a size of file mystery?!

[Geoff Cox]

Hello,

How do I make sense of the following.

A friend sends me a ppt file ...

1. Windows Explorer (XP Pro) says it is 2220 KB

2. I open and close it (only open/close - no other action taken)
using PPT 2003 and Windows Explorer says the file is now 2217 KB !!
The file has decrease in size by 3KB and all I did was open and close
it.

3. even more strange - I add an action button (copy/paste from another
ppt file) and now Windows Explorer says 1892 KB !!

Now, the file has DROPPED in size even though I have ADDED an action
button to it....

Any thoughts please?!

Cheers

Geoff

PS the reason for my interest is not just academic - I am needing to
compare file sizes to see if I have the same versions of files as my
friend.

 

[Kathy Jacobs]

My guess? He had fast saves turned on. With a file that small, you aren't
going to see the drastic changes you usually would. Try saving it under a
new name and see if it droops further... If so, contact the friend and have
him turn it off (Tools--> Options, save tab first check box - which Geoff
knows, but other readers might not.)

--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint and OneNote
Author of Kathy Jacobs on PowerPoint - Available now from Holy Macro! Books
Get PowerPoint and OneNote information at www.onppt.com

I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference that we lived

 

[Geoff Cox]

My guess? He had fast saves turned on. With a file that small, you aren't
going to see the drastic changes you usually would. Try saving it under a
new name and see if it droops further... If so, contact the friend and have
him turn it off (Tools--> Options, save tab first check box - which Geoff
knows, but other readers might not.)

Thanks for the idea Kathy,

Cheers

Geoff

 

[Geoff Cox]

My guess? He had fast saves turned on. With a file that small, you aren't
going to see the drastic changes you usually would. Try saving it under a
new name and see if it droops further... If so, contact the friend and have
him turn it off (Tools--> Options, save tab first check box - which Geoff
knows, but other readers might not.)

Kathy,

A little further info. It does seem to be the case that the files from
my friend are larger than the ones I produce after working on them. I
do not have the "allow fast save" option.

Assuming my friend does have this option selected - can you explain
why the files do become smaller after I have worked on them?

Cheers

Geoff

 

[John Wilson]

Hi Geoff, with fast save on (aaargh - its completely useless) Sequential
changes are saved increasing file size. Once you save without fast save these
are discarded.
--
-----------------------------------------
Did that help?
_____________________________
John Wilson
Microsoft Certified Office Specialist

 

[Geoff Cox]

Hi Geoff, with fast save on (aaargh - its completely useless) Sequential
changes are saved increasing file size. Once you save without fast save these
are discarded.

John,

Brilliant! I've had this friend in total panic as she thought that
loads of ppt files had gone missing!

Cheers

Geoff

 

[Kathy Jacobs]

One way to explain the problem with Fast Saves to those who aren't
technical:
Think about a book that is being revised. Instead of the changes being put
in the book at the place they are made, the changes are put at the back of
the book. When you get to a change, you are told go to the revision section
and read there until you are told to return. If there is a revision to the
revision, it may even send you further into the changes. Now, imagine a
chapter is deleted from this book. Instead of taking it out of the main part
of the book, a note is put at the start of the chapter saying "go to
revisions page xxx". When you get to revisions page xxx, you see a note that
says "This chapter has been deleted. Continue reading at the end of the
chapter." The chapter hasn't been deleted, you are just told not to read it.
Now, take this imaginary book and open it with a special reader (your copy
of PPT that has Fast Saves turned off). The reader goes through and puts the
changes where they go and deletes what should be deleted, etc. When you
close the book, voila - it is hundreds of pages shorter!

--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint and OneNote
Author of Kathy Jacobs on PowerPoint - Available now from Holy Macro! Books
Get PowerPoint and OneNote information at www.onppt.com

I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference that we lived

 

[Geoff Cox]

One way to explain the problem with Fast Saves to those who aren't
technical:
Think about a book that is being revised. Instead of the changes being put
in the book at the place they are made, the changes are put at the back of
the book. When you get to a change, you are told go to the revision section
and read there until you are told to return. If there is a revision to the
revision, it may even send you further into the changes. Now, imagine a
chapter is deleted from this book. Instead of taking it out of the main part
of the book, a note is put at the start of the chapter saying "go to
revisions page xxx". When you get to revisions page xxx, you see a note that
says "This chapter has been deleted. Continue reading at the end of the
chapter." The chapter hasn't been deleted, you are just told not to read it.
Now, take this imaginary book and open it with a special reader (your copy
of PPT that has Fast Saves turned off). The reader goes through and puts the
changes where they go and deletes what should be deleted, etc. When you
close the book, voila - it is hundreds of pages shorter!

Thanks Kathy!

Cheers

Geoff

 

[Geoff Cox]

One way to explain the problem with Fast Saves to those who aren't
technical:
Think about a book that is being revised. Instead of the changes being put
in the book at the place they are made, the changes are put at the back of
the book. When you get to a change, you are told go to the revision section
and read there until you are told to return. If there is a revision to the
revision, it may even send you further into the changes. Now, imagine a
chapter is deleted from this book. Instead of taking it out of the main part
of the book, a note is put at the start of the chapter saying "go to
revisions page xxx". When you get to revisions page xxx, you see a note that
says "This chapter has been deleted. Continue reading at the end of the
chapter." The chapter hasn't been deleted, you are just told not to read it.
Now, take this imaginary book and open it with a special reader (your copy
of PPT that has Fast Saves turned off). The reader goes through and puts the
changes where they go and deletes what should be deleted, etc. When you
close the book, voila - it is hundreds of pages shorter!

Kathy,

Just a thought - I have lots of ppt files which were created by the
friend with the "allow fast saves" selected which I do not need to
open (and so remove the extra data).

Is it possible to use VBA to get rid of this data in multiple files?

Cheers

Geoff

 

[Geoff Cox]

It certainly should be.

Somewhere a few weeks back you were using some code that processed multiple
files in a directory. You could modify that to open each file in your target
directory and save it to the same filename.

As long as you've got Fast Saves turned off that's all it should take.

Thanks Steve - that makes good sense!

I have just come across the Microsofy utility for removing hidden
data, called rhdtool.exe.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...ED-D43E-42CA-BC7B-5446D34E5360&displaylang=en

It does appear to have a few problems. Would it be safe to use it doe
you think?!

Cheers

Geoff

 

[Geoff Cox]

I've never used it, so can't offer any useful opinion.
Need a useless one, though? I've got lots of those.

I see MS encourage using it only on a copy of your original files; that makes good sense.
As long as you do that, I don't imagine it can harm anything.

we will find out!

Geoff

 

[Shyam Pillai]

Geoff,
PowerPoint performs fast saves if that option is chosen in the options
dialog. This causes any changes to be appended to the end of the file so
that the program can be responsive to the user. Every 10 fast saves or so it
performs a full save which leads to a full save which recreates the file and
hence reduces the filesize on disk since everything is written back in
order.