Excel Slowdown with Spreadsheet Age 1

[marcr62]

I have a simple fill in the blank one page spreadsheet that I have used every week for over two years (very few calculations, mostly just text). As time goes by, I have noticed that it becomes very slow to react to movement within the spreadsheet. When I press page down or down arrow which makes the spreadsheet scroll, it takes several seconds to move each line. Other spreadsheets do not have this problem. My question is: Is there a known problem within Excel or its code, that causes it to remember historical changes or increase its calcuations in documents that are old and have been modified thousands of times?

 

[mscallisto]

I don't have a clue, since you say you have no problems with other files.

If it is possible can you create a new spreadsheet either by copying with windows explorer or by cutting and pasting or saving as new filename from excel.

I don't know if this will gain you anything, but It's something I would probably try.

Much Luck

 

[WindowWizard]

Excel, as does word, doesn't reorganize the file as things are cut, moved, pasted, deleted. Updates to file are appended to the existing file. So, all the information has to be "built" on the fly from the "instructions" within the file. After making lots of changes to a file, it may be advantageous to do a "Save As..." to allow the file to be reconstructed.

WW

 

[marcr62]

I have tried cuting and pasting as well as saving as another name, but get the same effect. Another curious problem that may be related, is that when saving excel documents it takes eleven seconds regardless of age or size of documents when saving to a local C: drive. But when saving the same document to a network drive, it just blinks or less than one second to save and come back. My c: drive is 40% full, have 512 ram and virtual memory is OK. Have done scan disk and defrag. This still only happens in excel, not word or any other application.... No one I've talked to has a clue.

 

[mscallisto]

Hmmm interesting to say the least.

Initially you said
"Other spreadsheets do not have this problem"
refering to the slow page-up/down movement.

Now you say
"when saving excel documents it takes eleven seconds"


Have you tested for viruses lately?

If you have, and you think your system is clean, have you tried moving the file to another computer?

 

[marcr62]

Only a few spreadsheets have the movement problem, the ones that are very old and highly utilized on a daily basis. All spreadsheets, even new ones have the eleven second save problem. I have saved a document with the movement and save problem, to a network server and then brought it up and saved it to another computer which did not reproduce the same problems. We are running an automatic firewall and virus protection router system that has not let any virus's through to all other 35 computers so I don't believe mine is infected. I have run scans which did not find anything also. I have also uninstall and reinstalled MS Office to no avail.

 

[VBAjedi]

I had two thoughts on potential problems:
1) Was the file created in an older version of Office? Perhaps it references functions that no longer exist or have been updated.

2) Has some VBA code somehow been placed in the Sheet object or the ThisWorkbook object? (You need to open the Visual Basic Editor to check that.) Perhaps it is running some code every time you scroll.

It might not solve the mystery, but if it's just a one-page spreadsheet with few calculations, and the problem only happens with old spreadsheets, why not just open a new document and recreate it, saving it as a slightly different name?

Thanks,

VBAjedi

 

[marcr62]

The file was created over 6 years ago, so it has undergone all the conversions of Excel Upgrades since then to the now EXCEL 2000 (9.0.4402 SR-1) version I am now running. But since this spreadsheet works OK on other machines using the same software, I don't think this is it. There maybe something to the VBA code issue, but wouldn't this effect other machines also? I'm beginning to think there maybe some hidden co-processor issue or fundamental VBA type glitch just on my machine. The only thing I have not done is uninstall and clean my registry of all MS Office entries manually.

I could recreate the document, but without knowing what caused this, it could/will happen again.

 

[Wray69]

Do you have any advanced filters in this sheet? If so, one of these two workarounds might work.

WORKAROUND
To work around the problem, use the appropriate method for your situation.
Method 1: Performing the Advanced Filter Operation Manually
To work around the problem, point to Filter on the Data menu and then click Show All. All of the records in your list are displayed. Now you can perform the Advanced Filter operation without any degradation in performance.
Method 2: Performing the Advanced Filter Operation Programmatically
Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft support professionals can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific needs.

Hope this Helps...

Regards -

Wray

 

[mblaster]

Are your settings (Tools/Options) the same as on the PC where it works faster?

 

[Wray69]

You also might want to check out this KB article at Microsoft and see if it applies.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;299372

Regards -

Wray

 

[marcr62]

My Show All Filters is greyed out, so I must not have any filters running.

My Options are exactly like another computer. Also, the other computer is exactly like mine as far as hardware questions may arise. Same maker, bought at same time with the same specs.

The solution that there may be too many temp files to go through was interesting. But I logged out and logged back in as a different user (so I would get a clean profile) but got the same reaction in the spreadsheet.