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Excel runs slowly on computer
- Thread starter SacreBleu
- Start date
GregLocock
Automotive
Fire up your performance monitor or task manager and check your RAM and virtual memory usage. Or listen for disk thrashing.
Cheers
Greg Locock
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.
Cheers
Greg Locock
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.
- Thread starter
- #3
GregLocock
Automotive
If you aren't using virtual memory then RAM isn't the problem. So it must be the CPU, I guess.
Cheers
Greg Locock
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.
Cheers
Greg Locock
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.
What processor?
How much RAM?
What OS?
How many other processes running?
What version of Excel?
How big are your Excel files?
Good Luck
johnwm
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UK steam enthusiasts:
How much RAM?
What OS?
How many other processes running?
What version of Excel?
How big are your Excel files?
Good Luck
johnwm
________________________________________________________
To get the best from these forums read faq731-376 before posting
UK steam enthusiasts:
- Thread starter
- #6
johwm,
I am referring to 4 different computers.
Excel 97 (I have no use for the fuzzy icons and other sillinesss associated with Excel 2003)
RAM varies from 256K to 1G
Operating systems - Win98SE, Win2000, XP Pro
CPU- Athlon 1700+, Pentium 3 GHz, more or less.
The "slow" machine- Win98SE+Athlon1700+256K is almost as fast as the more recent ones.
I am not that savvy about other processes running. The more recent machines have many running, most of which are a mystery to me.
The Excell becomes sluggish at about 20Mb size.
I am referring to 4 different computers.
Excel 97 (I have no use for the fuzzy icons and other sillinesss associated with Excel 2003)
RAM varies from 256K to 1G
Operating systems - Win98SE, Win2000, XP Pro
CPU- Athlon 1700+, Pentium 3 GHz, more or less.
The "slow" machine- Win98SE+Athlon1700+256K is almost as fast as the more recent ones.
I am not that savvy about other processes running. The more recent machines have many running, most of which are a mystery to me.
The Excell becomes sluggish at about 20Mb size.
If your spreadsheet is around 20Mb you may need to consider redesign, particularly as you're running out-of-date software.
1. If your spreadsheet contains mainly data with some lookups and simple calcs, then a database program may work better.
2. If it's mainly calculation then consider splitting the spreadsheet into separate functions
3. If it's truly monolithic (all calculations, all inter-related) then such an old version of Excel may not be the tool for the job.
It sounds from your first post <q> because of added worksheets and data </q> that a major overhaul of the design may be in order.
Good Luck
johnwm
________________________________________________________
To get the best from these forums read faq731-376 before posting
UK steam enthusiasts:
1. If your spreadsheet contains mainly data with some lookups and simple calcs, then a database program may work better.
2. If it's mainly calculation then consider splitting the spreadsheet into separate functions
3. If it's truly monolithic (all calculations, all inter-related) then such an old version of Excel may not be the tool for the job.
It sounds from your first post <q> because of added worksheets and data </q> that a major overhaul of the design may be in order.
Good Luck
johnwm
________________________________________________________
To get the best from these forums read faq731-376 before posting
UK steam enthusiasts:
GregLocock
Automotive
I wouldn't like to have to revalidate a 20 Mb spreadsheet after a redesign.
To be honest I'm moving away from spreadsheets for anything that has to be maintainable and is safety related.
Cheers
Greg Locock
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.
To be honest I'm moving away from spreadsheets for anything that has to be maintainable and is safety related.
Cheers
Greg Locock
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.
- Thread starter
- #9
johnwm,
It has a moderate amount of data tables, lookup, match, offset functions. It has a very large amount of formulae, with a lot of "branch points" (not really savvy on the lingo here). There are no macros, nor VBA involved. Minimal graphics. I don't understand what you mean, "split into separate functions".
It does the complete design of a wood framed building. When, for example, there are more shear wall designs than it is set up for, one simply copy/pastes new worksheets into the workbook.
I don't have the time or the mental fortitude to learn Database. Just keeping up with our Building Code is a challenge.
I will consider upgrading to a later version of Excel. I didn't know that could be an improvement.
Greg:
It is in a constant state of being upgraded, with more features. That is not an easy task.
It has a moderate amount of data tables, lookup, match, offset functions. It has a very large amount of formulae, with a lot of "branch points" (not really savvy on the lingo here). There are no macros, nor VBA involved. Minimal graphics. I don't understand what you mean, "split into separate functions".
It does the complete design of a wood framed building. When, for example, there are more shear wall designs than it is set up for, one simply copy/pastes new worksheets into the workbook.
I don't have the time or the mental fortitude to learn Database. Just keeping up with our Building Code is a challenge.
I will consider upgrading to a later version of Excel. I didn't know that could be an improvement.
Greg:
It is in a constant state of being upgraded, with more features. That is not an easy task.
electricpete
Electrical
If one of your computers has only 256k ram, I think it's time to upgrade ;-)
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Eng-tips forums: The best place on the web for engineering discussions.
SacreBleu,
Maybe I've lived a sheltered life but a 20mb Excel file seems really big. Are you comfortable with knowing what you have in the file justifies its size? I've known that Excel files can get corrupted causing bloated file sizes and still be able to open.
Just something to think about if you haven't already. Is your target workbook file size increasing proportionately to the size of the worksheets you are adding?
Maybe I've lived a sheltered life but a 20mb Excel file seems really big. Are you comfortable with knowing what you have in the file justifies its size? I've known that Excel files can get corrupted causing bloated file sizes and still be able to open.
Just something to think about if you haven't already. Is your target workbook file size increasing proportionately to the size of the worksheets you are adding?
- Thread starter
- #12
EGT01,
Sometimes , the project calculation workbook can become about 20mb in size. Typically, it is more in the range of 6-10mb.
I have tried the Save As (under different file name). That does not seem to have any effect.
This workbook is continually "tweaked". I have been able to clean it up on occasion by carefully copy/paste just the occupied cells of a worksheet onto a blank worksheet.
Another thing that helps is making sure the "Control-End" last cell is really the last cell of data in the worksheet.
Admittedly, since I am not an Excel expert, there probably is a lot of inefficiency (redundancy?) inherent in the workbook formulae, data, etc.
Electricpete:
The machine with 256K runs Win98SE, and is not connected to the Internet. It rarely hangs or crashes, so I figured it is doing just fine...and it seems only a little slower than the 3 other machines I use.
Sometimes , the project calculation workbook can become about 20mb in size. Typically, it is more in the range of 6-10mb.
I have tried the Save As (under different file name). That does not seem to have any effect.
This workbook is continually "tweaked". I have been able to clean it up on occasion by carefully copy/paste just the occupied cells of a worksheet onto a blank worksheet.
Another thing that helps is making sure the "Control-End" last cell is really the last cell of data in the worksheet.
Admittedly, since I am not an Excel expert, there probably is a lot of inefficiency (redundancy?) inherent in the workbook formulae, data, etc.
Electricpete:
The machine with 256K runs Win98SE, and is not connected to the Internet. It rarely hangs or crashes, so I figured it is doing just fine...and it seems only a little slower than the 3 other machines I use.
electricpete
Electrical
256K!!!????!!!! (emphasis on the K)
Come on now, think about it. The early 8088 PC's had 512K ram if memory serves me right.
=====================================
Eng-tips forums: The best place on the web for engineering discussions.
Come on now, think about it. The early 8088 PC's had 512K ram if memory serves me right.
=====================================
Eng-tips forums: The best place on the web for engineering discussions.
electricpete
Electrical
Sorry, I couldn't resist a little dig there. I'm sure you meant 256 Meg.
On the subject of making your file smaller:
1 - check out thread770-80600
2 - As johnwm said, consider breaking your file into smaller pieces. You can still have a one-way lookup to get data from a file that is closed on the disk (use filename and "!" before the cell reference). Also you can provide a hyperlink in on file to open another excel file. I store data on 30 different machines in 30 different spreadsheets. I have one master spreadsheet that extracts summary data from each of the 30 and displays it along with a hyperlink to open the individual file for more details. It may not be applicable to your situation but it helped me keep my files manageable.
=====================================
Eng-tips forums: The best place on the web for engineering discussions.
On the subject of making your file smaller:
1 - check out thread770-80600
2 - As johnwm said, consider breaking your file into smaller pieces. You can still have a one-way lookup to get data from a file that is closed on the disk (use filename and "!" before the cell reference). Also you can provide a hyperlink in on file to open another excel file. I store data on 30 different machines in 30 different spreadsheets. I have one master spreadsheet that extracts summary data from each of the 30 and displays it along with a hyperlink to open the individual file for more details. It may not be applicable to your situation but it helped me keep my files manageable.
=====================================
Eng-tips forums: The best place on the web for engineering discussions.
I'd agree with Greg Locock that very large spreadsheets are not suitable for safety related designs, such as the complete design of a wood-frame building. There are just too many places where errors can creep in and are invisible without a comprehensive review. Very good documentation and built-in checks can help, but something like Mathcad is much more easily documented and checked for errors.
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