Excel 2007 Files Are Now Saving with Fewer KB in Both Excel 2007 and 2

Geophyte1 · 08 Jun 2016

The “problem” I’m concerned about is that I noticed existingExcel 2007 xlsx files are now saving with fewer Kb.
I have a Lenovo W700ds and a W541. Both computers are running Windows 7 Pro 64bit.The W700 has Office 2007 and theW541 has Office 2013.Both versions ofExcel are 32 bit as far as I can tell.
Until recently I was primarily using the W700ds but have nowswitched to the W541.

after I saw a larger file losing KB when saved, I did a test with a file that had not been altered or openedfor over two years. I copied it twiceand added a -1 and a -2 to change the names.The file was a small 832 Kb file.When I opened and saved on the W541 running Windows 7 with Excel 2013,the file saves with 771 Kb.When Iopened the file using the W700 running Windows 7 with Excel 2007, the computeron which it had originally been created, the file saved as 830 Kb.Both saved smaller but the newer computerrunning Excel 2013 was much smaller.Iam seeing these same types of ratios of reduction in size for much larger Excelfiles as well.

I have not documented any actual problems or loss of data withany of the files to date and I have used an Ultra-Compare text file comparison which found no differences.
Is there any reason to be concerned about this? And, if so, what to do?

As with many people, some of my files are the result of manyyears of work and I don't want to do anything to compromise any of the data butI don’t know whether or not what I’m seeing is normal due to both Excel 2007and Excel 2013 becoming somehow more efficiently programmed than previousversions of Excel 2007.
I have systems whereby I backup/sync files to a home networkNAS HD. I also sync between thecomputers.

Your help will be greatly appreciated.

Ranger4 · 08 Jun 2016

Hi & welcome to the Forum.

I don't think there is anything to worry about, but keep a watch on it just in case. Have you done a Disc Defrag lately, if so that might explain it.

Just to be safe run a regular back up of your system, which you should be doing anyway.

Geophyte1 · 08 Jun 2016

Thank you for your thoughts. I do wonder if it could possibly be involved with the "compatibility" issue between the old xls files and the xlsx files. All of the files I've been talking about have been xlsx files for a long time now but it is very possible that they were all xls files at one time.

I'm also curious to know if anyone else has seen a "problem" of this nature. I do back up my files often and when I noticed this issue I made it a point to backup to a HD that will not be changed in the future so that i could go back to most of the unaltered files if necessary. Even that does not change the fact that even the Excel 2007 is reducing file size.

ignatzatsonic · 08 Jun 2016

I had not heard of your issue, but just did the following.

I found an Excel file on my system with an xls extension. The modified date on it was from 2007. At that time, I would have had Office 2007 or 2003.

It was 17,920 bytes in size.

I opened it, made no modifications, and closed it within 3 seconds. I didn't do a "save as" or anything like that. It's still an xls file.

It is now 27,648 bytes in size. The modified date on this file now shows today's date, even though I did not modify it--I just opened and closed it. I have no idea if this is standard behavior.

I found another file, modified in 2010, with an xls extension. At that time, I had Office 2007.

1,579,008 bytes. I opened it and closed it within 3 seconds. The file size did not change.

I have no idea why the size changed on the first file, but not on this second file.

I found a third file, modified in 2007. XLS extension. 53,760 bytes. I opened it and closed it within 3 seconds. No change in file size.

I then reopened this third file and saved it as an xlsx file. Size 32,514 bytes.

Make of that what you will.

Geophyte1 · 08 Jun 2016

Thank you for that experimental result. It is looking more probable that my recent xlsx file size reductions may well have some tie to their having been xls files at one time.
I suppose I'll play like there is not a data problem and proceed full steam ahead:)

ignatzatsonic · 08 Jun 2016

Geophyte1 said:

Thank you for that experimental result. It is looking more probable that my recent xlsx file size reductions may well have some tie to their having been xls files at one time.
I suppose I'll play like there is not a data problem and proceed full steam ahead:)

Yeah, I guess that's what I'd do.

I can see why different versions of Excel might result in different file sizes, due to more efficient code.

But that fact alone would not explain all of the results I noted in my earlier post--such as the mere opening and closing of an xls file causing a change in file size.

Which reminds me:

Are you keeping track of recent Office releases?

I am wondering about this issue:

What is the most recent version of Office that is NOT connected with the cloud, does NOT involve a subscription, and is FULLY transferable from an existing computer to a newly built computer with entirely new components? Just like it was 10 years ago.

I ask this because I currently have Office Home and Student 2010 and may some day want to upgrade to a newer version, but I refuse to get involved with subscriptions or the cloud. The last I checked, there was no newer version that met my criteria.

Any help?

Geophyte1 · 08 Jun 2016

I have to admit to knowing less about the issue than you obviously do. I do not keep up with the latest versions. I'm running Office 2013 because that is what came with my W541 but you are making me think about checking up on the issues you mentioned.