Reducing File Size

I have a workbook with 12 sheets, approximately 3000 rows & 10 columns
each. The sheets contain only raw data, no formatting.

Is there any way I can reduce the size of the file. At present it is
over 3MB & I'm wondering if it can be reduced in any way.

Thanks,

-Jay-

Originally Posted by Jay

I have a workbook with 12 sheets, approximately 3000 rows & 10 columns
each. The sheets contain only raw data, no formatting.

Is there any way I can reduce the size of the file. At present it is
over 3MB & I'm wondering if it can be reduced in any way.

Thanks,

-Jay-

Probably not.

Depends on what you are intending to do with it. If you're trying to send it via email to someone, I'd recommend zipping it.

Otherwise, you're probably going to have to delete some of the data.

That said, 3MB isn't that big.

Scott

Jay wrote...
>I have a workbook with 12 sheets, approximately 3000 rows & 10 columns
>each. The sheets contain only raw data, no formatting.
>
>Is there any way I can reduce the size of the file. At present it is
>over 3MB & I'm wondering if it can be reduced in any way.

3,000 rows x 10 columns = 30,000 cells

30,000 cells x 12 sheets = 360,000 cells

360,000 cells x 9 bytes per cell = 3,240,000 bytes

Given the number of cells in your workbook, approx. 3MB file size is to
be expected.

Maistrye wrote:
> Jay Wrote:
>> I have a workbook with 12 sheets, approximately 3000 rows & 10 columns
>> each. The sheets contain only raw data, no formatting.
>>
>> Is there any way I can reduce the size of the file. At present it is
>> over 3MB & I'm wondering if it can be reduced in any way.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> -Jay-
>
> Probably not.
>
> Depends on what you are intending to do with it. If you're trying to
> send it via email to someone, I'd recommend zipping it.
>
> Otherwise, you're probably going to have to delete some of the data.
>
> That said, 3MB isn't that big.
>
> Scott

No, I know 3MB isn't much but my crap ISP has just introduced a 1.5MB
attachment limit, and I was wanting to mail it home to work on.

Jay

P.S Toucan are an appalling ISP. Steer clear

Originally Posted by Jay

Maistrye wrote:
> Jay Wrote:
>> I have a workbook with 12 sheets, approximately 3000 rows & 10 columns
>> each. The sheets contain only raw data, no formatting.
>>
>> Is there any way I can reduce the size of the file. At present it is
>> over 3MB & I'm wondering if it can be reduced in any way.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> -Jay-
>
> Probably not.
>
> Depends on what you are intending to do with it. If you're trying to
> send it via email to someone, I'd recommend zipping it.
>
> Otherwise, you're probably going to have to delete some of the data.
>
> That said, 3MB isn't that big.
>
> Scott

No, I know 3MB isn't much but my crap ISP has just introduced a 1.5MB
attachment limit, and I was wanting to mail it home to work on.

Jay

P.S Toucan are an appalling ISP. Steer clear

[START SMALL RANT]

I always prefer people to zip excel files that they're sending. My work is very bad for sending unzipped 10+ MB excel files, which can be annoying for those with dial up accounts. (People send them once, then others respond without removing the attachment, and pretty soon you've got a huge amount of junk in your mailbox)

[END SMALL RANT]

If you don't want to use zip, there's winrar and 7z too.

Scott

Maistrye wrote:
> Jay Wrote:
>> Maistrye wrote:
>>> Jay Wrote:
>>>> I have a workbook with 12 sheets, approximately 3000 rows & 10
>> columns
>>>> each. The sheets contain only raw data, no formatting.
>>>>
>>>> Is there any way I can reduce the size of the file. At present it
>> is
>>>> over 3MB & I'm wondering if it can be reduced in any way.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>>
>>>> -Jay-
>>> Probably not.
>>>
>>> Depends on what you are intending to do with it. If you're trying
>> to
>>> send it via email to someone, I'd recommend zipping it.
>>>
>>> Otherwise, you're probably going to have to delete some of the data.
>>>
>>> That said, 3MB isn't that big.
>>>
>>> Scott
>> No, I know 3MB isn't much but my crap ISP has just introduced a 1.5MB
>> attachment limit, and I was wanting to mail it home to work on.
>>
>> Jay
>>
>> P.S Toucan are an appalling ISP. Steer clear
>
> [START SMALL RANT]
>
> I always prefer people to zip excel files that they're sending. My
> work is very bad for sending unzipped 10+ MB excel files, which can be
> annoying for those with dial up accounts. (People send them once, then
> others respond without removing the attachment, and pretty soon you've
> got a huge amount of junk in your mailbox)
>
> [END SMALL RANT]
>
> If you don't want to use zip, there's winrar and 7z too.
>
> Scott

Perhaps you can enlighten me. If I zipped the file would it then be a
smaller attachment? How come?

Jay

Originally Posted by Jay

Perhaps you can enlighten me. If I zipped the file would it then be a
smaller attachment? How come?

Jay

Yes, it would be a smaller attachment. The size of the file you send would be smaller.

Examples:
------
1) A file with random data. Generally the worst for compression. The Excel file was 42.2 MB, and the WinZip file (max compression) was 23.1 MB. With 7zip, this 42.2 MB file was compressed to 16.7 MB. So you can see that it was 55% of it's original size with WinZip and 40% with 7zip. (WinRAR would be similar to 7zip I believe)

2) A spreadsheet I actually use (ie. fairly patterned). The Excel file was 9.52 MB -- with WinZip it was compressed (max compression) to 2.10 MB, with 7zip it was compressed to 0.78 MB. So WinZip compressed it to 22% and and 7zip compressed it to only 8% of it's original size.
------

The point of all this is that your file which was 3 MB to start with could end up as small as 0.3 MB once you've compressed it (More likely about 1 MB if you're using WinZip).

It's this final size that ISPs are concerned about -- They do not care about the original size of your file. Not only that, compression places a smaller burden on the infrastructure in most cases.

For a basic outline of what compression does, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_compression -- basically it works by looking for patterns in data, with random data, there are fewer such patterns, whereas fairly organized stuff has lots of patterns, so gets compressed smaller.

As to which program to use, it depends on your circumstances. WinZip (and zip programs in general) are much more widely distributed than other compression programs (like WinRAR and 7zip), so if you have to send it to someone else, WinZip is usually the better choice. For just sending it to yourself, you could use any of these programs. You probably already have WinZip on your comp, and you can download 7zip from www.7-zip.org . WinZip is also probably the easiest to use (since so many have used it, and it's easy to get help if you need it).

HTH..

Scott

Because the whole point of ZIPping a file is to compress it to a size
that's considerably smaller, for transport or storage purposes.

Craig

Jay wrote:
>
> Perhaps you can enlighten me. If I zipped the file would it then be a
> smaller attachment? How come?
>
> Jay

Maistrye wrote:
> Jay Wrote:
>>
>> Perhaps you can enlighten me. If I zipped the file would it then be a
>> smaller attachment? How come?
>>
>> Jay
>
> Yes, it would be a smaller attachment. The size of the file you send
> would be smaller.
>
> Examples:
> ------
> 1) A file with random data. Generally the worst for compression. The
> Excel file was 42.2 MB, and the WinZip file (max compression) was 23.1
> MB. With 7zip, this 42.2 MB file was compressed to 16.7 MB. So you
> can see that it was 55% of it's original size with WinZip and 40% with
> 7zip. (WinRAR would be similar to 7zip I believe)
>
> 2) A spreadsheet I actually use (ie. fairly patterned). The Excel file
> was 9.52 MB -- with WinZip it was compressed (max compression) to 2.10
> MB, with 7zip it was compressed to 0.78 MB. So WinZip compressed it to
> 22% and and 7zip compressed it to only 8% of it's original size.
> ------
>
> The point of all this is that your file which was 3 MB to start with
> could end up as small as 0.3 MB once you've compressed it (More likely
> about 1 MB if you're using WinZip).
>
> It's this final size that ISPs are concerned about -- They do not care
> about the original size of your file. Not only that, compression
> places a smaller burden on the infrastructure in most cases.
>
> For a basic outline of what compression does, see
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_compression -- basically it works by
> looking for patterns in data, with random data, there are fewer such
> patterns, whereas fairly organized stuff has lots of patterns, so gets
> compressed smaller.
>
> As to which program to use, it depends on your circumstances. WinZip
> (and zip programs in general) are much more widely distributed than
> other compression programs (like WinRAR and 7zip), so if you have to
> send it to someone else, WinZip is usually the better choice. For just
> sending it to yourself, you could use any of these programs. You
> probably already have WinZip on your comp, and you can download 7zip
> from www.7-zip.org . WinZip is also probably the easiest to use (since
> so many have used it, and it's easy to get help if you need it).
>
> HTH..
>
> Scott

Wow, thanks for the comprehensive answer Scott - I appreciate it. The
only problem I can foresee is using a compresion tool at work (PC) which
I can also use at home (Mac). I use Stuffit Expander which is supposed
to be able to handle zip files but I've had problems in the past.

But thanks for taking the time to explain it to me. I really do
appreciate it.

Cheers

-Jay-