Project 2007 sudden file size increase

[Matt]

Hi everyone,

I have an issue where quite a number of Project 2007 files have suddenly
increased in size to around 50MB, the largest file that is being worked on
is still only around 15MB so for these other files to be 50MB is not right.

We are unable to open these files over the network, however we can open them
locally.

Any idea's?

Thanks
Matt

 

[John]

Hi everyone,

I have an issue where quite a number of Project 2007 files have suddenly
increased in size to around 50MB, the largest file that is being worked on
is still only around 15MB so for these other files to be 50MB is not right.

We are unable to open these files over the network, however we can open them
locally.

Any idea's?

Thanks
Matt

Matt,
It is possible the files have developed some corruption. You might try
one or more of the methods outlined in FAQ 43 - handling project file
corruption and/or bloat. The FAQ can be found on our MVP website at,
http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm.

To avoid adding bloat to your project files, it is a good practice to
always use "Save As" to the same file name instead of using "Save".
Periodically opening the Project file and then immediately closing
without doing anything else to the file can also initiate some
housekeeping procedures.

Hope this helps.

John
Project MVP

 

[Matt]

Thank you very much John,

I followed your advice in FAQ 43 and was able to remove the bloat by saving
the file as an .XML then reopening it and re-saving back to an .MPP file. I
managed to get a 50MB file down to 436KB.

As for the opening of files over the network, apparently this had already
been resolved.

Matt

 

[Rob Schneider]

Hopefully you have done this, but develop a strong backup process where
you as PM take backups of the file(s) at frequent intervals so that you
can always go back. For the project's sake, better to do this by
keeping your own copy and don't rely on IT's server backups (those
backups made for a different purpose).

Our standard practice is to store working Project files in SharePoint
doc libraries and check out/in is the standard process. Get version
control and backups pretty much automatically. But even without
SharePoint or equivalent, frequent backups is a big help.

--rms

www.rmschneider.com