XL2002: The CPU Usage Is 100 Percent When You Copy a Large Sheet in Excel

If you use the following method to copy a whole sheet in Excel 2002, the CPU utilization may reach 100 percent, and it may take a long time to complete the requested action:

1. Right-click a sheet in Excel 2002.
2. Click Move or Copy.
3. Click to select the Create a Copy check box.
4. Click OK.

This problem occurs because Microsoft Excel first saves the sheet in BIFF format to a memory-based docfile, and then loads it back through the regular load code when it copies all of the sheet. This process should work well, but when the sheet is large, the system needs to repeatedly reallocate and copy memory as the docfile grows (up to 40 or more megabytes (MB) in memory). This is what causes the requested action to take a long time to complete.

Service Pack Information

This problem is corrected in Office XP Service Pack 3.To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft Office XP. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Hotfix Information

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem.

If the hotfix is available for download, there is a "Hotfix download available" section at the top of this Knowledge Base article. If this section does not appear, submit a request to Microsoft Customer Service and Support to obtain the hotfix.

Note If additional issues occur or if any troubleshooting is required, you might have to create a separate service request. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for this specific hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Customer Service and Support telephone numbers or to create a separate service request, visit the following Microsoft Web site: Note The "Hotfix download available" form displays the languages for which the hotfix is available. If you do not see your language, it is because a hotfix is not available for that language. The English version of this fix should have the following file attributes or later: After the hotfix is installed, the English version of this fix will have the file attributes (or later) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel. To turn on this fix, you must add a registry key. Follow these steps to add a registry key.

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

1. Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).
2. Locate and then click the following key in the registry:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Excel\Options
3. On the Edit menu, click New DWord Value, and then add the following registry value:
   Value name: QFE_Boise
   Value data: 1
4. Quit Registry Editor.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was first corrected in Office XP Service Pack 3.