Too big Excel file => how to get it smaller?

**GusAlmeida** · 02-08-2017, 02:39 PM

Hello,

I have an excel file (.csv format) that is almost 400 Megas. So it is impossible to work on it.

Does anyone know how can I reduce it into a workable size? I am able to open the file but once I start working on it (adding filters for example) it starts bugging (due to the size I suppose).

Thanks very much.
Gustavo

**tim201110** · 02-08-2017, 02:44 PM

Excel 2003? It's bad.
you need
1 the less formating the better
2 the less heavy formulas the better
3 no objects

in general filters are heavy

**MrShorty** · 02-08-2017, 03:12 PM

The .csv file before importing into Excel is 400M, or the Excel file after importing the .csv file is 400M?

.csv files are simple text files without any additional information. I am not aware of any ways (except maybe compressing into .zip files) to reduce the size of text files without also cutting real data from the file.

As noted, you can reduce the size of the Excel file after importing the .csv information by minimizing the additional formatting and other extra information.

What prompts the question? If you are using Excel 2003, you are limited to 65000 rows of data, so maybe your question is really about importing a .csv that has more rows than Excel 2003 can accomodate?