One option I think I would explore would be to only import columns of
critical need to the task at hand......most import utilities allow you to
decide whether or not to import each column.......perhaps that would wean it
down below 256....
I've been told that you can change the default number of columns in
Excel via a VBA script, buut I don't know how to do this. Some of the
VBA experts here could perhaps address this?
You may want to consider a database program such as Access.