Shrink a whole folder of Excel files
Drag workbooks and folders into one window and press Shrink. Copies land in a folder you choose, written across every core, and no original is touched. It is the engine behind the free tool, without the browser tab around it.
One engine batch over 16 test workbooks: 447.4 MB down to 279.6 MB, 37.5% smaller in 32.8 seconds, shown here sped up.
About this measurement and the screenshots
Measured 2026-09-25 (UTC) on Apple M3, 8 cores, 8 GB, with every reduction switched on. The app starts with only the ones that keep everything; the others remove something and wait for you to switch them on. The sample is 16 real workbooks from our test collections, chosen so every line of the list has a number: for each reduction, the workbook where it removed the most, then the largest others. Some shrink a lot and some hardly at all: 16 shrank, 0 stayed unchanged and 0 failed. Unchanged and failed files count toward the starting size and contribute no saving.
This is one command-line run of the engine used by the desktop app. Timing covers batch processing, verification and writing, and excludes the app interface and activation. Other work on this Mac was not controlled; your files and machine will give different results.
The screenshots and the film replay these results in the app’s interface. The film squeezes the 32.8-second run into 3.8 seconds. Folder labels, activation and intermediate progress are illustrative. The total saving is measured. The list splits it into what compression saved and what each reduction removed on top of that, which together make up the total. View the measurement record.
Workbooks and folders, through one door
Drag them in from anywhere, or click and pick files and folders in the same dialog. A folder is read one level deep. Everything arrives checked; uncheck a row and it stays in the list, marked left out, while the rest run.
.xlsx, .xlsm, .xltx and .xltm. Macros pass through untouched.
Every core, one run
Several workbooks are written at once, one per core. Each row carries its own bar while it is being written and its new size once it is done. A workbook that fails is named and skipped, its original exactly as it was, and the rest of the queue carries on.
Choose the reductions for your run
The reductions that keep everything start on. The ones that remove something start off, and each names what it removes before you switch it on. A reduction may find nothing to change. Afterward the list shows what each one saved, with the measured total at the top of the window.
Copies, never overwrites
One destination, always a folder you chose. Nothing this app does writes over a workbook, so there is no backup to make and no undo to need. A file already in that folder is never overwritten either.
Verified before it counts
Every copy is reopened and compared with its original part by part before the row reports a size. A workbook that gives back nothing is marked already smallest, and no file is written for it.
One call, on the first launch
The app sends your key, a random machine id, its version and the OS name to shrinkexcel.com once and keeps the signed reply. No path and no workbook is in it, and the window itself has no network permission. After that it runs offline, unless you press Send on a feedback message.
Two machines for one person
A laptop and a desk; the business key covers ten. Reinstalling can reuse activation when the app’s data is retained. If you replace or wipe a computer, contact support for help with activation.
Paid once
Single
$29one person
- Two machines, a laptop and a desk
- macOS and Windows
- Updates for a year. The version you bought stays yours after that
Business
$99one key, 10 machines
- 10 activations, spread over the team however it sits
- macOS and Windows, mixed however the team is
- Updates for a year. The version you bought stays yours after that
- $9.90 a machine
The browser tool stays free: one workbook at a time, up to 50 MB.
After you pay
Your license key is sent to the checkout email after payment completes. Install ShrinkExcel, paste the key, and activate while connected to the internet. Then you can shrink workbooks offline.
macOS 10.15 or later, Windows 10 or later. Key missing?Find or recover your existing key; you don’t need to buy again.
