Excel to Word

[thebob]

My 213k Ecxel table bloats my 105k Word Doc to 2.5Mb - Why? I've tried copy &
paste, copy & paste special. Both still bloat the Doc. Help!

 

[Jezebel]

Which option did you choose when using Paste Special?

 

[thebob]

I did not link it to the original. It doesn't need to auto-update from Excel.
It's a report; attendance listing.

 

[Jezebel]

OK, so what option DID you use?

I did not link it to the original. It doesn't need to auto-update from
Excel.
It's a report; attendance listing.

 

[thebob]

I'm sorry Jezebel; the answer to your question is:
Using Paste Special I selected Paste: & Microsoft Excel Worksheet Object

If I use HTML it truncates the Excel table.

I don't understand that if Office is all supposed to be OLE, why does a 200k
Excel table turn into a 2Mb beast in Word?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If you're inserting it as an OLE object, then you're in effect embedding all
the Excel functionality into Word.

 

[thebob]

Actually, I'm doing a simple Copy & Paste of selected cells from Excel to
Word. Why does it cause Word to bloat?

 

[Jezebel]

That's precisely the point. You're NOT doing a simple Copy and Paste. You're
embedding the Excel data AS AN EXCEL OBJECT. Hence the size blow-out -- as
Suzanne explained, you're embedding a whole heap of Excel stuff along with
your actual data.

Try one of PasteSpecial's text options, if you really want simple.

 

[thebob]

Well, following your cue, I tried every combination of Paste & Paste Special
available. I guess I'm just being naive about this. I have a table of
employees that has 8 columns and 1181 rows. The Excel file size is only 213k.
The word document I use for my report is only 105k without the table of
employees. I'm guessing that Word is requiring a lot of formatting overhead
to display this data. I've come to realize that it's not as simple as
213k+105k=318k.

 

[thebob]

I extended the experiment further. In the word document are two tables
totaling approximately 2000 rows of 8 column data. the word document,
complete, is 2.54Mb. I removed all the data and left the blank tables in the
document. The size reduced to 2.24Mb. I deduce from this, it is the table
structure (not the data) that is causing the large file size. So, I presume a
better question, "Is there a way to modify the table structure that will
result in a smaller file size?"

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Tables do create overhead, especially long ones. But you should not need
Paste Special to paste Excel data into Word as a simple table, so you might
try that method and see if the result is different. Also consider the
following list of reasons for excessive file size:

1. Fast Saves: Disable this at on the Save tab of Tools | Options.

2. Preview Picture: Clear the check box on the Summary tab of File |
Properties.

3. Versions (File | Versions): Make sure "Automatically save version on
close" is not turned on.

4. Revisions (Tools | Track Changes):
Highlight Changes: Make sure "Highlight changes on screen" is turned on
(or that "Final Showing Markup" is displayed).
Accept/Reject Changes: If "Accept All" or "Reject All" is available then
revisions are present; accept or reject all changes, then turn Track Changes
off.

5. Embedded True Type fonts (Tools | Options | Save); embedding fonts should
be avoided wherever possible.

6. Embedded graphics: When feasible, it is preferable to link the graphics.
That is, when you insert the graphic, click the arrow beside Insert in the
Picture dialog and choose Link to File rather than Insert or Insert and
Link.

7. Embedded objects: These are even worse than ordinary graphics saved with
the document. If you see an { EMBED } code, the graphic is an OLE object.
Unless you need to be able to edit the object in place, unlink it using
Ctrl+Shift+F9.

8. File format: Make sure you are saving as a Word document; in some cases
..rtf (Rich Text Format) files are significantly larger than .doc files.

9. Document corruption: See
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/AppErrors/CorruptDoc.htm.