Word "Not Responding" when working with large file

[John Ilott]

I am operating Word 2003 on a relatively new PC with 512 Mb of memory. I am
working on a thesis that is approximately 30,000 words long, but due to the
tables in the document, the file is 65 Mb.

In most cases, the file is fairly easy to manage, but as soon as I try to
format in any way, Word freezes (that dreaded hourglass hangs on the screen)
and tells me that Word is not responding. Then I have to Ctrl+Alt+Del and
restart Word.

The formatting I refer to includes indents, bullets or numbering, changing
normal font to bold, changing the colour of a cell in a table and so on.

I have thought of splitting the document into smaller sections, but I have
so many cross references and endnotes, I'm not game to try this.

Am I doing something wrong? Is Word incapable of handling a file this
large? Is there something I can do to improve performance?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

 

[Anne Troy]

.....but due to the tables in the document, the file is 65 Mb....
Save the file as RTF. Close. Reopen. Save as DOC. Size should reduce
considerably and probably get rid of your error. See also:
http://www.officearticles.com/word/recover_a_corrupt_microsoft_word_document.htm
****************************
Hope it helps!
Anne Troy
www.OfficeArticles.com
****************************

 

[Graham Mayor]

Working with very large documents is always going to be slow. If you work in
normal view with background pagination turned off (tools > options >
general) then the processing overhead is less. Only switch to print layout
when you are reasonably satisfied that the document is as you want it to be.

The file may be corrupt. - display formatting characters - click ¶ or CTRL+*
and copy all but the last paragraph mark into a new document. Turn off
versioning - and use a macro to create separate versions
http://www.gmayor.com/save_numbered_versions.htm to keep the file sizes
down.

Most important of all - get rid of the mess you have made by crashing out of
Word - http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm and when Word
says it is busy, give it the benefit of the doubt and go and make a coffee
or something while it finishes.


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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[John Ilott]

Thank you Graham. The file must have been corrupt as it has reduced
considerably from 65 Mb to about 1 Mb. That's a big weight off my mind.

Thanks so much.

John

 

[Graham Mayor]

Make sure you keep copies. Next time it may not be recoverable

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Note also that the stated maximum file size for a *text* document is 32 MB.
The OP doesn't say whether the file contains graphics or not, but 65 MB of
text alone would definitely choke Word.

 

[MelissaG]

How do I turn off versioning? Thank you!

Working with very large documents is always going to be slow. If you work in
normal view with background pagination turned off (tools > options >
general) then the processing overhead is less. Only switch to print layout
when you are reasonably satisfied that the document is as you want it to be.

The file may be corrupt. - display formatting characters - click ¶ or CTRL+*
and copy all but the last paragraph mark into a new document. Turn off
versioning - and use a macro to create separate versions
http://www.gmayor.com/save_numbered_versions.htm to keep the file sizes
down.

Most important of all - get rid of the mess you have made by crashing out of
Word - http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm and when Word
says it is busy, give it the benefit of the doubt and go and make a coffee
or something while it finishes.


--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP


<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[Graham Mayor]

Check Word help under 'version'

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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