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I'm working on a Google Spreadsheet and I keep getting this message:

This spreadsheet is about to reach the following limits: Number of Columns

Google Docs Help says that the columns limit is of 256 columns and my document has only 14 columns, so I don’t know why Google is bothering me with this message. The document has 1.991 rows; Google does not say anything about rows limit.

Does anyone know if this is a bug or a known issue or something like that?

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Perhaps this is something from the past. Have you tried creating a new document (in Drive) and start all-over? – Jacob Jan Tuinstra Nov 20 '12 at 12:01
When you say your spreadsheet has only 14 columns - if you scroll right, what is the right-most column displayed? The column limit even applies to empty columns. To completely remove a column, right-click on the column header, and select Delete column. – Vidar S. Ramdal Nov 20 '12 at 14:27
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@ Jacob Jan Tuinstra yes, it is a thing from the past. I didn't get thus message anymore – elunicotomas Nov 21 '12 at 12:46

closed as too localized by Barry♦ Dec 20 '12 at 12:23

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1 Answer

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I was able to find a discussion of Google Docs size limits. It includes this section:

Spreadsheets: 400,000 cells, with a maximum of 256 columns per sheet. Uploaded spreadsheet files that are converted to Google spreadsheets format can’t be larger than 20MB, and need to be under 400,000 cells and 256 columns per sheet.

More information about spreadsheet size limits

If you're close to exceeding size limits, you'll see a message at the top of your spreadsheet that indicates which limit you're about to reach:

  • Number of Cells: Total of 400,000 cells across all sheets
  • Number of Columns: 256 columns per sheet
  • Number of Formulas: 40,000 cells containing formulas
  • Number of Tabs: 200 sheets per workbook
  • GoogleFinance formulas: 1,000 GoogleFinance formulas
  • ImportRange formulas: 50 cross-workbook reference formulas
  • ImportData, ImportHtml, ImportFeed, or ImportXml formulas: 50 functions for external data
  • Complexity: VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP formulas tend to be more complex than other functions, and may slow down your spreadsheet. After getting data points through VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP, try re-pasting them as "values only" to reduce spreadsheet size
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That's the same document I read and where I found about the documents limits – elunicotomas Aug 22 '12 at 12:40

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