Technical and Performance Limits

This page describes known technical and practical limits. These limits only impact users with very large/complex documents.

Key Findings:

Word add-in updates with large Destination-formatted tables can be slow to update.
Flex tables update rapidly.
Word performance becomes very slow when the document contains over 2500 content controls (this issue is not related to the add-in). Performance improves dramatically if you hide the content controls.

Details:

		Excel ("Submit Content")	Word Add-In Updates ("Update Document")^	Word Cloud Updates**	PowerPoint Cloud Updates ("Update Document" or "Create Report")
Cells / Text	Technical Limits	No known limits	Word becomes slow with over 2500 content controls	Word becomes slow with over 2500 content controls	No known limits
Cells / Text	Performance	10 seconds to submit 10,000 items	1 minute to update 2500 content controls	3 seconds up update 2500 items	3 seconds up update 2500 items
Tables (Destination-formatted)	Technical Limits	No known limits	Many or large tables can be slow to update*	No known limits	No known limits
Tables (Destination-formatted)	Performance	3 seconds (50 tables)*	1 minute to update 50 medium-sized tables*	30 seconds to update 50 large tables (14,700 cells)	4 seconds to update 200 small tables
Images	Technical Limits	No known limits	No known limits	No known limits	No known limits
Images	Performance	10 seconds to submit 50 chart images	20 seconds to update 500 images	10 seconds to update 500 images	10 seconds to update 500 images

* Medium tables tested with 10x5 (50 cell tables). Large tables tested with 10-column by 30-row tables (300 cells). With 49 tables, which is 14,700 cells.

** "Cloud Update" or Template-based "Create Report" (processed on our secure Microsoft Azure servers)

^ update performance is significantly faster if the user's cursor is at the top of the document and no/few large tables are visible. Slow update speeds are related to display updating, not replacing content.