Excel 2007 and large spreadsheets

[Len]

I have a user that doesn't want to move to Excel 2007 from 2003 due to what
he describes as "Specifically, my analytical tasks often involve creating
very large spreadsheets (>100 MB) for data processing. I found that Excel
2007 tended to freeze up or calculate indefinitely when working with such
large spreadsheets, and therefore was unsatisfactory for my needs". I can't
find anything that addresses this type of issue.

 

[trip_to_tokyo]

Len, type in:-

EXCEL Specifications And Limits

- on an F1 search within EXCEL 2007 and click on the 4th item down called:-

EXCEL Specifications And Limits

- this may help.

Of course what your user is saying may not be a problem with EXCEL but the
box upon which you are running it.

Please hit Yes if my comments have helped.

 

[JLatham]

I can sympathize with your user to a degree. There are many factors
affecting the performance of Excel 2007 and I've had people send me 2007
files heavy with calculations and watched them take very long times to
recalculate even after the change of a single value within the workbook.
Excel 2010 seems to have cured many of these issues, so your user may want to
wait until 2010 is on the shelves and then look to see if it is more
suitable. Or, 2010 (late) Beta is available as a download that could be
installed on a Virtual Machine or off-line system and they could test its
performance and suitability that way. Download page
http://www.microsoft.com/office/2010/en/download-office-professional-plus/default.aspx

I wouldn't recommend any beta version of an application to be used for
critical real world work without extensive testing by them before making the
switch.

 

[Len]

So from what I can gather, this is "the norm" and to be expected with 2007.
I guess we will just upgrade to Office 2007 and do an individual install of
the Office 2003 components he needs.

thanks all.

 

[JLatham]

Consider a dual, or side-by-side, installation. He already has 2003 on the
system and if you install 2007 over it, there are potential problems with
legacy files. You can install 2007 without overwriting the 2003 files. You
will have to make a decision as to keeping or replacing Outlook (only one
version of Outlook can be installed). But then you'd have both 2003 and 2007
available as required. 2007 will end up the default for opening files when
you double-click a filename, but if that's an issue, there are ways to change
it to 2003.

This would require a full-install copy of 2007, not an upgrade version.