MATLAB: Is MATLAB slow in reading certain Microsoft Excel 2007 files

MATLABxlsbxlsmxlsreadxlsx

I am using the new Microsoft Excel 2007 to create data files which are subsequently imported into MATLAB. I have observed that reading some of the Excel files can be very slow. In particular, the XSLX format is slow. I have tried the following functions XLSREAD, XLSFINFO, IMPORTDATA and the Import Data Wizard.

Best Answer

It has been determined that the slowness attributed to these formats is because of issues with Microsoft Excel.

One workaround is to save the Excel files in the older XLS format. Another option is to save the files in the new XLSB (B stands for binary) format. It might show some improvement. According to Microsoft, the XLSB format is "optimized for fast loading and saving".

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MATLAB: Is there a way to use XLSWRITE to create a backward compatible Excel file

The file extension you provide as part of filename argument to XLSWRITE determines the Excel format that xlswrite uses for the new file. An extension of .xls creates a worksheet compatible with Excel 97-2003 software. Use extensions .xlsx, .xlsb, or .xlsm to create worksheets in Excel 2007 file formats.

For example, to create a .xls file compatible with Microsoft Excel 97-2003, the following XLSWRITE call may be used:

xlswrite('foo.xls',A);

On the other hand, to create a .xlsx file for use with Microsoft Excel 2007, the following may be uased:

xlswrite('foo.xlsx',A);

If you are using Microsoft Excel 2010, you can do the same starting with MATLAB R2010b (7.11).

MATLAB: How to rename a sheet in Excel using the COM interface in MATLAB

You can rename an Excel sheet using the "Name" property of a sheet object. For example the following renames the first sheet of an Excel file:

filename = 'C:\SomeExcelFile.xls';
% Open Excel Automation server
Excel = actxserver('Excel.Application');
% Make Excel visible
Excel.Visible=1;
% Open Excel file
Workbook = Excel.Workbooks.Open(filename);
% Get the list of sheets in the workbook
Sheets = Excel.ActiveWorkbook.Sheets;
% Rename the first sheet
Sheets.Item(1).Name = 'This is sheet 1';

The following code then saves the Workbook, quits Excel and removes the COM server:

% Save the file
Workbook.Save();
% Quit Excel, remove the COM server and delete the related objects
Excel.Quit();
Excel.delete();
clear Excel;
clear Workbook;
clear Sheets;

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MATLAB: Is there a way to use XLSWRITE to create a backward compatible Excel file

MATLAB: How to rename a sheet in Excel using the COM interface in MATLAB

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