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Excel - Odd Trick to Reduce Size of Excel Workbooks That Contain a Pivot Table - Episode 857

1,598 views · Published 7 January 2009 · 2:05 · Indexed 14 November 2026

Channel: MrExcel.com · 2009 · Education

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Microsoft Excel Tutorial: Reduce Size of Excel Workbooks That Contain a Pivot Table.
Welcome back to another MrExcel netcast! In this video, I'll be sharing an amazing trick for those of you who use Pivot Tables. If you've ever had to send a large file with a Pivot Table to multiple people, you know how frustrating it can be. The file size can become huge and take up unnecessary space. But fear not, I have a solution for you!

In this example, I have a file with 5,000 rows of data and a Pivot Table on a separate sheet. The file size is 986kb, which is quite large. But with this trick, I'll show you how to significantly reduce the file size without losing any of the Pivot Table functionality. First, I'll select the Pivot Table and copy it using Ctrl+C. Then, I'll open a new workbook and paste the Pivot Table. Next, I'll save the new file and close everything.

Now, here's the amazing part. When I go to open the new file, I'll see that the file size is only a third of the original file. How is this possible? Well, the data for the Pivot Table is actually stored in the cache, so when we copy and paste the Pivot Table, we're not duplicating the data. This results in a significant reduction in file size. And don't worry, all the Pivot Table functionality is still intact. You can still add or remove fields as needed.

But what if someone needs to see the detailed data? No problem! There's a simple trick to access all the data in the cache. Just double-click on the Grand Total and a new worksheet will be created with all the original records. This is a great way to save time and space when sending Pivot Tables to others. I hope you found this trick helpful. Thanks for watching and don't forget to subscribe to our channel for more helpful Excel tips and tricks. See you next time on the MrExcel netcast!

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Say that you have a pivot table and need to send the file via e-mail. Use the trick in Episode 857 to dramatically reduce the size of your Excel workbook.

Table of Contents:
(00:00) Amazing trick for Pivot Tables
(00:23) Selecting and copying the Pivot Table
(00:33) Pasting into a new workbook
(00:52) File size reduction
(01:09) Explanation for file size reduction
(01:23) Double-clicking on Grand Total
(01:38) Clicking Like really helps the algorithm

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