large Numbers file refuses to shrink in size

[Kristin]

This concerns Mac Numbers but I thought it would be ok to post it here as it drastically affects my work in Accordance.

 

It is not even worth why or how, but with a lot of my research in Accordance I write stuff in Numbers organizing them by Strongs numbers. I realized that my file was 8.2 MB, and I remember Accordance tech telling me before that files are at risk of corruption over 5MB, so I was greatly motivated to do something about this.

 

So I first saved my work, then I duplicated the file 8x, and then split the work by key numbers, so that each of the 8 sheets would have 1/8th of the key numbers they previously had. It would be annoying with my work split, but worth it to get the file size to around 2MB or less.

 

So I just did this for a sheet, and the file size dropped from 8.2MB to 7.1MB? How is that even possible?

 

I then tried it with the next sheet with the same result. I then shut ALL my Numbers files, completely shut Numbers, relaunched it, and the file size is still 7.1MB.

 

Any ideas? Thank you for any help anyone is able to provide.

 

Kristin

[Nathan Parker]

I’m not 100% sure on how to shrink the file size further on Numbers spreadsheets. if you don’t get a good answer here, the CATUG.org mailing list might know. I frequently read their mailing list. 

 

I think Accordance Tech Support is referring to specific Accordance files. I have not heard of corruption on Numbers spreadsheets over 5MB, and I believe I’ve had some pretty large Pages, Numbers, and Keynote files in the past without issues. As long as you keep frequent backups, you should be OK. 

[Kristin]

Hi @Nathan Parker,

Thanks for your response, and that is a relief to hear that you think the 5MB is Accordance, and not files in general. Now that you say it, I have actually never had a Mac file corrupt, regardless of the size. And yes, I am very careful about backing up my data and did so before I began messing with the files.

 

In the meantime, I did figure it out. The issue is that I had "duplicated" the file and then deleted information. It occurred to me that I had noticed this before, that if I duplicate the file the program also copies a bunch of other settings, such as the width of cells and such, which eat up a lot of space. After I remembered this I opened a new file and copied and pasted it by hand, and the file shrunk from 7.1MB to 375KB. So that was for sure the issue, and a real flaw with Mac's duplication feature. I am grateful to have found a solution though.

 

Kristin

[Nathan Parker]

Great info! I’ll remember that if it comes up if someone asks again.