Excel File Size Bloats when using Protection?

[figlet]

I have an excel file that started off at about 143K.

It is an employee appraisal form, and it needed a redesign, with the
constraint that it stay in excel (argh).

Anyway, each question was moved to a separate tab, so that I have 8
worksheets in my book.

I locked A1-A4 so that the instructions cannot be changed.

I hid all columns from B to IV.

I enabled protection and allowed users to change row format, add a
row, or delete a row, for each page for rows 5 through whatever they
needed.

The first page is fully protected (more instructions).

The file bloated to 12mB. Is this because of adding the protections?

 

[Jim Thomlinson]

That has nothing to do with protection. It has to do with creating blank
cells. Think of the cells on a worksheet as being places where a formula or
value could exist. Until you put something in the cell it really does not
exist in memory. Once you put something in it it now takes up memory. Even if
you delete the contents of the cell it still exist in memory. Sometimes you
create these blankcells inadvertantly. They will continue to exist in memory
until you delete the cell and save the workbook. To fix your problem do the
following...

1. Unprotect the sheets and unhide the rows and columns.
2. On any sheet where the scroll bar allows you to scroll past the end of
the data delete (right click | Delete) all of the blank rows and columns
after that last piece of data.
3. Rehide and protect as before.
4. Save the workbook.

The size should now be back to normal...