Clearing the cache

For each workbook that you open or create during or after logging on to IBM® Cognos® Office or its components, a cache worksheet is created. This worksheet holds information about the data that needs to be rendered. You can clear the cache of packages used in workbooks that use IBM Cognos Analysis for Microsoft Excel. Clearing the package cache reduces the size of the workbooks by deleting unused data and metadata associated with formulas. The Clear Cache button works for all the data sources and packages defined in IBM Cognos Analysis for Microsoft Excel. After you clear the cache, you must save workbooks to see a reduction in file size.

Clear the cache when workbook size matters, when security is paramount, or when it is not necessary to store report results for faster processing times. If the size of your workbook is too large due to extensive data, the clear cache function reduces the size of the workbook. However, there is a trade-off: the processing time for populating the workbook with data increases because the data must be retrieved from the IBM Cognos BI data server instead of relying on the data that is saved in the cache.

Alternatively, you can specify to clear the local cache of retrieved data each time that you save the workbook or save the workbook with a new file name. You can do this by selecting the Clear Cache on save check box.

Procedure

  1. Start IBM Cognos Analysis for Microsoft Excel.
  2. Open a workbook.
  3. From the IBM Cognos toolbar, click Options.
  4. Under Cache Management, choose how you want to clear cache:
    • To clear the local cache for the active workbook, click Clear Cache.

      The cache is cleared and the size of the workbook is reduced. You can now open and save additional workbooks. To avoid creating a cache worksheet for non-IBM Cognos workbooks, you must exit Microsoft Excel.

    • To clear the local cache each time you save a workbook, or save a workbook with a new file name, select the Clear Cache on save check box.

      Data displayed on the workbook is cleared only when using the Clear All Data button Clear All Data icon from the IBM Cognos toolbar.

  5. Click OK, and then save the workbook.

Results

You can also automate the process for clearing the cache. For more information, see ClearCache.