Excel specifications and limits - Excel

Home > Products > Excel > Excel 2003 Help and How-to > Startup and Settings > Installing and Customizing

Warning: You are viewing this page with an unsupported Web browser. This Web site works best with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or later, Firefox 1.5, or Netscape Navigator 8.0 or later. Learn more about supported browsers.

Email this link

Printer-Friendly Version Bookmark and Share

Excel specifications and limits

Applies to: Microsoft Office Excel 2003

Show Worksheet and workbook specifications

Feature	Maximum limit
Open workbooks	Limited by available memory and system resources
Worksheet size	65,536 rows by 256 columns
Column width	255 characters
Row height	409 points
Page breaks	1000 horizontal and vertical
Length of cell contents (text)	32,767 characters. Only 1,024 display in a cell; all 32,767 display in the formula bar.
Sheets in a workbook	Limited by available memory (default is 3 sheets)
Colors in a workbook	56
Cell styles in a workbook	4,000
Named views (view: A set of display and print settings that you can name and apply to a workbook. You can create more than one view of the same workbook without saving separate copies of the workbook.) in a workbook	Limited by available memory
Custom number formats	Between 200 and 250, depending on the language version of Excel you have installed.
Names in a workbook	Limited by available memory
Windows in a workbook	Limited by system resources
Panes in a window	4
Linked sheets	Limited by available memory
Scenarios (scenario: A named set of input values that you can substitute in a worksheet model.)	Limited by available memory; a summary report shows only the first 251 scenarios
Changing cells in a scenario	32
Adjustable cells in Solver	200
Custom functions	Limited by available memory
Zoom range	10 percent to 400 percent
Reports	Limited by available memory
Sort references	3 in a single sort; unlimited when using sequential sorts
Undo levels	16
Fields in a data form	32
Custom toolbars in a workbook	Limited by available memory
Custom toolbar buttons	Limited by available memory

Show Workgroup specifications

Feature	Maximum limit
Users who can open and share a shared workbook (shared workbook: A workbook set up to allow multiple users on a network to view and make changes at the same time. Each user who saves the workbook sees the changes made by other users.) at the same time	256
Personal views (view: A set of display and print settings that you can name and apply to a workbook. You can create more than one view of the same workbook without saving separate copies of the workbook.) in a shared workbook	Limited by available memory
Days that change history (change history: In a shared workbook, information that is maintained about changes made in past editing sessions. The information includes the name of the person who made each change, when the change was made, and what data was changed.) is maintained	32,767 (default is 30 days)
Workbooks that can be merged at one time	Limited by available memory
Cells that can be highlighted in a shared workbook	32,767
Colors used to identify changes made by different users when change highlighting is turned on	32 (each user is identified by a separate color; changes made by the current user are highlighted with navy blue)

Show Calculation specifications

Feature	Maximum limit
Number precision	15 digits
Largest number allowed to be typed into a cell	9.99999999999999E+307
Largest allowed positive number	1.79769313486231E+308
Smallest allowed negative number	-2.2251E-308
Smallest allowed positive number	2.229E-308
Largest allowed negative number	-1E-307
Length of formula contents	1,024 characters
Iterations	32,767
Worksheet arrays	Limited by available memory. Also, arrays cannot refer to entire columns. For example, an array cannot refer to the entire column C:C or to the range C1:C65536. However, an array can refer to the range C1:D65535 because the range is one row short of the maximum worksheet size and does not include the entire C or D column.
Selected ranges	2,048
Arguments in a function	30
Nested levels of functions	7
Number of available worksheet functions	329
Earliest date allowed for calculation	January 1, 1900 (January 1, 1904, if 1904 date system is used)
Latest date allowed for calculation	December 31, 9999
Largest amount of time that can be entered	9999:59:59

Show PivotTable report specifications

Feature	Maximum limit
PivotTable reports (PivotTable report: An interactive, crosstabulated Excel report that summarizes and analyzes data, such as database records, from various sources, including ones that are external to Excel.) on a sheet	Limited by available memory
Unique items per field	32,500
Row (row field: A field that's assigned a row orientation in a PivotTable report. Items associated with a row field are displayed as row labels.) or column fields (column field: A field that's assigned a column orientation in a PivotTable report. Items associated with a column field are displayed as column labels.) in a PivotTable report	Limited by available memory
Page fields (page field: A field that's assigned to a page orientation in a PivotTable or PivotChart report. You can either display a summary of all items in a page field, or display one item at a time, which filters out the data for all other items.) in a PivotTable report	256 (may be limited by available memory)
Data fields (data field: A field from a source list, table, or database that contains data that is summarized in a PivotTable report or PivotChart report. A data field usually contains numeric data, such as statistics or sales amounts.) in a PivotTable report	256
Calculated item (calculated item: An item within a PivotTable field or PivotChart field that uses a formula you create. Calculated items can perform calculations by using the contents of other items within the same field of the PivotTable report or PivotChart report.) formulas in a PivotTable report	Limited by available memory

Show Charting specifications

Feature	Maximum limit
Charts linked to a worksheet	Limited by available memory
Worksheets referred to by a chart	255
Data series (data series: Related data points that are plotted in a chart. Each data series in a chart has a unique color or pattern and is represented in the chart legend. You can plot one or more data series in a chart. Pie charts have only one data series.) in one chart	255
Data points (data points: Individual values that are plotted in a chart. Related data points make up a data series. Data points are represented by bars, columns, lines, slices, dots, and other shapes. These shapes are called data markers.) in a data series for 2-D charts	32,000
Data points in a data series for 3-D charts	4,000
Data points for all data series in one chart	256,000
Line styles	8
Line weights	4
Area patterns (screen display)	18
Total area pattern and color combinations (color display)	56,448
Pattern and color combinations (color printer)	56,448 (the actual number depends on your printer and its software)
Page fields (page field: A field that's assigned to a page orientation in a PivotTable or PivotChart report. You can either display a summary of all items in a page field, or display one item at a time, which filters out the data for all other items.) in a PivotChart report (PivotChart report: A chart that provides interactive analysis of data, like a PivotTable report. You can change views of data, see different levels of detail, or reorganize the chart layout by dragging fields and by showing or hiding items in fields.)	256 (may be limited by available memory)
Data fields (data field: A field from a source list, table, or database that contains data that is summarized in a PivotTable report or PivotChart report. A data field usually contains numeric data, such as statistics or sales amounts.) in a PivotChart report	256
Calculated item formulas in a PivotChart report	Limited by available memory