How to open large Excel files from network faster

[FTM]

Hi, I want to ask any more hints and suggestions so that I can open large Excel files much faster from the network. Currently, when we try to open large files (>2Mb), it takes like a few minutes for the process. So far I've tried:
1) Delete all the *.emf files
2) Set the Macro Protection to low security (I don't want to do that)
3) Check Igore all other applications in the options of the Tools menu

We have a Windows 2000 server running AD, 100Mbps full duplex network. There's absolutely no problem with the physical layer of our network, we copy a large file from the network to the client's machine (>20Mb), it takes only 25 seconds.

 

[abombss]

First you need to find out how much is network lag and how much is just excel. Copy the file over to your pc locally and time how long it takes to open. Then open it from the server and time it.

Check for any macros or code running at startup and kill them. Startup should be totally clean.

 

[Vetinari78]

would enabling offline file caching be of any help in a situation like this?

 

[abombss]

I don't think it would. If it is really slow maybe trying linking the Excel files. When developing MS-Access I have a front-end which sits on the client and is fast, it has all the forms, functions. etc. The backend sits on the server and stores just the raw data.

I don't know how easiliy this fits into your problem but I am sure it would help. Or get on your network guys for speed.

Does it open faster if you copy it to your hard drive first? How long does it take to copy?

abombss

 

[FTM]

Our network lagging is really slow, in just a couple of ms. Seems the problem only happening when you open large Excel files from network. When you copy the file to the local drive, it opens fast, the copying is also very fast. We use a test Excel file(3Mb in size), there's no macros or VBA modules. At the time you open the file, you see the progress bar at the bottom, takes 20-30 seconds for every square. We try to move the file to another volume(not DFS colume), open from a different account even from a different machine, it's still doing the same thing. After the test, we are sure the problem is not from the cable, switch, router, HDD and the server. Also the problem is not from the network bandwidth, network share, UNC path, account permissions, group policy and security. The only thing I can think of is either file indexing or some specific environment parameters setup. Do anyone know about registry tweaking?