Excel workbook file size ballooned - how to compress or make it smaller?

[JRAMZ88]

Hi everyone -

I have a general question about an Excel workbook related to file size.
As of today, the workbook size is 49,500 kb and continues to balloon... saving the file is scary sometimes because it takes a bit for it to load.

The workbook is data heavy.. and by this I mean one of the sheets within the workbook is a straight up data extract that exceeds 400,000+ rows and growing week by week.
On top of that, the workbook does have formulas sprinkled throughout along with pivot tables.

With that said - are there any best practices to help compress or make the file size smaller? or is it best to separate the data worksheet and keep that entirely separate?


Any help or advice would be appreciated!
Thx,

 

[kevin9999]

Have you tried saving it in binary format? File - Save as - Excel Binary Workbook.

 

[JRAMZ88]

Hi @kevin9999 I tested this out and the file size is now about a third of the original size, which is great!

I've personally never used binary workbooks let alone saved them as such... are there any cons to saving files as binary?

I'm most worried about losing formulas or any links that may be sprinkled throughout the file.

 

[Joe4]

I'm most worried about losing formulas or any links that may be sprinkled throughout the file.

That shouldn't be an issue. Binary format does not affect those.
See: Excel XLSB vs XLSX file format. The Pros and Cons of XLSB Files