Files built originally in 32-bit Excel move to 64-bit Excel

Context: I am working with some relatively large Excel files in a 32-bit version of Excel 2010. These files run extremely slowly, lock up the operating system regularly. From what I've been able to gather on this site: (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/libr...fice.14).aspx) it sounds as though 32-bit versions of Excel 2010 are limited to utilizing 2GB of RAM whereas 64-bit versions of Excel do not have this limitation and can utilize extra RAM if it is available.

My computer has 8GB of RAM so my thinking is that changing to a 64-bit version of Excel/Office would allow Excel to utilize the additional RAM and speed up tasks, calculation, file open, close, saving -that sort of thing.

Question: Will opening the same file in a 64-bit version of Excel once it is installed allow Excel to utilize the extra RAM or will the 2GB utilization limit still exist because the file was originally BUILT in the 32-bit version?

Thank you for your assistance in advance.

So are you saying that if I open this file in Excel after installing the 64-bit version, Excel will begin utilizing as much of the available 8GB as it needs? (As opposed to the 2GB limit that applied for the 32-bit version)

Theoretically , it should. (I mean if it is not limited in some other ways)