Why is my Word file so huge?

[Eneskay]

I've been working on my resume in Word 2004 on Mac and happened to notice
the other day that this file is weighing in at 2.3 megs. Aside from basic
text, the only items in the document are a few Word drawing objects - a
small black box and several black pinstriped lines.

How can I reduce this to a more manageable size? Nothing I do (while still
keeping the content intact) seems to reduce it at all...

Thanks in advance!

Neal

 

[mmmmark]

I've been working on my resume in Word 2004 on Mac and happened to notice
the other day that this file is weighing in at 2.3 megs. Aside from basic
text, the only items in the document are a few Word drawing objects - a
small black box and several black pinstriped lines.

How can I reduce this to a more manageable size? Nothing I do (while still
keeping the content intact) seems to reduce it at all...

Thanks in advance!

Neal

Do a "Save as" and be sure RTF or other older version does not come up as
the format. Sometimes docs that originated in very old versions of word
retain old and new formatting, thereby ballooning the size.

-Mark

 

[Beth Rosengard]

In addition to what mmmmark said, do you have "Allow Fast Saves" checked in
your preferences? If so, uncheck it (and leave it unchecked!). Then copy
all but the very last paragraph of your document into a fresh new doc and
save it. The size should go down dramatically.

--
***Please always reply to the newsgroup!***

Beth Rosengard
MacOffice MVP

Mac Word FAQ: <http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/index.htm>
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[Eneskay]

WOW! That was AMAZING! My file's size dropped all the way down to 28K!! Of
course, now I'm having trouble getting the text that all fit on one page
previously to STAY on one page now.

At some point, I must have turned off "Fast Saves" because it wasn't checked
- however, I obviously hadn't gone the next step in copying all the text
(save the last paragraph - why is that, anyway?) and pasting it into a new
document.

Mmmark - Since the document was created in Word X or 2004 (can't recall
which right now but it was one of the two) am I correct in assuming that
there is no legacy formatting to worry about?

Thanks, again!

Neal

 

[Beth Rosengard]

Hi Neal,

WOW! That was AMAZING! My file's size dropped all the way down to 28K!! Of
course, now I'm having trouble getting the text that all fit on one page
previously to STAY on one page now.

What do you mean by you're having trouble fitting the text on one page?

At some point, I must have turned off "Fast Saves" because it wasn't checked
- however, I obviously hadn't gone the next step in copying all the text
(save the last paragraph - why is that, anyway?) and pasting it into a new
document.

So you did have Fast Saves turned on at one point? It would certainly
explain the file bloat. What Fast Saves does is save all your changes into
the *document itself*. So every time you hit save, more invisible data is
added to the file. As you found out, that adds up after a while!

Since the last paragraph mark (or more properly, a container associated with
the last paragraph mark) holds all that invisible data (which can also be
responsible for file corruption), getting rid of it returns the file to a
"pure" state (usually .

Mmmark - Since the document was created in Word X or 2004 (can't recall
which right now but it was one of the two) am I correct in assuming that
there is no legacy formatting to worry about?

Legacy formatting from where?

--
***Please always reply to the newsgroup!***

Beth Rosengard
MacOffice MVP

Mac Word FAQ: <http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/index.htm>
(If using Safari, hit Refresh once or twice ­ or use another browser.)
Entourage Help Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org>

 

[Eneskay]

Hi Neal,



What do you mean by you're having trouble fitting the text on one page?

Just that when I added the last portion of text (the part I didn't copy over
b/c it was the last paragraph) and set the margins of the new document to
match the original the copy suddenly spills over onto page two. The original
document was one page.

So you did have Fast Saves turned on at one point? It would certainly
explain the file bloat. What Fast Saves does is save all your changes into
the *document itself*. So every time you hit save, more invisible data is
added to the file. As you found out, that adds up after a while!

Since the last paragraph mark (or more properly, a container associated with
the last paragraph mark) holds all that invisible data (which can also be
responsible for file corruption), getting rid of it returns the file to a
"pure" state (usually .


Legacy formatting from where?

Perhaps I simply misunderstood mmmark's post....?


Neal

 

[Beth Rosengard]

Hi Neal,

Just that when I added the last portion of text (the part I didn't copy over
b/c it was the last paragraph) and set the margins of the new document to
match the original the copy suddenly spills over onto page two. The original
document was one page.

You were supposed to copy all but the last paragraph MARK over to the new
document. If you left the whole last paragraph behind when you did the
procedure and then afterwards copied the last paragraph (including its last
paragraph mark) and pasted it into the new document as well, then you
brought over the old (problematic) last paragraph mark after all.
(Although, now that I think about it, the *new* last paragraph mark would
still be retained so maybe that isn't a problem; I'm not sure.)

Anyway, I would do it again (just in case), and here's more detail about the
procedure: Turn on the Show/Hide formatting tool (the pilcrow, or ¶, icon).
That will show you all the hidden paragraph symbols. Now copy all but the
last paragraph *mark* (¶) and paste into a new document.

This still may not keep all the text on the first page, though if the
original was created in Word 2004 (not an earlier version), it should. If
not, you'll have to tweak it.

Perhaps I simply misunderstood mmmark's post....?

No, you didn't. I see what you mean now. Mark was theorizing that your
document might have been created in an old version of Word. But unless it
was *very* old (and it wasn't, was it?) and had been through a lot of
changes and versions, that shouldn't be a problem.

Also, simply doing a Save As, as Mark suggested, may help; but unless you
get rid of that last paragraph mark, you're still going to bring over old
invisible data.

HTH,

--
***Please always reply to the newsgroup!***

Beth Rosengard
MacOffice MVP

Mac Word FAQ: <http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/index.htm>
(If using Safari, hit Refresh once or twice ­ or use another browser.)
Entourage Help Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org>

 

[Beth Rosengard]

Oops! I just looked at my first post and I had written "last paragraph"
instead of "last paragraph mark". My bad! And my apologies for the
sloppiness.

Beth

 

[mmmmark]

Mmmark - Since the document was created in Word X or 2004 (can't recall

No, you didn't. I see what you mean now. Mark was theorizing that your
document might have been created in an old version of Word. But unless it
was *very* old (and it wasn't, was it?) and had been through a lot of
changes and versions, that shouldn't be a problem.

Also, simply doing a Save As, as Mark suggested, may help; but unless you
get rid of that last paragraph mark, you're still going to bring over old
invisible data.

Thanks for helping me out, Beth! Glad things worked out for you, Neal!


-Mark

 

[PhilD]

now I'm having trouble getting the text that all fit on one page
previously to STAY on one page now.

Did you change the margins on the original? If so, you'll need to make
them match on the new version. Also double-check font sizes and
paragraph formatting in the last paragraph. I usually find that these
things solve "no longer fits" issues.

PhilD

 

[Clive Huggan]

Did you change the margins on the original? If so, you'll need to make
them match on the new version. Also double-check font sizes and
paragraph formatting in the last paragraph. I usually find that these
things solve "no longer fits" issues.

PhilD

And if after applying all the previous ideas you still need to nudge
paragraphs more tightly on a page (or further apart), you might like to read
'Add or subtract two points of leading' on page 170 of "Bend Word to Your
Will", available as a free download from the Word MVPs' website
(http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/Bend/BendWord.htm).
The buttons shown there are used to nudge paragraphs closer to, or further
from, other paragraphs or design elements when positioning is important.

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from the US and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
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