Very large file - simple data

[Erin]

Hi, anyone got any idea what could be contributing to file size, if it's not
'extra' or 'hidden' data, and my file has no pivots, graphs or links outside
of the workbook?

I've even tried to copy the data into a new workbook, and rename all name
lists and so on from scratch - the file is still 21MB. It's only 4 tabs,
with 1 tab being a 'reference tab' for formulas, one other source file, and
two main tabs - one being only 150 lines, and another being about 8K lines of
data with formulae.
Is it the name lists? I have them assigned to whole columns i.e. V:V rather
than just the cells with data in it i.e. V1:V149.

I did see below link - no luck...
http://www.contextures.on.ca/xlfaqApp.html#Unused

 

[FLC]

It might be all of the formulas that you have entered into the file. You may
need to copy, paste special, values only.

 

[Gary''s Student]

Formats alone can make a file very large. I would open a fresh, new,
workbook. Then, tab by tab, copy worksheets from the old workbook to the new
workbook; checking the size of the new after each copy. This should tell you
which tab is the hog.

Once you have uncovered the hog, copy the essentials from the hog into a new
worksheet and then delete the hog.

 

[Erin]

Thanks for your advice. I guess my issue is I want to leave this report
behind when I leave, so that other people can use it going forward. The
formulas will have to stay so the source data can be refreshed monthly with
new data.

Maybe I should keep the original file as the 'build' file, with all formulae
intact - and the published report can be a copy of the build file, with all
formulae as pasted values?

I know which tab is the hog (from my earlier exercise, creating a new file
and starting again). I just don't think 8000 rows is that big, and the
formula isn't that complicated. I've worked way larger files before, without
this issue. Maybe it's a problem with Excel 2002? I'm used to working with
more recent versions of Excel.

Re: formats - it's all columns, nothing special. The 8000 file doesn't have
any formatting attached.

Thanks
E