Why did my 1 page word template become 1.6 MB?

[Thomas Campitelli]

Howdy Folks,

I was working on a business letter template for MS Word. It is nothing
special. It has a few form fields, a small image logo, a few tables for
page layout purposes, and some customized styles. It was 135 KB.
Suddenly it became 1.6 MB. It still seems to work just fine. However,
1.6 MB is a bit cumbersome. Is there any way to get it smaller again?
Many thanks.

Thomas Campitelli

 

[Charles Kenyon]

Do you have fast saves or versions or track changes turned on?

 

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

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

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

 

[Thomas Campitelli]

Charles and Suzanne,

Thank you both for your replies. I did not have fast saves on, nor
tracked changes. However, I did have the preview picture on. I unclicked
that and that shaved about 70 KB. As Suzzane suggested, my images were
the problem. They magically expanded in size. I did some graphics work
to get my images in vector format where possible and then inserted one
as an EMF file. The other went in as a small PNG. My template is now at
a comfortable 69 KB. Thank you both for your help and ideas.

Sincerely,

Thomas Campitelli