KB34 - The generation seems slow. Why? How can I optimized the speed of generation?

Description

The Spreadsheet Generation appears slow or slower than expected.

Solution

There are a number of things that can cause this, here are a few you can check:

Server Load. If many generations happen at once they all slow down.
The EstimatedSize property. Ensure that it is set large enough.
Try using a Client Side Cursor ( more info in help under Optimizing for Speed and File Size )
If you are using a Dual-Stream Workbook then your generation will be twice as slow because both Excel 5.0/95 and Excel 97/2000/2002 streams are being processed.
Set your ReadAhead values properly.
You may have more Fieldname Markers or Index Field Markers than you need. Try to trim these down to the minimum required.

If you do not understand any of the words in bold then you can look them up in the Excel SpeedGen Help file's Index.

You may also want to view KnowledgeBase Article KB38