In case another solution might help someone else, - I had an excel file with pivot tables that referenced external source data. I tried to save an extract version of the workbook that did not contain the pivot tables or reference the external data, but the workbook file was larger than expected and did not reduce much in size even if all the sheets were deleted. The problem appeared to be that cross-references to the external data were still retained somewhere internally in the workbook. One solution was to go back to a version of the spreadsheet before deleting the sheets containing the pivot tables and other external references, then transfer the external source data into the workbook, making sure there were no additional external links (menu item: Edit / Links), and THEN deleting the various sheets I didn't need including the data that had been transported back in and was not needed for the extract version of the workbook. CAUTION - use a separate copy of the workbook and the source data copied into a separate directory so that the original workbook and its reference links to the source data are not messed up. [note - Other potential solutions to a too-large spreadsheet included looking at the menu item: "format / sheet / unhide". and looking for hidden objects under the menu option: "tools / macro / visual basic editor" but that is for more experienced or risk-taking users.]

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