Bad "Invalid Reference." Error - This file version cannot contain formulas that reference cells beyond a worksheet size of

jpf5911

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Joined
Jun 10, 2002
Messages
76
I have 2 .xlsx files, one of which has about 135,000 rows and the other with about 5,000 rows.

The files have a common key so that I can do a VLOOKUP to pull selected data from the big file to the small one.

When I try the VLOOKUP, I get the error,

"Invalide reference. This file version cannot contain formulas that reference cells beyond a worksheet size of 256 columns (column IW or higher) or 65,536 rows."

How is this even possible? I am using Excel 07 and both of these files were created in 07!!!

jpf
 

Excel Facts

How to total the visible cells?
From the first blank cell below a filtered data set, press Alt+=. Instead of SUM, you will get SUBTOTAL(9,)
You need to make sure that the source and destination files are both saved as .xlsx. Even if the files were created and saved in 2007, if they were saved down for compatibility (with a .xls extention, you'll get that error). Apparently, because 2007 can hold more rows and columns than previous versions of Excel, vlookup returns this error unless both files are saved as 2007 documents (xlsx).

To avoid the error without re-saving in .xlsx, use column and row cell references in the table_array field i.e. instead of filename!$A:$G, use filename!$A1:$G750
 
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