excel files get huge for no reason

[difrance]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

Hi all, I am in working on a project right now that requires that I repeatedly open and add-to a series of excel files, each with about 40 sheets. I have been doing this for a few weeks now and I noticed that a few of my files, instead of being tiny files measure in kbs, become huge 5 meg files! The strange thing is, when I open one file that is 300kb and compare it to another that is nearly 5,000kb, there is no difference between the two in terms of content???? Has anyone noticed this?? Please advise if you can.

Thanks in advance.

 

[CyberTaz]

There's some investigation going on to find out more possible contributors,
but one of the main causes is creating charts & other graphics with the
Excel 2008 tools & saving in the prior .xls format which doesn't support
them. That causes the program to save two versions of each object - could
that be a possibility in your case?

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[difrance]

Hello Bob, well you are correct in one aspect, these files were originally created in Excel 03 for Windows (templates) and they are being used and saved as new files in Excel 08 for Mac. However, the files do not contain any graphics. The sheets contain only census data arranged in certain ways. These summary tables do include some formatting like fonts, underlines and the like, but no charts.

Let me describe the process. I have template sheet created in Excel 04 for Windows back in 03. These contain formulae which construct a summary table from a raw data table (sheet 2 usually). I opened these templates in Excel 08 for Mac, imported new raw data into sheet 2, made some adjustments to formulae and formatting to account for variable changes between census periods, and then I use "SAVE-AS" to dump the results of the template for a specific raw data set to another file (say for a specific place) and then repeat the process again for another raw-data set. The end result is a listing of identical files, summaries, one for each place. You would expect these to all be identical. Most are in the neighbouhood of 300k...but a couple are 5 megs...and these large ones appear identical to the small ones. All are in xls format though...so maybe it has something to do with that.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers, Rick

 

[Colin]

Sometimes one inadvertently adds "empty" rows or columns to a sheet (I think by formatting an entire row or column) . Use <Control> + <End> to go to the bottom right-hand corner and delete any blank columns or rows. When you have done this for every sheet, save and reopen your file.

 

[Colin]

Sorry, I typed <-C-o-n-t-r-o-l-> - + - <-E-n-d-> [without the hyphens. These got lost .???
Type "Control" + "End" to get to bottom r-h corner

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Rick;

Colin had a valid point to offer, but in case that's not the problem see the
in line comments below:

Let me describe the process. I have template sheet created in Excel 04 for
Windows back in 03. These contain formulae which construct a summary table
from a raw data table (sheet 2 usually).

I'm with you to here, but then things get a bit "fuzzy"

I opened these templates in Excel 08
for Mac,

Are you actually opening the templates (File> Open> *.xlt) or are you
generating new workbooks *based on* the template (via Project Gallery)? If
the former & saving as .xls it could account for at least some of the size
difference.

imported new raw data into sheet 2,

"Imported" from what type of source files? Using what method?

made some adjustments to formulae
and formatting to account for variable changes between census periods, and
then I use "SAVE-AS" to dump the results of the template for a specific raw
data set to another file (say for a specific place) and then repeat the
process again for another raw-data set.

Does this mean you're repeatedly importing to the same file rather than
generating new files for each set of data? Repetitive Save As might be a
factor as well.

The end result is a listing of
identical files, summaries, one for each place. You would expect these to all
be identical. Most are in the neighbouhood of 300k...but a couple are 5
megs...and these large ones appear identical to the small ones. All are in xls
format though...so maybe it has something to do with that.

If you're starting with an .xls & saving in the same format without adding
any of the features specific to 2008 (not supported by .xls) & the volume of
content is roughly the same I agree that the size of all the files should be
in the same general range. Apparently there is something else going into
some of the files even if it isn't visible. Colin's idea plus some of the
thoughts above may help you determine what the "ghosties" might be.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[difrance]

Colin and Bob, thanks alot for the information. Colin, I will respond to you first.

When I initially discovered the discrepancy I immediately thought of this...because I was selecting the ENTIRE sheet and copying it from a template to a summary file that is place-specific. SO, I have a template to produce a given cross tabulation and the template is just an excel sheet with formatting and formulas in it. I dump in a raw data file (txt) and the template sheet produces a nice summary table that pertains to that place. Each time you add a new raw data set, the template recomputes the table. I then, select the entire sheet including the formatted table in the excel template and then I COPY it, and I PASTE-SPECIAL it into a summary file (excel) that pertains to that specific place. So, yes, I do end up pasting in the ENTIRE sheet. So, I went to each file and made sure that entire sheets were not selected in the saved files....none seemed to be. Wierd thing is, I did this exact procedure for 31 different regional summaries...and more summary files are small...but 3 or 4 blew up to 4 or 5 megs when most are less than 300 k.

Bob, I will respond to your post now...assuming you are not exhausted from my reply to Colin.

Question 1 - I am taking templates that are already made in Excel 03 for Windows, OPENing them into Excel 08 and adjusting them before dropping raw data into them. NOT using the gallery.

Question 2 - when I say "imported" what I mean is PASTED. I have a program called Beyond 2020 running on a PC here (does not come in a mac version) and this program is used by many nations to distribute their census data. The program allows me to produce a given cross tabulation and then SAVE-AS an Excel 03 file. It is the contents of these excel 03 files which I drop into the templates to produce a summary table. No importing per se...sorry for the imprecise language.

Question 3 - regarding repeated importing to one file. Keep in mind I used these templates to conduct this analysis back in 02 for the previous census...but I used a PC...and this did not occur. As for the process, I do have ONE summary file for each region and each summary file contains 40 separate sheets...each sheet is a different tabulation for that region. The end result will be a summary file for a region which includes 40ish cross tabulations in .xlsx format. So, I do PASTE in these 40ish tables into each summary table...but again, I have followed this process for all 30 regions and only a few have ballooned...and I can't see a difference between the small ones and these large ones save for size.

Not sure what the ghosties are. I have started to use SHIFT CONTROL END to highly only the range I have actually used as opposed to going out the edges of the sheets. To distribute the summaries, I have simply used WinZip on my PC and made sure that clients have access to the WinZip extractor...this way, the entire set of 30 summary tables only amounts about 2 megs...when the bloated files themselves are each approaching 5 megs on their own. Whatever the ghosties are, the compression algorithm in WinZip strips them out.

Thanks for your help....you too COlin.

Cheers, Rick

 

[fymdpbxx]

m2NMYg cwwadreqitcp <http://cwwadreqitcp.com/>, pghmwfzsjgar, [link=[URL]http://fvvanaxyufkb.com/]fvvanaxyufkb[/link[/URL]], <http://zforifinyndz.com/>

 

[the paris hotel las vegas]

comment3, <http://h.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/28593/> sav a lot grocery ad, >:OO, <http://q.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/30388/> windows blue screen of death image, %P, <http://p.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/30162/> ty beanie babies current value guide, uurcl, <http://g.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/28379/> 2006 diet cheerwine cycling team, 8[, <http://o.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/30000/> cheap motorcycles for sale in tampa, lukfve, <http://m.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/29448/> discount victorinox swiss army watches, jksejk, <http://r.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/30526/> cheap outer banks vacation rentals, =-((, <http://c.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/27493/> survival rate for al amyloidosis patients, hzzgu, <http://l.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/29367/> red spots on face dermatologist, 190157, <http://j.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/28907/> beagle and pug mix dog, xpmjd, <http://i.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/28753/> kids printable christmas wish list, 852, <http://c.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/27474/> african american homemade cornbread dressing, 7828, <http://k.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/29104/> behind the green door free preview, gfml, <http://m.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/29599/> how to make deviled eggs easy, raqdc, <http://c.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/27592/> extended weather in st petersburg florida, >:-DDD, <http://d.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/27731/> bad news bears quotes tanner, 210, <http://q.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/30343/> used fuel storage tanks for sale, %-(, <http://n.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/29686/> negative side effects of borage oil, D, <http://p.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/30200/> the history of turkey day, 495, <http://e.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/27999/> california air force bases airmen, 756454,

 

[talambuhay ni andres bonifacio tagalog version]

comment2, <http://j.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/28985/> wise men still seek him lyrics, ksrjgw, <http://b.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/27263/> dbz earth special forces download, >:-[[[, <http://p.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/30197/> little giant pump company big john, =(, <http://j.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/28982/> eurythmics sweet dreams download, :OO, <http://p.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/30090/> avi converter to dvd for mac, 8844, <http://n.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/29718/> virtual animal games kid, >P, <http://a.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/27115/> cracker barrel rocking chairs company, apb, <http://d.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/27641/> cost of living in thailand baht, mrv, <http://h.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/28514/> low income health insurance for children, >P, <http://t.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/30879/> marvel vs dc comic review, %], <http://j.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/28953/> pentagon federal credit union bank, aomfqk, <http://b.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/27281/> there rose a lamb lyrics, nwohe, <http://d.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/27741/> american thanksgiving date november, 5142, <http://i.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/28703/> ontario mills mall ca directions, 95878, <http://f.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/28020/> ny dept of corrections inmates, 329, <http://i.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/28786/> the citadel athletics bulldogs, 957967, <http://l.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/29256/> homes for sale cherry valley california, 116, <http://c.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/27452/> wdrb fox 41 louisville ky, %PPP, <http://i.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/28780/> northern tioga school district cancellations, tmj, <http://f.cls-free-hosting.co.cc/28110/> cincinnati bowtie definition blog, pxufj,

 

[http://e.dba-free-hosting.co.cc/]

comment3,