===================================== **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.

Hello Maxing, What is the default theme set for Windows? As per the issue description this issue could be due to the display driver. Let’s try the following steps and check if it helps: Step: 1 Try to disable the hardware acceleration for Excel and check if it works fine as expected. · Open the Excel program. · Click on file , Options. · Go to the Advanced tab. · Under the Display section, uncheck the box for**'Disable hardware graphics acceleration'.** · Click ok. Step: 2 You may uncheck the DDE option in Excel by following the steps below and check if it resolves. Open Excel, File, Options, Advanced, when you scroll down under General uncheck the box ‘Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange’ (DDE) I hope the above information helps. Let us know if you need further assistance. Thank you.

Thank you, Raju. I should have mentioned that I had already disabled hardware graphics acceleration and unchecked "Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange", per another MSFT support article. Even after doing these two things, and restarting, the problem still occurs, which is why I posted the problem. It really feels like the problem is related to Excel 2013's inability to handle files this large. Much smaller files work fine, and the same size file works fine on Excel 2010 / Windows 7. Excel should easily be able to handle a 300MB file on a computer with 16GB of RAM and no other applications open, however, it cannot. Any other ideas? Is there an update to the display driver? Many thanks for your help.

Hey Raju - Was the information I shared helpful? Is there anything else for me to try?

I'm having the same issue with sorting a large spreadsheet (approx. 990,000 rows). I am also using a Lenove ideapad. I try to sort the data and Excel doesn't do anything. No error, it just goes back to the spreadsheet and nothing happens. No sorting happens. it works with approx. 400,000 to 500,000 rows. Any more than that and nothing. Any ideas? I checked the settings mentioned above and both of those are "unchecked" in Excel on my system. Any other ideas to try?

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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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

2014-04-18T13:55:55+00:00

Hello Maxing,

What is the default theme set for Windows?

As per the issue description this issue could be due to the display driver.

Let’s try the following steps and check if it helps:

Step: 1

Try to disable the hardware acceleration for Excel and check if it works fine as expected.

· Open the Excel program.

· Click on file, Options.

· Go to the Advanced tab.

· Under theDisplay section,uncheck the boxfor**'Disable hardware graphics acceleration'.**

· Clickok.

Step: 2

You may uncheck the DDE option in Excel by following the steps below and check if it resolves.

Open Excel, File, Options, Advanced, when you scroll down under General uncheck the box ‘Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange’ (DDE)

I hope the above information helps. Let us know if you need further assistance.

Thank you.
Was this answer helpful?

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Anonymous

2014-04-18T14:59:39+00:00

Thank you, Raju.

I should have mentioned that I had already disabled hardware graphics acceleration and unchecked "Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange", per another MSFT support article.

Even after doing these two things, and restarting, the problem still occurs, which is why I posted the problem.

It really feels like the problem is related to Excel 2013's inability to handle files this large. Much smaller files work fine, and the same size file works fine on Excel 2010 / Windows 7. Excel should easily be able to handle a 300MB file on a computer with 16GB of RAM and no other applications open, however, it cannot.

Any other ideas? Is there an update to the display driver? Many thanks for your help.
Was this answer helpful?

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Anonymous

2014-04-24T14:26:34+00:00

Hey Raju - Was the information I shared helpful? Is there anything else for me to try?
Was this answer helpful?

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Anonymous

2014-05-01T13:04:20+00:00

I'm having the same issue with sorting a large spreadsheet (approx. 990,000 rows). I am also using a Lenove ideapad. I try to sort the data and Excel doesn't do anything. No error, it just goes back to the spreadsheet and nothing happens. No sorting happens. it works with approx. 400,000 to 500,000 rows. Any more than that and nothing. Any ideas? I checked the settings mentioned above and both of those are "unchecked" in Excel on my system. Any other ideas to try?
Was this answer helpful?

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