Undocumented DEX.INI switch cuts down SmartList export times to Microsoft Office Excel

Ok, so why the journalistic type nature of this article? Well, if like many users out there you tend to export tens of thousands of records out of Microsoft Dynamics GP using SmartList and you complain about the export's performance, then I guarantee you will want to read Patrick Roth's new article Smartlist: Exports slowly to Excel - Part 1.

In his article, Patrick details an undocumented DEX.INI setting that changes the way records are exported from SmartList into Microsoft Office Excel. The feature was added since release 10 and remains active in release 2010.

SmartlistEnhancedExcelExport=TRUE

Patrick further explains the feature trades formatting for performance, so if you are an Excel wizz just looking to get data out so you can do the rest on your own, then this switch is for you.

The DEX.INI is the Microsoft Dynamics GP defaults file containing setup and operating information about Microsoft Dynamics GP. Each line of information, or setting, in the file contains information such as where your files are located, and whether certain functions, such as displaying print dialog boxes, should be performed.

Additional Resources

DEX.INI on this blog - click here
DEX.INI at Dynamics Confessor blog - click here
DEX.INI at Developing for Dynamics GP blog - click here

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
Maximum Global Business, LLC
http://www.maximumglobalbusiness.com/

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hello, I use GP Web and while this problem do happen in GP Web too but SmartlistEnhancedExcelExport=TRUE can't be used for GP Web do you have another solution?

Thanks before
June 17, 2016 at 6:03 AM
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