Workbook exploded in size...now unusable!?!?

[roscoe]

I have a workbook that is normally about 3000KB in size. This weekend I was tinkering with it and it suddenly became 20,000KB is size (these are Windows explorer compressed sizes...One can only guess how much memory it's filling up). Pretty sure what sheet got corrupted because when on that sheet even simple arrow commands to move the selection takes dozens of seconds to react. Of course, that's the sheet to which I reference a ton of formulas and named ranges. To fix it, I copied the column headers to a new sheet, deleted every row on the sheet, then copied the headers back (the headers were the most critical part...the code filled in the data below it). That fixed the size problem, but destroyed all my formulas and named ranges (inserting ref! where the sheet was referenced). I lost hours repairing everything.

Happened again today...I'm at a loss as to what caused it and if there's an easier way to fix it

Other than the questions I alluded to above (1) how do I prevent this from happening in the future and (2) fastest way to fix it...

...Can I export my named ranges such that I can simply cut/paste them back in once I blast away the worksheet contnents?

Thanks!

 

[mrshl9898]

Sorry, didn't read your post in full and suggested what you tried!

 

[Michael M]

Have you done a CTRL + end on each sheet to see where the cursor goes to ??
You could also try to reduce the bloat by running this macro

Public Sub MM1()
Dim ws As Worksheet
For Each ws In Worksheets
    ws.Activate
    ActiveSheet.UsedRange
Next ws
End Sub

 

[roscoe]

Thanks...I guess I don't follow what ActiveSheet.UsedRange actually does. Does it highlight the used range? Not sure how that will reduce bloat (but very interested in learning how)!

 

[Michael M]

It simply resets the usedRange on the sheet to the last used cell !
So, if the used range goes waaay down the worksheet, into miles of empty space...the code will bring it back to where the actual last cell is......It doesn't select OR delete any data !
You have to save and close for the changes to take effect

 

[Michael M]

There is a pretty good explanation of it here...

Resetting the Last Cell in an Excel Worksheet

It's frustrating when Excel acts as if the active area of a worksheet is significantly larger than the actual area where you have data. Suddenly your scroll

www.accountingweb.com

.

 

[roscoe]

Thanks. Does formatting a cell extend the range or does it actually have to have content? Still trying to figure out what casued the problem..

(I fixed it before I got this tip...was very painful)

 

[Fluff]

The used range covers all formatted cells, regardless of if they are empty or not.

 

[Michael M]

So, can you share how you fixed it ? That way others may learn from the experience....

 

[roscoe]

I exported my named ranges (I had a bunch that were very dynamic and took a long time to develop), deleted the offending page, then rebuilt and then pasted the named ranges back in over the ones that had errors.