How do I delete columns and rows in Excel, not just hide them

[Guest]

I'm trying to use excel to annotate images (by inserting the image as the
background and then using the comment tool). However, this causes the image
to tile endlessly and although I can hide the unwanted rows and columns, I'm
still left with a huge file size. There doesn't seem to be any way of
deleting the unwanted columns to reduce the file size... is there?

 

[Bob Phillips]

Eddie,

A worksheet has, and always has, 256 columns, 65536 rows. So, if you delete
any columns or rows, empty ones get tagged on the end to replace the deleted
ones.

In summary, you cannot reduce file size in that way. It doesn't really
matter though, because as I understand it, Excel keeps pointers to the data,
and only stores that. What you see is just presentation, it doesn't store
thousands of empty cells with the workbook.

--

HTH

RP
(remove nothere from the email address if mailing direct)

 

[Guest]

Thanks for trying... the problem is that excel thinks the cells do contain
info because of the tiled background. So if I add a background which is 28KB,
the workbook will multiply that amount endlessly leaving me with a file size
in excess of 1MB... bigger initial backgrounds create file sizes that are
unworkable in a school.