Data Base in Excel... up to how many entries are practical to use?

[Matu]

Hello there,

I'm thinking of using Excel to build a Database. Just normal information involving people, text entries mostly (name, address, phone# and such), some dates of course, maybe some numeric entries. The only particularity is that I'd be using some 40 columns and around 20,000 rows (a big excel!). I will also be adding some macros to ease navigation (maybe autofilter too).

The concrete question is, theortically excel can manage up to 65,535 rows, but I want to know if there's a threshold where excel gets so slow that it's unpractical to use. How many lines (or total cells), or MB of data would that be?

I'd appreciate answers based on personal experience and version details.

Many thanks,
Matu

 

[BenMiller]

I had a spreadsheet once which was about 20 columns by 14,000 rows, it did have basic formatting; it was about 8 MB. Pretty slow but not too bad. Excel 2010 allows for way more rows and columns btw.

 

[Matu]

I had a spreadsheet once which was about 20 columns by 14,000 rows, it did have basic formatting; it was about 8 MB. Pretty slow but not too bad. Excel 2010 allows for way more rows and columns btw.

Thanks for answering Ben
What excel version was your file in? Did it have any formulae or macros in it?
"Pretty slow" only for opening or to move along cells as well?
Thanks again!

 

[BenMiller]

It was in 2010. It had no macros and very few formulae, and it was slow to open.