Insane Word filesizes (80Mb for 9 pages)

[Peter]

Hi,

I know that MS Word (2003 SP1) does not store documents in the most
efficient way, what happens now is not acceptable. I created a word
document of 9 pages containing mostly formatted text. The documents
contains 2 bitmaps. One bitmap is the company logo in .jpg format which
is used in the header and is approx. 9Kb. The other bitmap is a Visio
drawing, fairly simple made up on one A4 page containing some vector
graphics and is approx 400Kb. The Visio drawing is inserted into the
document as a linked visio object with automatic updates.

Now when is save the document it is currently 80Mb! Removing the object
and savig the document brings it back to a acceptable 150Kb. If i
re-create the object again, and subsequently save it multiple the
filesize stays at about 4000Kb.

Does anybody known what is causing it and how i can solve this in the
future?

 

[Beth Melton]

Here are items that can bloat a file:

1) Fast Saves (Tools/Options/Save)
2) Preview Picture (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"
Accept/Reject Changes: If "Accept All" or "Reject All" is
available then revisions are present.
5) Embedded True Type fonts (Tools/Options/Save)

If all of the above check out then try creating a new document and use
Insert/File and insert the contents of your document

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

There are a number of reasons for excessive file size, including:

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. Keep track of formatting (Tools | Options | Edit). This is reportedly a
major cause of file bloat in Word 2002 and above.

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

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

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

 

[C. Moya]

You can try right-clicking on the Visio drawing (without going into Edit
mode), and select "Format Object." There should be an option in there under
the Picture tab to compress the "snapshot" that Word produces.

 

[Peter]

Compressing of bitmaps is only usefull when it is an integrated bitmap,
i have never seen this working for linked objects.

I was finally disabling the "Preview Picture (File/Properties) " option
which did the trick !

Thanks all !