Microsoft Excel 2003 Specifications and Limitations

As extracted from Microsoft Office Support,

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 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	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

Workgroup specifications

Feature	Maximum limit
Users who can open and share a shared workbook at the same time	256
Personal views in a shared workbook	Limited by available memory
Days that change history 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)

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

PivotTable report specifications

Feature	Maximum limit
PivotTable reports on a sheet	Limited by available memory
Unique items per field	32,500
Row or column fields in a PivotTable report	Limited by available memory
Page fields in a PivotTable report	256 (may be limited by available memory)
Data fields in a PivotTable report	256
Calculated item formulas in a PivotTable report	Limited by available memory

Charting specifications

Feature	Maximum limit
Charts linked to a worksheet	Limited by available memory
Worksheets referred to by a chart	255
Data series in one chart	255
Data points 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 in a PivotChart report	256 (may be limited by available memory)
Data fields in a PivotChart report	256
Calculated item formulas in a PivotChart report	Limited by available memory