Shortcuts app taking a long time to open one specific Excel file

I did both steps. No change at all. But duplicating the spreadsheet got me to thinking "What changed in this planner the other day?" I mean it's a simple spreadsheet that I put together laid out like a desktop calendar would be laid out with boxes large enough to add simple text, day by day, month by month, for the past three years (one tab for each year). I constantly add reminders, appointments, birthdays, etc.; plus I save all of the info simply so I can remember events that I need to keep track of, or business meetings with clients so I know when I'm due to initiate another one.

Then it hit me... I made a small screenshot (only 70kb) of an upcoming event, and pasted it into one of the date boxes instead of typing in the details like I normally do. I've literally done this dozens of times as a quick addition if I'm busy, and typically within a week I delete the screenshot and type in the text instead... (because it looks more consistent, and my OCD bugs me if I don't delete the screenshot - lol). So anyway, I deleted this 70kb screenshot pasted into November 12th, and typed in the text instead. Now the sheet opens instantly through either shortcut.

I have no idea why a screenshot off of the same iMac that I always use would cause the problem. So today I tested it with a new screenshot, saved, and it still opens instantly. Something about that one individual screenshot. Go figure.

Thank you for all of the suggestions! I really appreciate it, especially because it got me looking in the right direction.

I'm thinking of two things you could try:

1. Make a copy of the Daily Planner Excel file and use the copy in the shortcut that opens a single file. I'm wondering if macOS is performing security checks on the original file. On my end, XProtect (the Apple anti malware) was updated on 10/10/2026.
2. Make a copy of your multiple action shortcuts, prune one action, test the shortcut and repeat the pruning/testing until you detect the shortcut is slowing down. I'm not sure what this will tell us but I'm curious.

Yes, that's why in the original comment I said "Did the reboot thing". I'll try safe mode... surprised I didn't think of that because our tech at work used to have us do that before calling him. He was great for "Fix it yourself and quit bugging me." :)

Thanks! I'll let you know if that works.

Have you tried rebooting your Mac?

You could also start your Mac in Safe Mode (Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support), wait 5 minutes for macOS to finish cleaning up and restart in normal mode.

So after shutting down, starting up in Safe Mode (and verifying that I was in safe mode), leaving the Mac idle for roughly 30 minutes, I shut it down, and restarted in normal mode. It didn't change a thing.

Once again I tried deleting both shortcuts, rebuilt them starting from scratch - same results. The one shortcut that opens multiple files (including another excel file of the same size, in the same folder on the main drive) opened the other file almost instantly, but the Daily Planner took about a full minute to open. And once again, going to Finder > My Documents > Daily Planner... then it opened instantly.

Great debugging. I’m glad you got to the bottom of it.