You can only be said to be "doing something wrong" after you know that it is
wrong, so no, you didn't do anything wrong. But there are a few things you
won't do next time
Before you get out into the workplace and get your own "a" kicked by a boss
deeply unimpressed with 90 MB emails, we better cover the basics of "picture
sizing" for you. This is part of what you're doing the course to learn.
The first thing you need to understand is that the new .docx format in Word
2008 is already compressed as far as it will go: you can't get it any
smaller without removing information. That doesn't apply to .doc -- the old
format will compress, the new one already has been (which is why it's about
a quarter the size).
Now: When making documents containing pictures, there are a few things you
have to think about.
The first is: Don't include any parts of the picture you do not intend to
print or display. Word will enable you to add a whole picture to the
document, then drag a "mask" over it to hide the bits you don't want to see.
That does not remove any bits from the picture: in fact, it causes Word to
store the picture in the document TWICE, the original, and the edited
version. So Don't do that. Cut each picture to exactly the size you want
before you put it in, so you show only the stuff you want to see, and at the
size you want to see it.
Next: Decide what "kind" of picture you need. If you are writing a manual,
you need crisp, clear pictures for printing. If the pictures are drawn
(lines and boxes...) use a Vector Graphics format (look up "vector graphics"
in Google).
For drawn graphics, use either PDF or EPS format. It scales infinitely
without loss of resolution and prints at the best resolution the printer is
capable of.
If the picture is a continuous tone (photo...) use a raster graphics format
(look up raster graphics...)
If the picture is a screen shot, then you will have to use a raster, but you
need to choose which one. Try to get away with .gif. A .gif permits only
256 colours in a single picture, but it preserves the resolution so it stays
crisp. If you are doing screen-shots of things with lots of colour, you
will have to move up to .PNG, which allows millions of colours but it's four
times the size.
For photos, use .JPG. JPG is much smaller, but be aware that it is throwing
out resolution to preserve colour, so while photos will look quite good,
screen-shots will look really foggy.
Open the picture in a graphics editor. GIMP is really good (and free!).
You can't do this kind of thing without a proper graphics editor.
First set the size. We want to remove information from the graphic, but we
must be careful we do not remove information we're going to need. So set
the size first. You can do it by eye, or by measuring: doesn't matter. But
get the size correct before you reduce the resolution.
Now, you need to decide how much resolution you need. For school
assignments, 96 dpi is quite sufficient. Anything to be displayed on
screen, don't go above 96 dpi, screens can't display any more than that, so
you're just wasting file size...
To print on paper on an office colour printer, keep the pictures up to 150
dpi: much less and the printed version will begin to look foggy. For
commercial printing, 300 dpi is the lower limit. For high-end printing,
some print shops will want 2,400 or 9,600 dpi. If they do, forget moving
that document anywhere by email: you will be using shoe leather and a hard
drive to transport it, because the file will end up as several gigabytes...
Once you have adjusted the pictures to show only what you want, and at the
correct size, then save them to the appropriate kind of file.
Then insert them into Word using Insert>Picture>From file...
That puts only the material you intend to print into the document, and
stores it once only.
I would expect that your 90 MB file will slim down to a svelte 250 kb or so:
easily emailable around the world.
Once you have inserted the pictures, DON'T move or change them inside Word
(especially if you have Tracked Changes turned on). Any change you make
will otherwise cause the picture to be stored TWICE in the document: old
version and new version. If you need to make changes, delete the pic and go
back to your graphics editor, make the change there, and re-insert it.
OK, I understand that the above is a lot more work than you thought you were
going to be doing. Yes. If this was easy, everyone would be doing it.
There is an idea out there that "Word is easy to use". It is. But the jobs
you will be asked to do with it throughout your working life are NOT easy.
If they were, they wouldn't need you, they would get someone on the minimum
wage to follow the numbers...
What I've just typed out for you is the basics of making professional
documents fit for the purpose for which you want to use them. If you can
learn this now, getting jobs, and promotions, will never be a problem to
you, because your work will always get there looking good
Hope this helps
Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) For my online class,
we have to upload our files to the school's server. Well it ask for the files
to be 20MB or less. My last project file was over 90MB. So it didn't upload.
I had to cut and paste it into an email, in which my teacher was not very
happy.
I even tried to compress the file into a .zip file which didn't change the MB
number at all!??!?!
Is there any tips as maybe I'm doing something wrong, or how to make it
smaller MB or maybe my teacher is just crazy thinking that an instruction
manual with pictures would be anywhere near 20MB?!?!?!
Any help in this issue would help! I tried to even change the extension to a
.rtf which removed my pictures and pretty borders and headings and made
everything jumbled up.
Any ideas to the people way smarter than me? Maybe I should have done it on
Pages that come with MAC but she only takes files in .doc or .docx or .rtf My
files when done on pages then saved as .doc file even look different. I don't
even know what to do. And I have even emailed my teacher all weekend with no
response from her!
Thank you very much for any help!!!!
KickenA
--
The email below is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless I ask you to; or unless you intend to pay!
John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410 | mailto:
[email protected]