How to open a huge excel file efficiently

Question

I have a 150MB one-sheet excel file that takes about 7 minutes to open on a very powerful machine using the following:

# using python
import xlrd
wb = xlrd.open_         


        

Answer 1

I'm using a Dell Precision T1700 workstation and using c# I was able to open the file and read it's contents in about 24 seconds just using standard code to open a workbook using interop services. Using references to the Microsoft Excel 15.0 Object Library here is my code.

My using statements:

using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using Excel = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel;

Code to open and read workbook:

public partial class MainWindow : Window {
    public MainWindow() {
        InitializeComponent();

        Excel.Application xlApp;
        Excel.Workbook wb;
        Excel.Worksheet ws;

        xlApp = new Excel.Application();
        xlApp.Visible = false;
        xlApp.ScreenUpdating = false;

        wb = xlApp.Workbooks.Open(@"Desired Path of workbook\Copy of BigSpreadsheet.xlsx");

        ws = wb.Sheets["Sheet1"];

        //string rng = ws.get_Range("A1").Value;
        MessageBox.Show(ws.get_Range("A1").Value);

        Marshal.FinalReleaseComObject(ws);

        wb.Close();
        Marshal.FinalReleaseComObject(wb);

        xlApp.Quit();
        Marshal.FinalReleaseComObject(xlApp);

        GC.Collect();
        GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers();
    }
}