghisler(Author)]

Since I can't influence the closing behaviour of Excel, I'm moving this thread to the "will not be changed" subforum.

Moderator message from: ghisler(Author) » 2026-05-26, 07:26 UTC

Moved to will not be changed

[zhugecaomao]

Yes pls, thanks