Reduce file size and load/save time with .xlsb files

Excel Tip #004

Reduce file size and load/save time with .xlsb files

Using .xlsb files can improve performance if your spreadsheet does a lot of number-crunching.

Excel has different options to save a file as an excel file - .xls, .xlsx, .xlsm and .xlsb.

The .xls file format used by Excel 2003 and earlier is, internally, a "binary interchange file format"(called BIFF with various suffixes, e.g. BIFF11). Among its limitations, it can store up to 256 columns and 65536 rows.

The .xlsx file format, default in Excel 2007, is really just a ZIP file with a bunch of XML files inside. It supports things like a million rows and multithreading optimizations for cell calculation order. This file type is typically smaller than an .xls file with the same contents and is probably faster to open in Excel 2007.

The .xlsm file format is an Excel Macro-Enabled Workbook file. Just like with .xlsx files, Microsoft's .xlsm file format uses XML architecture and ZIP compression to store things like text and formulas into cells that are organized into rows and columns.

What surprisingly few people know: Excel 2007+ has another, native format called Excel Binary Workbook (stored as .xlsb). This format can contain macros just like .xlsm files. This format is a proprietary, binary format that fully support all Excel features the same way as .xlsm does. But as everything is stored in the less “bloated” binary format.

Even though we’ve done a lot of work to make sure that our XML formats open quickly and efficiently, this binary format is still more efficient for Excel to open and save, and can lead to some performance improvements for workbooks that contain a lot of data

To make this the default format, use Options→ Save → Save file in this format and change the dropdown to "Excel Binary Format".
Default Settings to save files in .xlsb format
Suggestions based on my experience - Advantages of xlsb:
  1. File size gets reduced
  2. Processing speed faster (when loading the file or performing some actions)
  3. Macros do work

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

VLOOKUP - Exact Match & Approximate Match

Image
Excel Tip #013 VLOOKUP - Exact Match & Approximate Match In the previous tip #012 (VLOOKUP & INDEX + MATCH), we learnt about VLOOKUP, it's syntax and how to use it. We also learnt about its drawback and how INDEX & MATCH can be helpful. Like said in the previous tip, there are 2 match option available in VLOOKUP - Exact & Approximate Match . Let us first refresh the syntax of VLOOKUP. Syntax: = VLOOKUP (lookup_value, table_array, col_index_num, [range_lookup]) In simple terms, =  VLOOKUP (value/data that is used as reference, data table, the column # where our resultant data resides, exact (or) approximate match) Let's have a closer look at the last argument you supply to the Excel VLOOKUP function - range_lookup. You are likely to get different results in the same formula depending on whether you enter TRUE or FALSE (Approximate or Exact). If range_lookup is set to FALSE , the formula searches for exact match, i.e. for the lookup value exac
Read more

Row 1 Is Missing. How to unhide?

Image
Excel Tip #030 Row 1 Is Missing. How to unhide? As you know, hiding and unhiding rows in Excel is simple as selecting them, right-clicking and choosing Hide or Unhide . The trick to selecting hidden rows, is to select a row above or below and then drag to included the hidden rows. For example, if you accidentally hide row 1 of your worksheet or inherit someone else's worksheet with one or more of the top rows hidden, you may be wondering how to unhide them since apparently you cannot select them. Row 1 Hidden There is a really easy solution. 1) Point to the row 2 header , press the left mouse button and drag upward to the top of the worksheet. Although you cannot see it, row 2 and row 1 are now selected 2) Right click anywhere on row 2 3) Choose Unhide from the right-click menu Unhiding hidden Row 1 NOTE : This also works for multiple hidden rows. There is another method of doing the same if Row 1 is hidden. 1) Go to the top left corner of the sheet abov
Read more

Search Backwards in Excel

Excel Tip #022 Search Backwards in Excel Sometimes we take some things for granted in Excel and assume that everyone else knows too. Here's a tip which lot of Excel users don't know about it. Many Excel users know that the quickest way to find something in a large worksheet is to use Excel's Find command. On the Home tab, in the Editing group, click Find & Select , then Find or, preferrably, use the keyboard shortcut CTRL+F instead. Each time you click Find Next you will be taken to the next matching cell, starting from the active cell and going down the sheet until you finally come to the last one. But what if you want to find the 'last' matching value in a sheet and there are dozens or even hundreds of matching values? You don't want to click through each one until you finally reach the end. Here's a simple trick that will save you some time. Select a cell below the range you want to search ( CTRL+END is a shortcut you can use to quick
Read more