Excel 2007 Saving Takes a Long Time and Consumes EXACTLY 50% CPU

[Peter Dunn]

I have opened two Excel 97-2003 files in compatibility mode. When I save one
of these it takes a long time >60 secs. If I do the same without the second
file open it saves quickly and normally <2 secs but when I reopen the second
file the issue returns. I have several different files that exhibit the same
symptoms.

I have played with deleting content (tabs of forumals) from both files
gradually and this gradually improves the saving time, thus the issue seems
dependent on the level of formulas in the files, as if some recalculation or
compatibility checker is being trigger at save time. But I have tried turning
off compatibility checking and tried auto/manual recalc plus saving without
recalculation options but so far have been unable to work around this. While
this save is taking place the Excel.exe process consumes EACTLY 50% CPU. No
i/o takes place, but memory usage does increase. Its driving me crazy as I
have large sheets that I need to keep in the old version for distribution to
staff with old versions and these sheets take >10mins to save and on some I
have had to kill the process because I don't think its ever going to
complete.

 

[Peter Dunn]

Some more information... CPU was 50% for me as I had dual processor. I have
now replicated issue on colleagues old single processor PC and his CPU jumps
to 100%.

Tried saving the 97-2003 versions to 2007 and they save fine in higher
version. But when I resave to the older 97-2003 version (from the 2007
version) the problem reappears. The worksheet that I am saving does not
report any compatibility issues when I save it but the second sheet (that is
not the one being saved) does have a compatibility issue (noted when I save
it) described as "Some formulas in this workbook are linked to other
workbooks that are closed. when these formulas are recalculated in earlier
versions of Excel without opening the linked workbooks, characters beyond the
255-character limit cannot be returned. Location: Defined Names".

Again the mere presence of the second file with this compatibility issue
seems to be causing the save of the first file to take the length of time
that it does. Closing second file and resaving first does not have any issue.

 

[Peter Dunn]

Can easily send the two offending sheets to someone if they want to try
replicating this. Please send email to (e-mail address removed)

 

[squirc77]

Some more information... CPU was 50% for me as I had dual processor. I have
now replicated issue on colleagues old single processor PC and his CPU jumps
to 100%.

Tried saving the 97-2003 versions to2007and they save fine in higher
version. But when I resave to the older 97-2003 version (from the2007
version) the problem reappears. Theworksheetthat I am saving does not
report any compatibility issues when I save it but the second sheet (that is
not the one being saved) does have a compatibility issue (noted when I save
it) described as "Some formulas in this workbook are linked to other
workbooks that are closed. when these formulas are recalculated in earlier
versions ofExcelwithout opening the linked workbooks, characters beyond the
255-character limit cannot be returned. Location: Defined Names".

Again the mere presence of the second file with this compatibility issue
seems to be causing the save of the first file to take the length oftime
that it does. Closing second file and resaving first does not have any issue.






- Show quoted text -

The only way I'm finding to get around this issue is to minimize the
Excel program while waiting for the spreadsheet to appear, then it
immediately displays. Wondering if Microsoft will come out with a
patch for this annoying issue sometime soon. One can hope.

 

[Peter Dunn]

Hi,

Not sure I exactly understand what you are suggesting. Seems that you are
saying that after I click save, then I should minimise the spreadsheet being
saved and this action frees up the saving process so that it doesn't hit 100%
CPU and saves normally. I tried this but it made no difference..it still took

60secs to complete the save operation and my processor hit 50% (using one of

two). Have I interpretted your comments correctly?

 

[Peter Dunn]

As I have not been able to solve this problem I have returned to using Excel
2003. Won't be going near Excel 2007 for sometime as its compatibility mode
doesn't seem to work properly.

 

[SteveB]

I am in week 2 of trials of 2007, and am ready to switch back to 2003 myself.
I am not an "expert", but have always been the company guru. I have 1 file
with 40 sheets, each with over 300 formulas, that all link up to another
workbook containing data, and displaying reports. I cannot get the first file
to save, while the data file is opened.
I was so happy when I first heard that Excel 2007 wopuld be capable of
handeling over 65000 lines of date, but I guess it's only if your not going
to do anything with it.

 

[Peter Dunn]

Hi Steve,

Your situation seems to mirror mine exactly ... there is just something
fundamentally bugged with the save process in compatibility mode that makes
its unusable because you can't save complex files in any reasonable time.
Without someone seeing this thread and providing an explanation/workaround I
don't like your chances of being able to stay with 2007. When I converted
back it was SOOOO NICCCE to have stability, speed and certainty again...

 

[Tim Boudin]

I have been dealing with Simular probelsm with Excel 2007 here as well, we
have several spread sheets that are taking more then 20 minutes to save all
of which have been reported to Microsoft with no responce from them other
then the problem was submited to Development and then support closes the
call. I have even tried to open new sheets in the .XLSX format and that
helps some but when the file size exceeds 25mb in size the problem saving the
file comes back.

 

[Suthosharko]

Hello Tim,

Good (well not really) to know that it wasn't just me having this problem.
If you ever do get a response from Microsoft would be very interested to hear
it.

Regards
Peter