One sheet running very slowly & file has expanded ++

[Phil C]

Hi

I hope you can help with this one...

I have a spreadsheet with 7 sheets. After making a few fairly simple changes
(to several sheets) I noticed that all operations on one particular sheet
became very slow (e.g. editing a comment, floating toolbars 'crawl'over the
screen, etc). I did the obvious stuff like re-booting the computer etc. Then
I noticed that the file size had jumped from around 400k (previous saved
version) to 5.6M!

How do I got about finding and eliminating the problem on the sheet in
question? Is the problem necessarily on the sheet that is running slow? The
others 'appear' to be OK. As an experiment, if I just delete the sheet in
question (which is just a data input sheet) and re-save, the file size drops
to 1.7M. OK, not back to 400k but seems to suggest that there is indeed a
big problem on this sheet. Unfortunately I had backed up the file only a few
minutes before discovering the problem so I can't easily go back to the
previous version. Or at least not without re-doing about 4 hours work..

In the past I had similar problems with Powerpoint (file size suddenly
increases hugely for no readily apparent reason) but not before with
Excel....

Many thanks in advance. I am using Excel 2002.

Phil

 

[Kevin H. Stecyk]

Phil wrote...

Hi

I hope you can help with this one...

I have a spreadsheet with 7 sheets. After making a few fairly simple
changes
(to several sheets) I noticed that all operations on one particular sheet
became very slow (e.g. editing a comment, floating toolbars 'crawl'over
the
screen, etc). I did the obvious stuff like re-booting the computer etc.
Then
I noticed that the file size had jumped from around 400k (previous saved
version) to 5.6M!

How do I got about finding and eliminating the problem on the sheet in
question? Is the problem necessarily on the sheet that is running slow?
The
others 'appear' to be OK. As an experiment, if I just delete the sheet in
question (which is just a data input sheet) and re-save, the file size
drops
to 1.7M. OK, not back to 400k but seems to suggest that there is indeed a
big problem on this sheet. Unfortunately I had backed up the file only a
few
minutes before discovering the problem so I can't easily go back to the
previous version. Or at least not without re-doing about 4 hours work..

In the past I had similar problems with Powerpoint (file size suddenly
increases hugely for no readily apparent reason) but not before with
Excel....

Many thanks in advance. I am using Excel 2002.

Phil

Hi Phil,

It sounds as though your spreadsheet is corrupted.

Try the following:

1) Save your workbook as a HTML file
2) Close your HTML file and all other XL files
3) Re-open your HTML XL file
4) Re-save your HTML XL as an XLS file

Did you notice any drop in size?

If not, I would begin recreating your spreadsheet while you can still
safely open it.

Start a new spreadsheet. You can copy formulas from the old to the new, but
don't copy formats. Formats often contain parts of the corruption.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[Gord Dibben]

Phil

A common problem is that Excel over-estimates the used range of cells on a
sheet(s).

Where does Excel take you when you hit CRTL + END on the sheet(s)?

Maybe far below and right of your real range.

See Debra Dalgleish's site for resetting the used range.

http://www.contextures.on.ca/xlfaqApp.html#Unused

Gord Dibben Excel MVP

 

[Phil C]

Hi Kevin

Thanks for the advice. Since my post I had already started re-creating the
spreadsheet from the previous non-bloated version.
There is something to be said for saving with a new name (app1.1, app1.2,
etc) every hour or so during an intensive development period.

I will also try to salvage the thing using your idea.

Phil

 

[Dave Peterson]

I use:

myfilename_yyyy_mm_dd.xls
for not too intensive developments.
Then
myfilename_yyyy_mm_dd_hh_mm_ss.xls
when it becomes too scary.

It makes it easier to sort (clean up/find the good one!) in windows explorer.