Excel 2007 Severe Performance Problems

[jkmelancon]

When running various workbooks that ran without incident as Excel 2003
applications I am experiencing slow-downs and lack of "resource" halts
running the same workbooks now saved as Excel 2007 applications.

These are moderate to small excel applications by corporate standards, with
just simple sort macros, and they are running on a strong workstation, under
Vista Ultimate.

The problem is severe. I basically cannot effectively run day to day
required spreadsheets. Anyone have any ideas?-
J. Melancon

 

[Nick Hodge]

You'll need to narrow down your scope to specific issues as it could be many
and different for each one

For slow calc'ing try turning off multi-threading calculation under Office
Button>Excel Options>Advanced>Formulas

Also for speed the xlsb file format is optimised but there will be drawbacks
such as larger files, no access to xml components to back-end systems, etc.

Post back with other specifics if necessary

--
HTH
Nick Hodge
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Southampton, England
(e-mail address removed)
web: www.nickhodge.co.uk
blog: www.nickhodge.co.uk/blog/

FREE UK OFFICE USER GROUP MEETING, MS READING, 27th APRIL 2007
www.officeusergroup.co.uk

 

[NormD]

Nick, I just posted this but it seems to alpply to this thread so I'm putting
it here for your comments (and, ideally, sugestions):

Someone wanted specifics, so here is a specific, reproduceable case.

I loaded 6 CSV files each with 7,200 records of time and sound level data
(I'm an acoustical engineer) into individual sheets in one workbook. I've
done this for years with 2003.

Drawing a line chart with three of these sets plotted against a common time
scale, dragging the graph around, etc. is significantly slower in 2007 than
2003.

I copied the graph from one sheet to another to edit it to refer to the
other three sets of data. When I click on one of the graphs to select the
series, 2007 sits, and sits, and sits...minutes go by. Task Manager reports
"not responding."

I saved the sheet as an XLS file and loaded into Excel 2003. Near
instantanioous response. Same moodel machines, both running XP. Also tried
on a MUCH faster dual core machine, with no obvious improvement; app still
sits and sits.

If someone from MS wants to look at the files I'll be glad to send them.

At this point 2007 is nearly unusable for me.

 

[Bob Flanagan]

Norm, would you mind sending me a copy? I have tried to duplicate the
problem with my own data, but have been unable to do so.

Bob Flanagan email: robertflanagan @ add-ins.com

Thanks,

Bob

 

[NormD]

I just found this post, Bob. I'll send you the file.

 

[S]

Hello Nick and the rest,
How about this?
I have a workbook with more than 1 worksheet. Both have various data in
them - nothing complex, just totals and cell references.
In one worksheet, I type in a NUMBER (e.g. 1000) and hit <Enter>. The cell
pointer moves down one cell (e.g. from A1 to B1) with no problem.
In the other worksheet, I type in the same number, hit <Enter> and Excel
freezes for about 5 seconds (I've timed it) before doing what it should (i.e.
cell pointer moves down one cell). Sometimes - with copying and pasting -
"Not responding" can be seen in the top blue bar. Sometimes, this takes so
long and I get so tired of waiting for Excel to respond that I close Excel
(and hope some of my data gets retrieved). Does this sound familiar to
anyone? Never did I have such an issue with 2003.

 

[Nick Hodge]

Are you running Vista too?

I get the (not responding) in all Office apps in Vista, but neither of my
machines is gifted with more than 1gb of ram and multi-core processors

--
HTH
Nick Hodge
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Southampton, England
(e-mail address removed)
web: www.nickhodge.co.uk
blog (non-tech): www.nickhodge.co.uk/blog/

 

[S]

Most certainly AM running Vista - with a 2 GB AMD core. Interestingly
enough, the problem seems to have subsided since I re-created the file
completely from scratch in 2007 Excel. There must have been some carryover
from the 2003 (where it was originally created) that 2007 just did not like.
I could see this nonsense being a real headache for those trying to work with
really complex files they created in 2003 (or prior). Are there any patches
out there, Nick?

 

[Nick Hodge]

No

There are no patches or SP's currently. It is definitely worse on 2003 files
upgraded to 2007, but I am also convinced that Vista is a contributor, at
least for me

If you work on a SP for Excel in around 12-18 months after release, expect
something no earlier than November (12 months after RTM)

--
HTH
Nick Hodge
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Southampton, England
(e-mail address removed)
web: www.nickhodge.co.uk
blog (non-tech): www.nickhodge.co.uk/blog/