Minimizing Excel file size

S

Sipen Yu

Hi.

Im just finished creating a list of 700 people with many sheets, formatted
in full colours/font/cells in it.

The problem are the file size is too big (as in my case i want to fit in a a
single diskette). How can i minimize the size without losing the format i
made and without making the workbooks into smaller parts..

I was thinking of saving the sheets data into another file format such as
tab delimited format. But it doesn't seem to work when i tried to import it
back into the template.

Any suggestions?

Sorry about the english. Thnx.
 
F

Frank Kabel

Hi
1. Try to reset the used area. See
http://www.contextures.com/xlfaqApp.html#Unused for instructions
2. Compress the file (using WinZip or similar programs)

Note: Don't try to open the file directly from disk (od save it
directly to a disk). This is one of the MAIN causes for corrupted Excel
files. So NEVER use disks directly (always copy first to your harddisk)
 
N

Norman Harker

Hi Ken et al!

It's well worth cutting down the used cells in all worksheets and then
saving and closing before you Winzip. This can dramatically reduce the
size of the Winzipped file. It appears that Winzip also has a file
size problem with these "unused" used ranges.

--
Regards
Norman Harker MVP (Excel)
Sydney, Australia
(e-mail address removed)
Excel and Word Function Lists (Classifications, Syntax and Arguments)
available free to good homes.
 
S

Sipen Yu

What if i just save the data? I mean just as access which we can import and
export data to text? How can i manage this?
 
N

Norman Harker

Hi Yu!

You could save as a text file or as a CSV file. Just use the file type
in the drop down when you use Save as. I'm not so sure as to whether
you get problems with a bad used range but I suspect you'll be OK. But
report back what happens so that others can benefit.

--
Regards
Norman Harker MVP (Excel)
Sydney, Australia
(e-mail address removed)
Excel and Word Function Lists (Classifications, Syntax and Arguments)
available free to good homes.
 
S

Sipen Yu

Hi again..

first of all thanks for the links u guys gave me.. it really helps. My file
was minimized to 500 kb-> 1/3 of the original.

I manage to use text (Tab delimited) to export my data. Suprisingly the data
only consumes only 7kb on my diskette.

actually i got that bad range problems. Solution, i just use macros to copy
the DATA ONLY to a new clean sheet. After that i just save as... text(tab
delimited).

To import the data back to the template, once again i use the macros to
create 'a working space' sheet and instruct the workbook to use the [Data] -
{Import External Data} functions.

I had to close the workbook after i export it though and save as... the
workbook to the original filename after i import it. Otherwise, excel seems
to say that im working in the *.txt file not in the workbook.

Thanks for your help...

And one more thing, everytime the macro tried to delete the "working space
sheet" or autosave as.. the workbook it keeps asking me to click yes or no.
Can i just autoanswer or bypass this in the macro?

Please give me any suggestions how to fix the problems.
 
S

Sipen Yu

to disable the alerts .. is this right?

application.DisplayAlerts = False
ActiveWindow.SelectedSheets.Delete
 
N

Norman Harker

Hi Yu!

Why not:

Save your file and work on a backup copy
Then test

But that looks OK to me if you follow it with

Application.DisplayAlerts = True

--
Regards
Norman Harker MVP (Excel)
Sydney, Australia
(e-mail address removed)
Excel and Word Function Lists (Classifications, Syntax and Arguments)
available free to good homes.
 
S

Sipen Yu

Hi again..

first of all thanks for the links u guys gave me.. it really helps. My file
was minimized to 500 kb-> 1/3 of the original.

I manage to use text (Tab delimited) to export my data. Suprisingly the data
only consumes only 7kb on my diskette.

actually i got that bad range problems. Solution, i just use macros to copy
the DATA ONLY to a new clean sheet. After that i just save as... text(tab
delimited).

To import the data back to the template, once again i use the macros to
create 'a working space' sheet and instruct the workbook to use the [Data] -
{Import External Data} functions.

I had to close the workbook after i export it though and save as... the
workbook to the original filename after i import it. Otherwise, excel seems
to say that im working in the *.txt file not in the workbook.

Thanks for your help...

Please give me any suggestions how to fix the problems.
 
S

Sipen Yu

Sorry about that..

I mean..

http://www.contextures.com/xlfaqApp.html#Unused
and of course
http://www.ozgrid.com/Excel/ExcelProblems.htm

The problems : (please refer to my last posting)

"I had to close the workbook after i export it though and save as... the
workbook to the original filename after i import it. Otherwise, excel seems
to say that im working in the *.txt file which open in the excel environment
and not in the excel workbook itself."

Sorry bout my english..... i know.. i know.. going to get an english lesson
next time.. okay ;) 'wink'
 

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