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Harold KrongelbFlag for United States of America

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Is there a way to improve Network File Performance on a Shared Excel File?

I am running Excel 2010 on relatively new Windows 7 machines using shared spreadsheets.  The spreadsheets are network shares located on a high-end 64-bit Server 2008.  All systems are running Symantec Endpoint Protection.  The computers communicate over a local LAN at gigabit speeds.  The are no identified network, server, or workstation bottlenecks.

The spreadsheets are not particularly large (about 700K) and are shared by about a half-dozen users.  We average about 50 to 100 updates per day, and the updates are typically only changing 4 to 12 cells at a time.

However, we get multiple messages that files are locked.  The saves work when retried.  Occasionally, we have to unlock the files from the server.  We also occasionally have files corrupted, and have to go to back versions.

Can anyone suggest server, workstation, or Excel tweeks that will improve the situation?
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Rob and Brad,

Would it help if I uninstalled 32-bit Office and installed 64-bit office?
Sorry that's outside my scope of knowledge.
I can try it on a test machine.  I don't know how Intel implements the switch between 64-bit and 32-bit, but context changes like that can be quite processor intensive.  It could be the cause of the issue.  I'll post more after some experimentation.
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Good idea about opening a new question. I will also include Symantec anti-virus. I will open a second question regarding performance of 32-bit programs on a 64-bit OS.
Please keep the question open.
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Yes another update.  I have discovered that the file lock message goes away after a while with no user intevention.  You can perform a save two minutes later and it works.
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I don't have a 100% answer.  I think it is the combination of Server 2008, the anti-virus, Excel, and Windows 7.  I split the points between everyone who contributed (sorry if I missed anyone).

If anyone has another suggestion, please send it to me.  At this point, I can either move everything back to Server 2003 or wait for future service packs.

Than you everyone.
It has been two months now, and everything I did seems to have eliminated the errors.  Symantec is updated, although it was only a minor change.  I also excluded the folders from Symantec's attempts to recognize new viruses and other excessive scanning.  The combnation seems to have worked.
Harold,
Thanks for the update.

I've put this thread in my knowledgebase to illustrate "best practices" for using Shared workbooks successfully. So I'm glad to hear that your problems have been cleared up.

Brad