===================================== **EDIT: The sorting problem described below isnow resolved with the latest Office update from Microsoft. See here for instructions on how to update Office to Service Pack 1:** http://www.thewindowsclub.com/update-office-2013-manually ====================================== All these problems are occurring on Excel 2013 on a Lenovo ThinkPad W540 with 16GB of RAM running Windows 8.1 Pro (Intel i7-4800Q CPU). Note: I do not have these issues working with the exact same large file on a Lenovo ThinkPad T400 running Windows 7 and Excel 2010, although it is (obviously) much slower. The problems seem to be related to either Windows 8.1 Pro or Excel 2013 ( UPDATE: It seems like Excel 2013 is, in fact, the culprit ). Seems to me that having a more powerful box + updated OS and Office should make it easier to work with large files, as opposed to the other way around. Does anyone have a fix for the following issues? Problem #1: Large XLS FIles Open As Blank When Other XLS Files Are Also Open in Excel 2013 on Windows 8.1 I'm experiencing an issue where very large XLS files open as blank if you try and open them after opening a smaller file. Large files open just fine after opening another smaller one. To reproduce: Open a small file (I'm opening one that is 70KB), then; Open 300MB+ xls file (the one I am opening is 316MB), then; See the following blank screen. All menus do not display and the content also does not display. Note that once I close both files and then try again to open the large file alone, it opens just fine and displays fine (although then experiences problem #2 below). The issue seems to be with having a smaller file open at the same time as the large one. Problem #2: Deleted Columns Continue to Display After Deletion in Large XLS Files in Excel 2013 on Windows 8.1 To reproduce: Delete one column in a xls file with approximately 700,000 rows (again this is a large 300MB+ file), Excel still displays the deleted column after deletion. (although you cannot interact with it -- it's not actually there...it just displays as there) However, if you then save the file, close it, and then open the file back up again, you see that the deleted column is, in fact gone. Is this a display bug? Problem #3: Sorting Large Numbers of Rows Does Not Work in Large XLS Files in Excel 2013 on Windows 8.1. Excel cannot sort large numbers of rows. To reproduce: Open a file containing 700,000 rows with three columns of data Sort by Column A on Values in A to Z order (or any order/values/column combination) Click OK See that the sorting never occurred, and there was no error message Note: If you then select a subset of the 700,000 rows (experimentation has shown me that you must select fewer than 5,000 rows), then sorting will happen successfully.

There have been similar reported problems in the past regarding working with a large number of rows: something just does not get done but there's no indication of why not. Not even the always upsetting "not enough resources, choose less..." message. We seem to have a case, at times, of the alligator and hummingbird - Microsoft has given Excel an alligator appetite (1 million rows, 16K columns per sheet) and yet the "digestive tract' seems more fitting of a hummingbird. You should be able to sort a completely filled worksheet without problem - even if it means making the recommended minimum systems something like a 3.6GHz i7 with at least 16GB RAM. Those who need that functionality will buy the hardware to use it, but they've got to be assured that the software will actually be able to utilize the hardware recommended.

I'm having the same problem. MSFT Office team: any plans to issue a fix for this???

Very strange. No problem with large files on windows 7 running office 2010. This seems to be related to excel 2013 and windows 8.1. Any comment from from the office team at MSFT? No problems with large files on Vista running Office 2010. On Windows 8.1 Pro running Office 2013, however, Excel fails to sort rows when there are more than 500,000 rows.

Very strange. No problem with large files on windows 7 running office 2010. This seems to be related to excel 2013 and windows 8.1. Any comment from from the office team at MSFT?

Resolved: Very Large XLS File Problems in Excel 2013 - Excel Cannot Successfully Sort Files With Large Numbers of Rows

Anonymous

=====================================

**EDIT: The sorting problem described below isnow resolved with the latest Office update from Microsoft. See here for instructions on how to update Office to Service Pack 1:**http://www.thewindowsclub.com/update-office-2013-manually

======================================

All these problems are occurring on Excel 2013 on a Lenovo ThinkPad W540 with 16GB of RAM running Windows 8.1 Pro(Intel i7-4800Q CPU). Note: I do not have these issues working with the exact same large file on a Lenovo ThinkPad T400 running Windows 7 and Excel 2010, although it is (obviously) much slower. The problems seem to be related to either Windows 8.1 Pro or Excel 2013 (UPDATE: It seems like Excel 2013 is, in fact, the culprit). Seems to me that having a more powerful box + updated OS and Office should make it easier to work with large files, as opposed to the other way around.

Does anyone have a fix for the following issues?

Problem #1: Large XLS FIles Open As Blank When Other XLS Files Are Also Open in Excel 2013 on Windows 8.1

I'm experiencing an issue where very large XLS files open as blank if you try and open them after opening a smaller file. Large files open just fine after opening another smaller one.

To reproduce:

Open a small file (I'm opening one that is 70KB), then;
Open 300MB+ xls file (the one I am opening is 316MB), then;
See the following blank screen. All menus do not display and the content also does not display.

Note that once I close both files and then try again to open the large file alone, it opens just fine and displays fine (although then experiences problem #2 below). The issue seems to be with having a smaller file open at the same time as the large one.

Problem #2: Deleted Columns Continue to Display After Deletion in Large XLS Files in Excel 2013 on Windows 8.1

To reproduce:

Delete one column in a xls file with approximately 700,000 rows (again this is a large 300MB+ file),
Excel still displays the deleted column after deletion. (although you cannot interact with it -- it's not actually there...it just displays as there)
However, if you then save the file, close it, and then open the file back up again, you see that the deleted column is, in fact gone.

Is this a display bug?

Problem #3: Sorting Large Numbers of Rows Does Not Workin Large XLS Files in Excel 2013 on Windows 8.1. Excel cannot sort large numbers of rows.

To reproduce:

Open a file containing 700,000 rows with three columns of data
Sort by Column A on Values in A to Z order (or any order/values/column combination)
Click OK
See that the sorting never occurred, and there was no error message

Note: If you then select a subset of the 700,000 rows (experimentation has shown me that you must select fewer than 5,000 rows), then sorting will happen successfully.

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

Raju,

BINGO! I found the solution went to File- Account - Office Updates & appended.

There must have been a patch undocumented but I can sort a million rows.

Mukund.

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40 additional answers

Anonymous

2014-05-11T23:18:29+00:00

There have been similar reported problems in the past regarding working with a large number of rows: something just does not get done but there's no indication of why not. Not even the always upsetting "not enough resources, choose less..." message.

We seem to have a case, at times, of the alligator and hummingbird - Microsoft has given Excel an alligator appetite (1 million rows, 16K columns per sheet) and yet the "digestive tract' seems more fitting of a hummingbird. You should be able to sort a completely filled worksheet without problem - even if it means making the recommended minimum systems something like a 3.6GHz i7 with at least 16GB RAM. Those who need that functionality will buy the hardware to use it, but they've got to be assured that the software will actually be able to utilize the hardware recommended.
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Anonymous

2014-05-11T21:13:56+00:00

I'm having the same problem. MSFT Office team: any plans to issue a fix for this???
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Anonymous

2014-05-11T19:10:07+00:00

Very strange. No problem with large files on windows 7 running office 2010. This seems to be related to excel 2013 and windows 8.1.

Any comment from from the office team at MSFT?

No problems with large files on Vista running Office 2010. On Windows 8.1 Pro running Office 2013, however, Excel fails to sort rows when there are more than 500,000 rows.
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Anonymous

2014-05-02T00:56:28+00:00

Very strange. No problem with large files on windows 7 running office 2010. This seems to be related to excel 2013 and windows 8.1.

Any comment from from the office team at MSFT?
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