78. Excel Tips - Why Is My Excel File So Big ?

Nick's picture



Excel files seem to just get bigger and bigger often balooning in size at the blink of an eye, but how do you find out where all the extra file size is coming from ?

  • There is a way to separate out each object in your file, and examine it's contribution to the overall file size

Here's a screen shot of our innocent-looking Excel file:

why-is-my-excel-file-so-big-?

..and here is where all the file size is coming from:

why-is-my-excel-file-so-big-?

- in this case, the culprit is clearly Sheet2, so that's where to start looking..

 

Here's how to do it:

  1. Save your file
  2. SaveAs a completely new name so that you can mess about with it
  3. SaveAs Web page (choose 'Other Formats' in Excel 2007)
  4. Open Explorer
  5. Navigate to where you saved the file
  6. Open the folder with the same name as your file
  7. Sort descending by the file size
    • The largest ojects will be named, and at the top

Download sheet to practise how to find out: Why Is My Excel File So Big ?

 

Training Video on: Why Is My Excel File So Big ?

 

What next ?

Check out this tip on how to fix a corrupt Spreadsheet... Following these steps will also reduce your file size.

 Also check this out:

95. Excel Tips - Cause Of Big Excel Files

Also, if you have a recent version of Excel, you can try saving as an XLSB - this is sort of like Excel's equivalent of a zip file.

AttachmentSize
why-is-my-excel-file-so-big.xls40.5 KB

Nice!

Worksheet that I was given had 60 sheets! Perfect little trick. Thanks.

Didn't work for me

Yes, nice trick, but as I only have one sheet, it doesn't help me.

Nick's picture

big excel file

if it's only one sheet, the most likely cause is formatting.

Advice is to recreate the sheet with no formatting, then add the formatting to entire sections - columns or large ranges

- Do not format a range of cells, and copy that formatting to other cells.

 - you can find out exactly how small your file could be by copying only the data to a new sheet and saving that.

Nick's picture

Cause Of Big Excel Files

Very nifty!

Nice trick

- Laks