Excel is often used to store and transfer large data sets. However, the file size in normal excel can grow exponentially and in some cases become to big to email. There are ways to reduce excel file sizes with data but the best way may be to convert it into a PowerPivot file (if you don’t know what PowerPivot is click here).
In a recent experiment we tried the same data set in Access, Excel, PowerPivot and a csv file.
- In Access the data came to 37.8 MB and was too big to email
- When we exported into Excel, the file dropped to 16.7 MB and is probably on the edge of being email friendly (although most corporates don’t allow anywhere near this size file).
- If we save it as a csv file it was 17.5 MB.
- When we imported the same data into PowerPivot the file reduced to 5.9 MB which is much more manageable.
So besides the great tools within PowerPivot, it may also be a very good way to transfer large data sets via email.
For this and more tips take our online PowerPivot course