Windows 10: Excel files expanding exponentially

Office 365 Excel has obscurely increased file sizes to where they sometimes become unworkable, a problem cited various times on the web. Solutions include deleting/hiding unused ranges of cells, searching for hidden worksheets and hidden formulas, running the Office Repair, even uninstalling and reinstalling Office 365, all to no avail. My simple workpages are only 10 columns wide and not more than 100 lines long. I have been using several formulas for a decade that I constructed (not from 3rd party templates) that keep track of monthly payments on just 13 rental units, maintaining progressive balances. In the earliest files I have, the file size was about 10MB ten years ago and have stayed in that range until last March when it suddenly jumped to 20 MB and now has grown to 25MB with only a few more lines of data entered on each worksheet. The files are saved to OneDrive.

MS support suggested this could happen from improper shutdowns or saving incorrectly, but is the program that fragile that it requires an IT tech to monitor a workbook so simple? The only suggestion that held any credibility was that I may have moved these files through too many revisions of Excel over the years, but that doesn't explain the sudden jump last March.

The workaround solution I used was to manually copy and paste each worksheet into a new workbook by highlighting the original, copying its contents and formulas with the menu command (not Ctrl+C) and doing a special paste into a freshly created workpage. Unused cell ranges were eliminated en masse after all workpages had been moved. [The Copy/Move option on the tab wasn't as clean.] When completed, with everything in the same format and physical layout, the entire workbook is only 118 kb! *Shock

How does this occur? Is there no way to look into the belly of these files to see what's going on? There's got to be a reason this happens and a fix for it.

:)

 

CSV files used to open in Excel....not now!


Hi, you say Excel is installed. Does it run normally?

You can't find Excel in (an unspecified) list of applications. I don't know which list that is for sure.

For example, in the list related to:
- rt click a file. Open With
- this list:



- this list:




- some other list...

If Excel does not appear in the above, I suggest you repair your office installation.

Maybe the above gives you some ideas. Otherwise please post a screenshot of where you think you should see it but don't. Thanks.

 

Excel file

Hi zhiyang....,

I'm assuming that since you're using Excel 2011, that you have a Mac. Have you tried saving the file in the default 2011 format of XLSX?

While I have tested and can open both XLS and XLSX files on my Windows Phone, they were both created in PC versions of Excel 2000 and Excel 2010.

As a test, would you:

• First, try saving the file as XLSX and see if you can access the newer file format on your phone.

Otherwise, try the following as a test:

• Open up a web browser
• Go to Windows Live and login.
• Select "SkyDrive" at the top of the brwoser window
• Select the Excel icon near the top where it says "Create"
• Add a few numbers and do an AutoSum. Maybe add some formatting.
• Close the workbook (File -> Close workbook)
• Next, your SkyDrive file listing will appear with the new file.
• Click the "i" circle to the far right of the new file.
• Now, select "Send a link"
• Enter your e-mail information and click "Send"
• On your phone, open the e-mail and click on the button that says "View document"
• You should be able to view the document.
• If yes, then there is apparently a compatibilty issue on the Mac using XLS and I would try my first suggestion of trying to save the file in a different format like the newer XLSX.

By the way, the procedure gets easier in Windows Phone Mango (coming soon - no official release dates yet except in Japan) as you can save to and access files directly from your SkyDrive. That would eliminate the e-mailing it to yourself steps ... a lot easier!

I hope this helps!

David

 

How do I expand the 'Recent' list in the File Explorer?


Thanks for an alternative suggestion.





I don't know what happened... but the list got longer for some reason. I didn't do anything special... but it just got longer