How to Reduce Size of Excel Files

This wikiHow teaches you how to reduce the amount of storage a Microsoft Excel file uses by removing some formatting, compressing images and saving the file in a more efficient format.

Part 1
Part 1 of 6:

Saving as a Binary File

  1. Image titled Reduce Size of Excel Files Step 1
    1
    Open a Microsoft Excel file. Do so by double-clicking on the green and white app with an X, then clicking on File and Open..., and selecting the file.
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    Click File.
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  3. Image titled Reduce Size of Excel Files Step 3
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    Click Save As….
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    Type a file name.
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    Click the "File Format:" drop-down.
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    Click Excel Binary Workbook under "Specialty Formats." Files saved in this format are considerably smaller than standard .xls files.
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    Click Save. The smaller Excel file will be saved on your computer.
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Part 2
Part 2 of 6:

Removing Formatting from Empty Rows and Columns

  1. Image titled Reduce Size of Excel Files Step 8
    1
    Open a Microsoft Excel file. Do so by double-clicking on the green and white app with an X, then clicking on File and Open..., and selecting the file.
  2. Image titled Reduce Size of Excel Files Step 9
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    Select all empty rows. To do so, click on the first empty row number, then press and hold Ctrl+⇧ Shift+↓ (Windows) or ⌘+⇧ Shift+↓ (Mac).
    • The arrow keys are in the lower-right corner of most keyboards.
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    Click on the Home tab (Windows) or Edit in the menu bar (Mac).
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    Click Clear.
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    Click Clear All (Windows) or Format (Mac). This clears unnecessary formatting from cells that are not being used.
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    Select all empty columns. To do so, click on the first empty column letter, then press and hold Ctrl+⇧ Shift+→ (Windows) or ⌘+⇧ Shift+→ (Mac).
    • The arrow keys are in the lower-right corner of most keyboards.
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    Click the Home tab (Windows) or Edit in the menu bar (Mac).
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    Click Clear.
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    Click Clear All (Windows) or Format (Mac). This clears unnecessary formatting from cells that are not being used.
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Part 3
Part 3 of 6:

Remove Conditional Formatting

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    Open a Microsoft Excel file. Do so by double-clicking on the green and white app with an X, then clicking on File and Open..., and selecting the file.
  2. Image titled Reduce Size of Excel Files Step 18
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    Click the Home tab at the top of the screen.
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    Click Conditional Formatting. It's in the "Styles" part of the ribbon.
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    Click Clear Rules.
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    Click Clear Rules from Entire Sheet.
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Part 4
Part 4 of 6:

Removing Formatting from Empty Cells in Windows

  1. Image titled Reduce Size of Excel Files Step 22
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    Open a Microsoft Excel file. Do so by double-clicking on the green and white app with an X, then clicking on File and Open..., and selecting the file.
  2. Image titled Reduce Size of Excel Files Step 23
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    Click the Home tab at the top of the screen.
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    Click Find & Select. It's in the "Editing" part of the ribbon.
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    Click Go To….
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    Click Special….
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    Click the Blanks radio button.
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    Click OK. All the empty cells in the data set will be highlighted.
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    Click Clear. It's the eraser icon.
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    Click Clear All.
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Part 5
Part 5 of 6:

Removing Formatting from Empty Cells on Mac

  1. Image titled Reduce Size of Excel Files Step 31
    1
    Open a Microsoft Excel file. Do so by double-clicking on the green and white app with an X, then clicking on File and Open..., and selecting the file.
  2. Image titled Reduce Size of Excel Files Step 32
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    Click Edit. It's in the menu bar at the top of the screen.
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    Click Find.
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    Click Go To….
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    Click Special….
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    Click the Blanks radio button.
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    Click OK. All the empty cells in the data set will be highlighted.
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    Click Edit in the menu bar.
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    Click Clear.
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    Click Format.
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Part 6
Part 6 of 6:

Compressing Images

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    Open a Microsoft Excel file. Do so by double-clicking on the green and white app with an X, then clicking on File and Open..., and selecting the file.
  2. Image titled Reduce Size of Excel Files Step 42
    2
    Open the Compression dialog box. To do so:
    • In Windows, click on an image, then click on the Format, tab and click on Compress in the toolbar.
    • On Mac, click on File and then Reduce File Size….
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    Click the drop-down menu next to "Picture Quality."
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    Select a lower image resolution.
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    Check "Delete cropped areas of pictures."
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    Click All pictures in this file.
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    Click OK. The images in the file have been compressed and extraneous image data has been deleted.
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Community Q&A

  • Question
    My Excel file contains many pivot tables and the tables often get corrupted because the files are so large. Is there anything I can do to remedy this?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    Make sure you are not saving the source data with the pivot table. Go to Pivot Table Options --> data tab --> uncheck "Save Source data with file." The pivot table will not update again without being refreshed because it needs to re-read the source data to refresh, but this will reduce the file size.
  • Question
    When I try to enter an amount in a cell, it jumps to another cell, and nothing is added to either one. What could be causing this?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    The first reason this could be happening is that you are using the Enter or Tab keys while trying to enter the data in a cell; don’t do that until you are done. There could also be some VBA code activating on the Change event. Finally, your workbook could be corrupted, in which case you would need to build a fresh copy.
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About This Article

wikiHow Staff
Co-authored by:
wikiHow Staff
wikiHow Staff Writer
This article was co-authored by wikiHow Staff. Our trained team of editors and researchers validate articles for accuracy and comprehensiveness. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. This article has been viewed 1,740,443 times.
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Co-authors: 39
Updated: March 29, 2022
Views: 1,740,443
Categories: Microsoft Excel
Article SummaryX

1. Open the file.
2. Click the File menu.
3. Click Save As.
4. Click the “Save as type” or “Format” menu.
5. Select Excel Binary Workbook.
6. Click Save.

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