In Excel 2002, what could cause a file to triple in size with only minor changes?

It might have happened if you copied any data from another worbook or worksheet, especially if you copied the entire worksheet from another workbook. You probably have a worksheet where Excel is wasting storage keeping track of blank cell values. This could be due to a filled cell WAY at the bottom of the worksheet or it could be due to cells that were once filled and now aren't. If you have a cell that is filled WAY at the bottom of the worksheet, Excel will create storage to keep track of the value of every cell between the beginning and end of your data. And Excel may also keep track of cells with storage that were once filled with data but are now empty.

The easiest way to fix this is to eliminate any filled cells way at the bottom of the worksheet and to copy just the filled cells that contain the data you need to a new worksheet and delete the old worksheet, making sure you keep your cell references in tact.

Sometimes an easy way to detect which worksheet is the culprit is to do a print preview of the worksheet. You may need to clear the print area first if the print area has been restricted to just one section of the worksheet. You can do that by File > Print Area > Clear Print Area.

The culprit worksheet(s) should look HUGE when viewed on print preview, showing tons of rows and you may see tons of blank rows. Another indicator to determine the culprit worksheet can be the scroll bar. The slider bar in the scroll bar gets longer on Excel when there is little data stored in that worksheet. It gets shorter as more data is in the worksheet. If your slider bar is short compared to the amount of data in the worksheet, that can be an indicator that Excel is wasting storage space on that worksheet.

Another thing that can take up tons of space is pictures. If you added pictures, you might reduce their space size and then re-add them to Excel. Cameras are getting much higher in megapixel count now. The higher the megapixel, the more space they take up. Decrease the resolution of the picture to where it takes up as little space as possible but doesn't look pixelated.

This is true in two ways 1- You have a virus in that computer, that is copying thins to it. (Virus in Excel is macro virus), you can make sure by openning this file in another (Clean) computer and save it and check the size. 2- You are saving the file in Excel version that is not compressing the pictures (If the file has pictures) I still smell that your computer has a virus I recommand install latest update for your antivirus, or mail me here if you need more info on how to remove it Enjoy my profile, I am the VBAXLMan