P
Pratta
MS Project: File Bloat Observations
We have had a problem with file bloat in 2007, that were not fixed by the
approaches in the FAQ doco.
We have done some research/ tried a few approaches, and the following
summarises our results.
We would be interested in comments. feedback.
General observations :
If a schedule is long enough, and with enough use, it will more than likely
become ‘bloated’ – i.e. larger in file size than is necessary to store all
the schedule data. Generally, it also seems to be more prone to crashes than
an ordinary schedule. When a substantial number of schedules are in use, file
bloat can pose a significant problem, because
-hard drive space is consumed unnecessarily
-bloated schedules crash more often than normal
-MS Project is slower when working with bloated schedules, and
-opening master files becomes slower and more crash prone
‘Unbloating’ schedules
We have found that the best method to counter file bloat involves generating
..mpd files, which can only be done using MS Project 2003. Assuming there is a
copy of MS Project 2003 on hand, the method we use to ‘unbloat’ a schedule is:
-Open the bloated schedule in MS Project 2007
-Save the schedule as an MS Project 2003 file (using a different filename*)
-Open the bloated schedule in MS Project 2003
-Generate an MS Project database (.mpd) file from the schedule
-Open the .mpd file in MS Project 2007, and save the resulting schedule as a
new .mpp (do not overwrite another .mpp, the resulting schedule must be saved
as an entirely new file*)
* When saving a schedule by overwriting another .mpp, the resulting file
tends to be highly bloated, sometimes more than twice its original size.
Because of this, we suspect that when an overwrite is performed, MS Project
stores both the old, redundant from the file being overwritten, and the
current data in the schedule being saved, into the resultant .mpp file. As
such, when saving schedules for the purpose of ‘unbloating’ them, it is
necessary to use unique filenames on each save.
Notes on conversion between MS Project 2007/2003/MPD formats
There were two things that were lost as a result of the conversions
between these formats:
-Names of exceptions in calendars – e.g. “Good Friday†becomes “Unnamedâ€,
although the actual exception is still present in the calendar.
-Shading of cells in tables
This is because neither of these features were available in MS Project 2003.
However besides that, on inspection it appears none of the tasks, resources,
dates, custom fields, views, and settings, project labels (i.e. author,
manager, etc), customised calendars, task types or task constraints are
affected by the conversions between these formats. However, we did not
inspect financial settings, such as currencies or rates, because we do were
not using these features in the files we treated.
We would appreciate any comments/ additional info..
Such as:
-Is there a delete/define/restore or defrag utility available for MS Project
files.
-Is there a method to de-bloat files that does not require an older version
of the software to be loaded (requiring a separate machine)!
-Why isn't .mpd format creation included in 2007?
Regards.........Pratta
We have had a problem with file bloat in 2007, that were not fixed by the
approaches in the FAQ doco.
We have done some research/ tried a few approaches, and the following
summarises our results.
We would be interested in comments. feedback.
General observations :
If a schedule is long enough, and with enough use, it will more than likely
become ‘bloated’ – i.e. larger in file size than is necessary to store all
the schedule data. Generally, it also seems to be more prone to crashes than
an ordinary schedule. When a substantial number of schedules are in use, file
bloat can pose a significant problem, because
-hard drive space is consumed unnecessarily
-bloated schedules crash more often than normal
-MS Project is slower when working with bloated schedules, and
-opening master files becomes slower and more crash prone
‘Unbloating’ schedules
We have found that the best method to counter file bloat involves generating
..mpd files, which can only be done using MS Project 2003. Assuming there is a
copy of MS Project 2003 on hand, the method we use to ‘unbloat’ a schedule is:
-Open the bloated schedule in MS Project 2007
-Save the schedule as an MS Project 2003 file (using a different filename*)
-Open the bloated schedule in MS Project 2003
-Generate an MS Project database (.mpd) file from the schedule
-Open the .mpd file in MS Project 2007, and save the resulting schedule as a
new .mpp (do not overwrite another .mpp, the resulting schedule must be saved
as an entirely new file*)
* When saving a schedule by overwriting another .mpp, the resulting file
tends to be highly bloated, sometimes more than twice its original size.
Because of this, we suspect that when an overwrite is performed, MS Project
stores both the old, redundant from the file being overwritten, and the
current data in the schedule being saved, into the resultant .mpp file. As
such, when saving schedules for the purpose of ‘unbloating’ them, it is
necessary to use unique filenames on each save.
Notes on conversion between MS Project 2007/2003/MPD formats
There were two things that were lost as a result of the conversions
between these formats:
-Names of exceptions in calendars – e.g. “Good Friday†becomes “Unnamedâ€,
although the actual exception is still present in the calendar.
-Shading of cells in tables
This is because neither of these features were available in MS Project 2003.
However besides that, on inspection it appears none of the tasks, resources,
dates, custom fields, views, and settings, project labels (i.e. author,
manager, etc), customised calendars, task types or task constraints are
affected by the conversions between these formats. However, we did not
inspect financial settings, such as currencies or rates, because we do were
not using these features in the files we treated.
We would appreciate any comments/ additional info..
Such as:
-Is there a delete/define/restore or defrag utility available for MS Project
files.
-Is there a method to de-bloat files that does not require an older version
of the software to be loaded (requiring a separate machine)!
-Why isn't .mpd format creation included in 2007?
Regards.........Pratta