Forum Discussion
Hyperlinks - how much do they change the size of a file
Hi, I am new to the community but have been working with Excel for a long time. The one thing that I am not sure of is if I am using hyperlinks just how much they add to the size of the file. I have an already very large file and we just started hyperlinking in it this year so that is of concern as we already have issues due to the size and number of formula that we have. Would appreciate any help. Thank you
16 Replies
- Hi Julie
I would suggest that if hyperlinking adds benefit to your operations then it may outweight any negatives from whatever file size increases you experience.
Best wishes.
Cheers
Damien - Hi Julie,
Hyperlinks aren't any different in size to the texts that created them and although it will increase the file size by 1 or 2 times compared to its visible text. So, I wouldn't worry about the file size increased if it is increases only using =Hyperlink( , ) function.
However, some folks are usually mistaken between pasted hyperlinks and hyperlinks using Hyperlink function. If user has numerous hyperlinks using pasted links then that for sure increases the size of workbook significantly and plz allow me to demonstrate here:
Open an empty Excel file and enter a text e.g. Myfolder there and then right click and click hyperlink and then select a folder as the address of the hyperlink C:\Users\Julie\Downloads\ and then save the workbook somewhere
then open a new workbook and type this somewhere =Hyperlink("C:\Users\Julie\Downloads\","Myfolder") and save in the same folder as the first workbook.
If you check the size of the above two workbooks, you will see that the second workbook is smaller in size than the first one. This was just one hyperlink, if you have many hyperlinks the difference of size will be significant.
Whenever linking cells either with a folder or file, instead of copy and Paste (control + v ) use paste-values only and create link using hyperlink() function and this way it will open quickly and will not increase file size.Hi Jamil,
In some cases, the size will vary slightly and this difference will not have a significant impact even if the number of links increases.
This is in case if the link is external!
Please see the attached files.
It may also be different if these links are duplicate and external as in the case I mentioned earlier, and how the links in the HYPERLINK function have increased the size of the workbook by about 30 KB.
This may be thanks to the sharedStrings.xml which is has the responsibility of reducing the size of the hyperlinks strings.
Not always the hyperlinks in HYPERLINK function are lower in size!
Hi Julie,
Don't worry about it!
I've done a simple test and you may be surprised when you know its result!
I created a workbook and copied the link of this community ten thousand times (10,000) in the range A1:A10000 of the Sheet1, then I made a copy of this worksheet in a separate workbook and deleted the links from it!
Then I compared the difference in size between the two workbooks, which is less than 1 KB!Before: 62.1 KB
After: 61.5 KB
Please find them in the attachments!
Hi Haytham,
That's if you have exactly the same hyperlink repeated 10 thousand times. Is it hyperlink or not - adds practically nothing.
If all hyperlinks are different I guess it'll be added about few hundreds bytes on the top for each hyperlink.
And another story if use HYPERLINK() function, it shall add less.
In any case that's not a lot.
Hi Sergei,
Thanks for this good point!
But each hyperlink has an independent entity in an independent cell even if it is the same!
The process of directing you to the link address in the browser is only a functionality and does not affect the size.
In fact, when you remove the hyperlinks you actually remove the URL formats which is blue font color and underlined text!
Conclusion
The difference between the plain text and the hyperlink is just the format!The specific format of the hyperlink is associated with an event to directing you the to link address in the browser, and this is just a functionality and does not affect the size.
With regards to HYPERLINK function, it increases the size by ~30 KB as the attached file, and this is not a big difference!
Thank you. I did the test too, but I think there were skeptics working with me and wanted a second opinion.
If so, I would recommend you to send my previous reply to them via email!
Good luck
