Guidance and advice on data volumes

[Alan2005]

Hi Guys,

I am fairly new to Excel / VBA but am trying really hard to catch up with some of the outstanding people on this forum.(Not this decade..!)
I have a small question in relation to the amount of data that Excel can reasonably cope with.
In a nutshell. I am attempting to store information relating to backup client activity. Each client (70-100) will have 11 pieces of relevant info.
I would like to store and analyse this for two month periods.
However, this will result in Excel having 50,000 pieces of info to VLOOKUP, FIND and what have you.
Sorry about the length of this by the way. So, should I go down the access route or is excel better than I imagine.
Any pointers would be highly appreciated.
Thanks and regards

 

[BrianB]

The critical point is the number of records you expect to handle. Excel can handle up to 65,536 rows, 256 columns, after that we need MS Access.

You need to put your data into a simple table with column headings in row 1, when you will be able to use the powerful Data functions of Excel to do analysis & sorting etc. ie. do not be tempted to split the data into separate worksheets, you will only be making a rod for your own back later on. This may mean adding extra columns that repeat data (eg. 'Month') - but Excel loves it.

 

[Alan2005]

Thanks very much for the help and advice Brian.
I have already started building the app and didn't want to continue along the same lines if I was going to experience huge speed issues.
Much appreciated.

Alan