File size changes

[Harry Gibson]

Hi,

Just a quick question.
I'm writing my thesis (chapters as separate documents) mostly at work,
using Word 2003. At home I have Word 2000 and I understood the file
formats to be the same between these two versions.

However often when I take a file home and work on it in Word 2000, after
saving the file size has changed unexpectedly. For example last night I
saved the file in Word 2003 resulting in a file of 767kb. At home, in
Word 2000, I did some minor editing: I added a couple of pages of text,
but did not delete (or add) any text, figures, or tables. When I saved
in Word 2000, the file was just 646kb.

In both programs, fast saves and versions are both turned off, and all
images are inserted from .png files. My question is just is this normal?
I'm probably being over-cautious but I really _really_ don't want to
mess up my thesis files by swapping between versions! Why would a file
get smaller, especially when images and are untouched and nothing is
deleted?

Thanks!

Harry Gibson

 

[Jay Freedman]

Hi Harry,

I think that's quite reasonable. The reason is that, while the file
formats are the same for all versions from Word 97 to Word 2003, each
later version reserves more space for additional features. When you
take a file from a newer version and resave it in an older version,
that "extra" space is dropped.

As an example, a "blank" document in Word 2000 is 19 kB, while a
"blank" document in Word 2003 is 28 kB. When I take the Word 2003
document and resave it from Word 2000, it drops to 23 kB.

There may also be differences in the efficiency of the compression
used for embedded graphics. Also, one program may have the options to
embed smart tags or other "invisible" information turned on while the
other has them turned off.

If you want to be extra cautious, save each document in both the Word
..doc format and as an RTF file. If one gives you trouble, you should
be able to reload from the other.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
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[Harry Gibson]

Jay,

Many thanks for your response. That's good to know; thanks for the rtf
tip as well.

Cheers,

Harry