Fix slow opening Excel

I installed a lot of software lately: video editing software, camera software, Feature Windows Update, and Dell firmware and BIOS update. This resulted in the problem that Excel needed 30 seconds and more to open a double-clicked file. The strange thing was, that when Excel was already opened, the clicked file would open immediately.

Apparently, the problem might come from software that slowly react to DDE broadcast messages.

If I understand this correctly, the following registry entry changes Excel away from using DDE for opening the Excel files when double clicked.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.12\shell\Open\command]
; for other versions of excel change the location to wherever the excel.exe is at
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Office\\Root\\Office16\\EXCEL.EXE\" /e \"%1\""
"command"=-

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.12\shell\Open\ddeexec]
@="[open(\"%1\")]"

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.12\shell\Open\ddeexec\application]
@="Excel"

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.12\shell\Open\ddeexec\topic]
@="system"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\Open\command]
; for other versions of excel change the location to wherever the excel.exe is at
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Office\\Root\\Office16\\EXCEL.EXE\" /e \"%1\""
"command"=-

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\Open\ddeexec]
@="[open(\"%1\")]"

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\Open\ddeexec\application]
@="Excel"

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\Open\ddeexec\topic]
@="system"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.5\shell\Open\command]
; for other versions of excel change the location to wherever the excel.exe is at
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Office\\Root\\Office16\\EXCEL.EXE\" /e \"%1\""
"command"=-

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.5\shell\Open\ddeexec]
@="[open(\"%1\")]"

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.5\shell\Open\ddeexec\application]
@="Excel"

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.5\shell\Open\ddeexec\topic]
@="system"

Solution was posted by XionicFire here.

I tried a number of other solutions and this was the one that worked for me.

Export DispForm to Excel

To export an item out of a SharePoint DispForm you can use the following javascript function.

function Export()
{
	var table = $("table[class='ms-formtable']");
	var replacer = new RegExp("<BR>","g");
	var nbspReplacer = new RegExp("&nbsp;","g");		

	var xls = new ActiveXObject("Excel.Application")
	xls.visible = true
	var xlsBook = xls.Workbooks.Add
	countRow = 2;
	countColumn = 1;
	xls.columns("A").columnwidth=40;
	xls.columns("B").columnwidth=60;
	xls.columns("B").WrapText = true;
	xls.columns("A").verticalAlignment = -4160;
	xls.columns("B").verticalAlignment = -4160;
	xls.Cells( 1, 1).interior.colorindex=44;
	xls.Cells( 1, 2).interior.colorindex=44;
	xls.Cells( 1, 2).Value = "GG-Zwischenfall";
	xls.Cells( 1, 2).font.name="Arial";
  	xls.Cells( 1, 2).font.size=10;
  	xls.Cells( 1, 2).font.bold=true;
  	xls.Cells( 1, 2).borders(10).LineStyle = 1;
  	xls.Cells( 1, 2).borders(10).Weight = -4138;
        xls.Cells( 1, 2).borders(10).ColorIndex = -4105;
        xls.Cells( 1, 1).borders(7).LineStyle = 1;
  	xls.Cells( 1, 1).borders(7).Weight = -4138;
        xls.Cells( 1, 1).borders(7).ColorIndex = -4105;
        xls.Cells( 1, 2).borders(8).LineStyle = 1;
  	xls.Cells( 1, 2).borders(8).Weight = -4138;
        xls.Cells( 1, 2).borders(8).ColorIndex = -4105;
        xls.Cells( 1, 1).borders(8).LineStyle = 1;
  	xls.Cells( 1, 1).borders(8).Weight = -4138;
        xls.Cells( 1, 1).borders(8).ColorIndex = -4105;

        xlsBook.activeSheet.pageSetup.Zoom = false;
        xlsBook.activeSheet.pageSetup.FitToPagesWide = 1;
        xlsBook.activeSheet.pageSetup.FitToPagesTall = 1;
	var aufgestellt = false;
	$(table).children('TBODY').children('TR').each(function() {
  		var tr = $(this);
  		tr.find('TD').each(function() {
  			//xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).Value = unescape($(this).text());
  			if (countColumn < 3)
  			{
  			var html = $(this).html();
  			var text = $(this).text();
  			if (html.indexOf("<DIV>") != -1 && text != "" && html.indexOf("<BR>") != -1)
  			{
  				var htmlValue = $(this).children('DIV').html();
  				var textValue = $(this).children('DIV').text();
  				//alert(textValue);
  				if (htmlValue != "" && htmlValue.indexOf("<DIV>") == -1)
  				{
  					//alert(htmlValue);
  					htmlValue = htmlValue.replace(replacer,"\n");
  					htmlValue = htmlValue.replace(nbspReplacer," ");
  					xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).Value = unescape(htmlValue);
  				}
  				else
  				{
  					var divTextValue = "";
  					$(this).children('DIV').children('DIV').each(function() {
  						//alert ($(this).text());
  						divTextValue = divTextValue + $(this).html().replace(replacer,"\n");
   					});
   					divTextValue = divTextValue.replace(nbspReplacer," ");
  					xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).Value = unescape(divTextValue);
  				}
  			}
  			else
  			{
  				if (html.indexOf("<DIV>") != -1 && text != "" && html.indexOf("<BR>") == -1)
  				{
  					if ($(this).children('DIV').find("DIV").length > 0)
  					{
  						var divTextValue = "";
  						$(this).children('DIV').children('DIV').each(function() {
  							//alert ($(this).text());
  							divTextValue = divTextValue + $(this).text() + "\n";
   						});
   						divTextValue = divTextValue.replace(new RegExp("\n" + '$'), '');
   						divTextValue = divTextValue.replace(nbspReplacer," ");
  						xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).Value = unescape(divTextValue);
  					}
  					else
  					{
  						xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).Value = unescape($(this).text());
  					}
  				}
  				else
  				{
  					xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).Value = unescape($(this).text());
  				}
  			}
  			//xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).Value = $(this).html();
  			if (countColumn == 1)
  			{
  				xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).font.bold="true";
  				xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).borders(7).LineStyle = 1;
  				xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).borders(7).Weight = -4138;
        		        xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).borders(7).ColorIndex = -4105;
  			}
  			else
  			{
  				xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).interior.colorindex=19;
  				xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).borders(10).LineStyle = 1;
  				xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).borders(10).Weight = -4138;
        		        xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).borders(10).ColorIndex = -4105;
  			}
  			xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).borders(8).LineStyle = 1;
  			xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).borders(8).Weight = -4138;
        	        xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).borders(8).ColorIndex = 15;
  			xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).borders(9).LineStyle = 1;
  			xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).borders(9).Weight = -4138;
        	        xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).borders(9).ColorIndex = 15;
  			xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).font.name="Tahoma";
  			xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).font.size=8;
  			}
  			countColumn++;
    	});

    countRow++;
    countColumn = 1;
	});	

	$("td[class='ms-descriptiontext']").each(function() {
		xls.Cells( countRow, 1).Value = $(this).text();
		xls.Cells( countRow, 1).font.name="Tahoma";
  		xls.Cells( countRow, 1).font.size=8;
  		xls.Cells( countRow, 2).borders(10).LineStyle = 1;
  		xls.Cells( countRow, 2).borders(10).Weight = -4138;
                xls.Cells( countRow, 2).borders(10).ColorIndex = -4105;
                xls.Cells( countRow, 1).borders(7).LineStyle = 1;
  		xls.Cells( countRow, 1).borders(7).Weight = -4138;
                xls.Cells( countRow, 1).borders(7).ColorIndex = -4105;

		countRow++;
	});
	xls.Cells( countRow, 2).borders(10).LineStyle = 1;
  	xls.Cells( countRow, 2).borders(10).Weight = -4138;
        xls.Cells( countRow, 2).borders(10).ColorIndex = -4105;
        xls.Cells( countRow, 1).borders(9).LineStyle = 1;
  	xls.Cells( countRow, 1).borders(9).Weight = -4138;
        xls.Cells( countRow, 1).borders(9).ColorIndex = -4105;
        xls.Cells( countRow, 2).borders(9).LineStyle = 1;
  	xls.Cells( countRow, 2).borders(9).Weight = -4138;
        xls.Cells( countRow, 2).borders(9).ColorIndex = -4105;
        xls.Cells( countRow, 1).borders(7).LineStyle = 1;
  	xls.Cells( countRow, 1).borders(7).Weight = -4138;
        xls.Cells( countRow, 1).borders(7).ColorIndex = -4105;
	xls.Cells( countRow-1, 1).Value = "";
	//xls.columns.autofit;
}

Export NewForm Values to Excel

This javascript function can be used to export data from a SharePoint NewForm to Excel. People Picker fields and Date fields are not covered by this function.

function Export()
{
	var table = $("table[class='ms-formtable']");
	var replacer = new RegExp("<BR>","g");
	var nbspReplacer = new RegExp("&nbsp;","g");
	var divReplacer = new RegExp("<div>","g");
	var divEndReplacer = new RegExp("</div>","g");
	var divExtClassReplacer = new RegExp("<div>\n", "g");
	var fieldTitle = "";
	var fieldValue = "";	

	var xls = new ActiveXObject("Excel.Application")
	xls.visible = true
	var xlsBook = xls.Workbooks.Add
	countRow = 2;
	countColumn = 1;
	xls.columns("A").columnwidth=40;
	xls.columns("B").columnwidth=60;
	xls.columns("B").WrapText = true;
	xls.columns("A").verticalAlignment = -4160;
	xls.columns("B").verticalAlignment = -4160;
	xls.columns("B").horizontalAlignment = -4131;
	xls.Cells( 1, 1).interior.colorindex=44;
	xls.Cells( 1, 2).interior.colorindex=44;
	xls.Cells( 1, 2).Value = "GG-Zwischenfall";
	xls.Cells( 1, 2).font.name="Arial";
  	xls.Cells( 1, 2).font.size=10;
  	xls.Cells( 1, 2).font.bold=true;
  	xls.Cells( 1, 2).borders(10).LineStyle = 1;
  	xls.Cells( 1, 2).borders(10).Weight = -4138;
        xls.Cells( 1, 2).borders(10).ColorIndex = -4105;
        xls.Cells( 1, 1).borders(7).LineStyle = 1;
  	xls.Cells( 1, 1).borders(7).Weight = -4138;
        xls.Cells( 1, 1).borders(7).ColorIndex = -4105;
        xls.Cells( 1, 2).borders(8).LineStyle = 1;
  	xls.Cells( 1, 2).borders(8).Weight = -4138;
        xls.Cells( 1, 2).borders(8).ColorIndex = -4105;
        xls.Cells( 1, 1).borders(8).LineStyle = 1;
  	xls.Cells( 1, 1).borders(8).Weight = -4138;
        xls.Cells( 1, 1).borders(8).ColorIndex = -4105;
        xlsBook.activeSheet.pageSetup.Zoom = false;
        xlsBook.activeSheet.pageSetup.FitToPagesWide = 1;
        xlsBook.activeSheet.pageSetup.FitToPagesTall = 1;

	$(table).children('TBODY').children('TR').each(function() {
  		var tr = $(this);
  		tr.children('TD').each(function() {
  			if (countColumn < 3)
  			{
  			if (countColumn == 1)
  			{
  				fieldTitle = unescape($(this).text()).replace(" *","");
  				xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).Value = unescape(fieldTitle);
  				xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).font.bold="true";
  				xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).borders(7).LineStyle = 1;
  				xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).borders(7).Weight = -4138;
        		        xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).borders(7).ColorIndex = -4105;
  			}
  			if (countColumn == 2)
  			{
  				fieldValue = $("input[title = "+fieldTitle+"]").val();
  				if (fieldValue == null)
  				{
  					fieldValue = $(this).find("input[id $= 'TextField']").val();
  				}
  				if ($(this).find("select[id$='DateHours']").length > 0 && $(this).find("select[id$='DateMinutes']").length > 0)
  				{
  					fieldValue = fieldValue + " " + $(this).find("select[id$='DateHours']").children(":selected").text() + $(this).find("select[id$='DateMinutes']").children(":selected").text();
  				}

  				if (fieldValue == null)
  				{
  					fieldValue = $(this).find("textarea").val();
  					if ($(this).find("textarea:hidden").length > 0)
  					{
  					    //alert("textarea");
  						$(this).children("SPAN").children("SPAN").children("DIV").children("IFRAME").contents().find("DIV").each(function() {
  							fieldValue = fieldValue + $(this).text() + "\n";
   						});
   						if (fieldValue != null)
   						{
   							fieldValue = fieldValue.replace(new RegExp("\n" + '$'), '');
   							fieldValue = fieldValue.replace("undefined","");
   						}
  					}

  					if (fieldValue != null && fieldValue.indexOf('<div>') != -1)
  					{
  						fieldValue = fieldValue.replace("undefined","");
  						fieldValue = unescape(fieldValue.replace(divReplacer, ""));
  						fieldValue = unescape(fieldValue.replace(divEndReplacer, ""));
  						fieldValue = unescape(fieldValue.replace(divExtClassReplacer, ""));
  						fieldValue = unescape(fieldValue.replace(nbspReplacer, ""));
  					}
  				}
  				if (fieldValue == null)
  				{
  					$(this).find('input:checkbox:checked').each(function(index) {
  						if ($(this).parent().parent().parent().next("TR").find("input[title^="+fieldTitle+"]").length > 0)
  						{
  							fieldValue = fieldValue + $(this).parent().parent().parent().next("TR").find("input").val();
  						}
  						else
  						{
  							fieldValue = fieldValue + $(this).next("label").text() + "; ";
  						}
  					});
  					if (fieldValue != null)
  					{
  						fieldValue = fieldValue.replace("undefined","");
  						fieldValue = fieldValue.replace(new RegExp("; " + '$'), '');
  						//alert(fieldValue);
  					}
  				}
  				if (fieldValue == null)
  				{
  					if ($(this).find('input:radio:checked').parent().next("label").next("select").length > 0)
  					{
  						fieldValue = $(this).find('input:radio:checked').parent().next("label").next("select").children(":selected").text();
  					}
  					else
  					//if (fieldValue == null || fieldValue == '')
  					{
  						//alert(fieldValue);
  						fieldValue = $(this).find('input:radio:checked').parent().parent().parent().next("TR").find("input").val();
  					}
  				}
  				if (fieldValue == null || fieldValue == '')
  				{
  					fieldValue = $(this).find("select").children(":selected").text();
  				}
  				if ($(this).parent().attr('id') == "idAttachmentsRow" && (fieldValue == null || fieldValue == ''))
  				{
  					fieldValue = $(this).find("TD").first().text();
  				}

  				xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).Value = unescape(fieldValue);
  				xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).interior.colorindex=19;
  				xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).borders(10).LineStyle = 1;
  				xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).borders(10).Weight = -4138;
        		        xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).borders(10).ColorIndex = -4105;
  			}
  			xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).borders(8).LineStyle = 1;
  			xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).borders(8).Weight = -4138;
        	        xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).borders(8).ColorIndex = 15;
  			xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).borders(9).LineStyle = 1;
  			xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).borders(9).Weight = -4138;
        	        xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).borders(9).ColorIndex = 15;
  			xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).font.name="Tahoma";
  			xls.Cells( countRow, countColumn).font.size=8;
  			}
  			countColumn++;
    	});

    countRow++;
    countColumn = 1;
	});	

	$("td[class='ms-descriptiontext']").each(function() {
		xls.Cells( countRow, 1).Value = $(this).text();
		xls.Cells( countRow, 1).font.name="Tahoma";
  		xls.Cells( countRow, 1).font.size=8;
  		xls.Cells( countRow, 2).borders(10).LineStyle = 1;
  		xls.Cells( countRow, 2).borders(10).Weight = -4138;
                xls.Cells( countRow, 2).borders(10).ColorIndex = -4105;
                xls.Cells( countRow, 1).borders(7).LineStyle = 1;
  		xls.Cells( countRow, 1).borders(7).Weight = -4138;
                xls.Cells( countRow, 1).borders(7).ColorIndex = -4105;

		countRow++;
	});
	xls.Cells( countRow, 2).borders(10).LineStyle = 1;
  	xls.Cells( countRow, 2).borders(10).Weight = -4138;
        xls.Cells( countRow, 2).borders(10).ColorIndex = -4105;
        xls.Cells( countRow, 1).borders(9).LineStyle = 1;
  	xls.Cells( countRow, 1).borders(9).Weight = -4138;
        xls.Cells( countRow, 1).borders(9).ColorIndex = -4105;
        xls.Cells( countRow, 2).borders(9).LineStyle = 1;
  	xls.Cells( countRow, 2).borders(9).Weight = -4138;
        xls.Cells( countRow, 2).borders(9).ColorIndex = -4105;
        xls.Cells( countRow, 1).borders(7).LineStyle = 1;
  	xls.Cells( countRow, 1).borders(7).Weight = -4138;
        xls.Cells( countRow, 1).borders(7).ColorIndex = -4105;
	xls.Cells( countRow-1, 1).Value = "";
	//xls.columns.autofit;
}