Excel 2010 – 64-bit Edition

One of the most obvious new features of Microsoft Excel 2010 is its 64-bit edition.  If you have over 4GB of memory and a 64-bit Windows operating system; then you may consider upgrading to Microsoft Excel 2010 64-bit edition.  It allows you to create gigantic Excel spreadsheet, i.e. over 2 GB limit.

I don’t recommend Excel users to create any huge worksheet because it is often problematic.  I encourage them to move their data to a database if the worksheet is too big.  However, I understand some organizations may not have a database server and their Excel worksheets can hit the 32-bit limit.  With the 64-bit edition, the 2 GB limit is gone and you can also do a pivot table analysis on large database recordsets. You might need to review your VBA code and make updates in order to get it working with 64-bit Excel. You may also need to have 64-bit versions of any ActiveX controls, COM Add-ins, or XLLs if these are used in your solutions.  Please consult your IT department before upgrade to Microsoft Excel 2010 64-bit edition.

Andrew Chan is the owner and founder of ALG Inc.