Maximum size of an Excel file to prevent corruption

**Christian411** · 02-24-2009, 07:23 AM

Hi,

I have a shared workbook that runs quite a few macros. At the moment it's hovering around the 3MB region but it's going to continue to grow as more data is added. I guess at the current rate it would grow to around 10MB by the year end which will be the time when I reset in time for next year.

I've turned off the change history and cut out everything that I can live without but that's the smallest I can get the file for now. I'm just a bit worried about it getting corrupted - I've seen Excel files do some funny things in the past when they get too big. Is there some sort of 'critical mass' which I should try and keep below?

I know if your spreadsheet is getting large people recommend using Access instead, but that's not really an option for me in this instance.

Cheers,

Chris

**Richard Schollar** · 02-24-2009, 07:34 AM

Hi Chris

3Mb is really very small compared to some of the workbooks I used to use in my previous job - 60Mb was frequently the order of the day and the maximum I came across was 250Mb (I kid you not!), although this wb contained only masses of data and no formulas at all.

I'm not sure how size might impact a shared workbook though - but again, I just don't think 3 - 10 Mb is worth worrying about.

Richard

**Christian411** · 02-25-2009, 12:41 PM

Thanks Richard - thought I'd just play it safe and get some feedback but it sounds like I should be ok.

Cheers,

Chris

**dominicb** · 02-25-2009, 01:10 PM

Originally Posted by RichardSchollar

the maximum I came across was 250Mb (I kid you not!), although this wb contained only masses of data and no formulas at all.

Sorry Richard, but I've just got to ask, how did this monster run? Did it run really slowly or crash frequently? Was it over a network or from a local disk?

DominicB