There is a only one Excel crashing problem that I'm aware of. This occurs when you use the merge_cells() method without specifying a format for the entire range of cells. This only affects Excel97 and not Excel2000.

The solution is to ensure that you write a formatted blank to other cells in the merged range as follow:

    #!/usr/bin/perl -w

    use strict;
    use Spreadsheet::WriteExcel;


    my $workbook  = Spreadsheet::WriteExcel->new('test.xls');
    my $worksheet = $workbook->addworksheet();


    $worksheet->set_row($_, 30) for (1..11);
    $worksheet->set_column('B:D', 20);


    my $format = $workbook->addformat(
                                        border  => 6,
                                        bold    => 1,
                                        color   => 'red',
                                        valign  => 'vcenter',
                                        align   => 'center',
                                      );



    $worksheet->write('B2', 'Some text here', $format);
    $worksheet->write_blank('C2', $format);
    $worksheet->write_blank('D2', $format);
    $worksheet->write_blank('B3', $format);
    $worksheet->write_blank('C3', $format);
    $worksheet->write_blank('D3', $format);

    $worksheet->merge_cells('B2:D3');
[download]

If this doesn't fix your problem then send me an email.

--
John.