Sudden Increases in Workbook File Size

Joe has a workbook into which he's been adding information for years. The workbook is normally about 5 MB in size, but recently jumped to 10 MB, two times the normal size. Joe was wondering what could cause such an increase.

Actually there are all sorts of reasons that the workbook size could have jumped. One is that you've added some additional objects to the workbook that were not there before, such as graphics objects. It is also possible that changes in any macros attached to the workbook could have greatly increased the file size.

It could also be due to adding a PivotTable or changing how the PivotTable is saved within the workbook. You might also check to see where the last cell in each worksheet is located (press Ctrl+End on each worksheet). If the lower-right corner of the worksheet seems completely out of whack, then you can delete whatever columns or rows are necessary to get the worksheet size back where it should be.

You might also check to see if the workbook is saved with sharing turned on. If it is, then the size of the file can sometimes increase dramatically.

Finally, if you changed the format used to save the workbook, then the file size can increase. For instance, a workbook's size can double if it is saved (in the Save As dialog box) using the "Microsoft Excel 97 - Excel 2003 & Excel 5.0/95 Workbook (*.xls)" format. This format is provided for backward compatibility, but it results in the workbook being saved in two formats in the same file.

If you suspect that this is the issue, then you should use Save As and save the workbook using the latest version of Excel's format, which is a single-format option. This should again reduce your file size.