Each worksheet in an Excel workbook can hold a maximum of 1,048,576 rows of data. This limit has been consistent in Excel versions from 2007 onwards, including Excel 2010, 2016, Microsoft 365, and later versions
. Along with this, each worksheet can have up to 16,384 columns. This row limit is a fixed constraint of Excel worksheets, meaning you cannot exceed 1,048,576 rows in a single sheet. If your dataset exceeds this number, you must split it across multiple worksheets or use other data management tools
. The limit exists due to Excel running locally on a user's computer and being constrained by system memory and processing power
. Older Excel versions, such as Excel 2003 and earlier, had a much smaller row limit of 65,536 rows
. In summary:
- Maximum rows per worksheet: 1,048,576
- Maximum columns per worksheet: 16,384 (column XFD)
- Applies to Excel 2007 and later versions
- Older versions (Excel 2003 and before) have a 65,536 row limit
