Large file sizes after modifying spreadsheet in Excel 2007.

[Artagel]

I am experiencing problems after modifying spreadsheets in Excel 2007 (saving
as 2003 compatible .xls format). The files were last sucessfully worked on
in Excel 2003, but may have been created using earlier versions.

PROBLEM: Small files become huge, operations become slow and Excel is pretty
much unworkable.

I have read and tried most of the suggestions in earlier posts, which refer
to checking the last used cell and deleting unused rows and columns and site
information in link: http://www.contextures.on.ca/xlfaqApp.html#Unused.

Although, performing the unused cell deletion, does reduce the file size
marginally (from 6,132KB to 4,432KB), it doesn't solve the problem.

However, if I 'Copy & Paste' the used cell contents and formatting into a
new workbook, this works. File size is reduced to a tiny 146KB.

Does any one have know what could be causing this apparent file corruption,
and a possible fix?

 

[Dave F]

Files between 4 and 6 mb in size are not very big by XL standards.

You don't give any information on the amount of RAM your computer has; that
may be the issue, especially if you're using XL 07.

Give more detail about your computer's set up.

Dave

 

[Artagel]

Dave, I don't think the computer hardware is an issue, the computer(s) used
are new Dell Optiplex 745 machines with Core2Duo 6300 1.86GHz processors and
2GB RAM, running XP Pro SP2.

Whilst I appreciate the file's size may not be enormous by Excel standards,
something, maybe a corruption, is causing files to be considerably larger
than they should be and ultimately causing operations to be very slow.

My first thoughts were that cell formatting was causing the problem. The
spreadsheet in question uses approximately 1100 rows, with various borders
and cell formatting applied. I noticed the borders appear to continue across
ALL unused columns.

However, simply deleting unused cells, and removing borders / formatting did
not in itself resolve the problem. Cutting & Pasting information to a new
sheet in a new workbook is the only thing that does.

Although, I have a workaround, this problem has occurred on more than one
occassion and I'm concerned it will happen with other files.

I would be grateful if you have any thoughts on the matter.

 

[Dave F]

Fair point--memory isn't an issue with that setup. Here's a white paper on
XL 2007 performance: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa730921.aspx

Maybe there's something in there that can help you.

Dave