Window / Office XP

Hi, I just created a word document approximately 30 pages long. It is showing 28 Mb as its file size. To try and minimize this I erased all logos and pictures, still 27Mb. So then I erased all page (now left with one page) and saved again still 26 Mb. Does anyone know what might be causing this.

Saving that file as html (one black page) made in 75 bytes.

Cheers
Jay

 

From Word Tips awyatt@dcomp.com

WordTips for 4 May 2002 Copyright 2002 by DCI

There are several possible reasons for this behavior in Word. First of all, you should make sure that you have Fast Saves turned off (Tools | Options | Save | Allow Fast Saves). As explained in other issues of WordTips, Fast Saves can dramatically increase the size of a document. When you turn it off, use Save As to save the document to a new file name the first time. This will get rid of any extra information Word stored with the document.

Next, make sure that the actual images are the resolution and
dimensions you need before you paste them into your document. The resolution at which a graphic is created can greatly affect the size of the individual graphic. Use a graphics program to reduce the resolution of the image, if this will work for your needs. As to image dimensions, if the finished picture in Word will be four inches across, use a graphics program to resize the image to that size. You should not use Word's resizing or cropping features, as this does nothing to reduce the actual size of the graphic as it is saved with the document.

Finally, if you are using an older version of Word (Word 97 or older), you should consider upgrading to a newer version. In older versions, Word could actually save two versions of a graphic with a document, depending on the graphic file format you used. For instance, if you inserted a GIF image in an older version of Word, then both the GIF and a WMF version of the image were automatically saved with the
document. This problem also crops up if you are using newer versions of Word and you save the document into an older file format or into RTF. The problem and a potential solution is detailed in the Microsoft
Knowledgebase, article Q224663:

http://support.microsoft.com/search/preview.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q224663

If you are using Word 2002 you can even try an additional approach.
Follow these steps:

1. Place your graphics, as normal.
2. Right-click on one of your graphics. Word displays a Context
menu.
3. Choose Format Picture from the Context menu. Word displays the Format Picture dialog box.
4. Make sure the Picture tab is selected.
5. Click on Compress. Word displays the Compress Pictures dialog box.

The choices in the Compress Pictures dialog box can affect either a single graphic or all graphics in your document. Basically, the dialog box is a way to adjust the resolution at which graphics are saved in a document, as well as the format in which they are saved. It appears that when you choose to compress graphics, they are internally changed to a PNG format, which is more compressed than the native format you may have used for the graphic. You can fiddle around with the options in the dialog box to see what works best for you.

Finally, if you need to transfer an otherwise large document file via e-mail or some other electronic means, you should consider compressing the file using a program such as WinZip. Compressing in this manner can result in dramatic savings on the file size, which will decrease transfer time over the Internet or any other network.