Word & PDF file size bloats

[MichaelC]

I use Office 2008 on a Macbook Pro with OS X 10.6.1

Sharing word and pdf files with PC colleagues is proving problematic. In
particular, when I save an emailed file the size bloats tremendously. So, for
example, a 6 MB pdf file suddenly becomes a 22MB pdf file. With a 10MB limit
on our emails this makes sharing files next to impossible. I'm forced to
compress many files, which I shouldn't have to.

Does anyone know why this happens and what I can do to stop it?

thanks
Michael

 

[Michel Bintener]

Hi Michael,

first of all, which format are you saving the documents in? The new Office
Open XML file format (.docx) automatically compresses files, so these files
are by default smaller than binary Word files (.doc)? Secondly, is there an
image in the file? If that image is in a Mac-specific file format, and you
save the file, Word automatically saves a copy of the picture in a file
format that can be read by PC users, thus making the file size balloon. Try
saving the picture in PNG file format, which is platform-independent and
which does not require Word to make a copy for compatibility purposes.

If none of these solutions solve your problem, post back and we will try to
find other ways to reduce the file size.

 

[MichaelC]

Thanks Michel,

I find I have to switch between .doc and .docx as most colleagues' machines
can't read the latter.

The biggest problem appears to be with PDFs. Yes there are images but I can't
say whether these are in Mac-specific format. They're cut-and-pasted into a
word file that is latter converted to PDF by a colleague (an editor). When
she sends them back to me and I save them, the size balloons out.

I tried your suggestion of saving in PNG but it only seemed to save the cover
page of the document.

So, no progress I'm afraid. Any suggestions?

Hi Michael,

first of all, which format are you saving the documents in? The new Office
Open XML file format (.docx) automatically compresses files, so these files
are by default smaller than binary Word files (.doc)? Secondly, is there an
image in the file? If that image is in a Mac-specific file format, and you
save the file, Word automatically saves a copy of the picture in a file
format that can be read by PC users, thus making the file size balloon. Try
saving the picture in PNG file format, which is platform-independent and
which does not require Word to make a copy for compatibility purposes.

If none of these solutions solve your problem, post back and we will try to
find other ways to reduce the file size.

I use Office 2008 on a Macbook Pro with OS X 10.6.1

[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]

thanks
Michael

 

[MichaelC]

I should add that the problem occurs regardless of whether the document was
originally drafted by me or not. That is, downloading pdfs from the web and
attempting to pass them on is difficult since the file size increases once I
save them.

Hi Michael,

[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]

 

[Rob Schneider]

Michael,

Am I reading correctly? Someone sends you a PDF file in mail with a
known size. You download that PDF file. The PDF file that you save is
not the exact file size as sent and in fact it is increased?

--rms

www.rmschneider.com

I should add that the problem occurs regardless of whether the document was
originally drafted by me or not. That is, downloading pdfs from the web and
attempting to pass them on is difficult since the file size increases once I
save them.

Hi Michael,

[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]

thanks
Michael

 

[MichaelC]

That's right Rob. My saved file size is considerably (often more than double)
the size of the sent file.

Any clues?

Michael,

Am I reading correctly? Someone sends you a PDF file in mail with a
known size. You download that PDF file. The PDF file that you save is
not the exact file size as sent and in fact it is increased?

--rms

www.rmschneider.com

I should add that the problem occurs regardless of whether the document was
originally drafted by me or not. That is, downloading pdfs from the web and

[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]

 

[MichaelC]

That's right Rob. My saved file size is considerably larger (often more than
double) the size of the sent file.

Any clues?

Michael,

Am I reading correctly? Someone sends you a PDF file in mail with a
known size. You download that PDF file. The PDF file that you save is
not the exact file size as sent and in fact it is increased?

--rms

www.rmschneider.com

I should add that the problem occurs regardless of whether the document was
originally drafted by me or not. That is, downloading pdfs from the web and

[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]

 

[Rob Schneider]

So, I wonder

: what does this have to do with Word?
: what email client are you using?
: what happens when you download using another email client software?
: what happens when they send you the file via memory stick or CD?
: what program executes to "expand" the file. Some program running on
your computer is is doing this. Is it malware?
: what happens when you use, instead of a Mac (which I presume you are
using) and use an email client running on Linux or Windows?
: what happens when you use a web mail service (Yahoo, Gmail, etc.)
instead of your email client (so that the browser download program runs,
assuming it's different).

Beyond that I have no idea. Your computer is getting a copy of the file
(that's how downloading works), but your computer has chosen to make a
copy which is different from the copy sent to you. That's a problem, and
a flaw.


--rms

www.rmschneider.com

That's right Rob. My saved file size is considerably (often more than double)
the size of the sent file.

Any clues?

Michael,

Am I reading correctly? Someone sends you a PDF file in mail with a
known size. You download that PDF file. The PDF file that you save is
not the exact file size as sent and in fact it is increased?

--rms

www.rmschneider.com

I should add that the problem occurs regardless of whether the document was
originally drafted by me or not. That is, downloading pdfs from the web and

[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]

thanks
Michael

 

[Michel Bintener]

That is the problem; you should never cut and paste images into Word. Always
save the image first, then insert it into Word using either drag and drop or
the Insert>Picture>From File command. Some people will even tell you never
to use drag and drop, as it can bypass some of the import filters in Word.
If you paste the image, you have no control over what Word is going to do
with it, and the scenario of duplicate images because of different file
formats which I described in my previous post applies.

As for PDFs: once you have followed the procedure described above, you
should find that the file size is reduced. You can also use the ColorSync
Utility that comes with Mac OS X to reduce the file size of PDF files (at
the cost of picture quality). If you need help with this, just post back.

 

[MichaelC]

Thanks Michel. I'll give this a try.

That is the problem; you should never cut and paste images into Word. Always
save the image first, then insert it into Word using either drag and drop or
the Insert>Picture>From File command. Some people will even tell you never
to use drag and drop, as it can bypass some of the import filters in Word.
If you paste the image, you have no control over what Word is going to do
with it, and the scenario of duplicate images because of different file
formats which I described in my previous post applies.

As for PDFs: once you have followed the procedure described above, you
should find that the file size is reduced. You can also use the ColorSync
Utility that comes with Mac OS X to reduce the file size of PDF files (at
the cost of picture quality). If you need help with this, just post back.

 

[John McGhie]

Yup! Send a .docx ‹ it's about a quarter the size

..docx is a compressed format, PDF is not necessarily so....

Cheers

I use Office 2008 on a Macbook Pro with OS X 10.6.1

Sharing word and pdf files with PC colleagues is proving problematic. In
particular, when I save an emailed file the size bloats tremendously. So, for
example, a 6 MB pdf file suddenly becomes a 22MB pdf file. With a 10MB limit
on our emails this makes sharing files next to impossible. I'm forced to
compress many files, which I shouldn't have to.

Does anyone know why this happens and what I can do to stop it?

thanks
Michael

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

--

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Michael:

Thanks Michel,

I find I have to switch between .doc and .docx as most colleagues' machines
can't read the latter.

That's their issue: they are missing Microsoft Office service pack 2 (which
means they're a virus or security penetration disaster waiting to
happen...). Tell them to have a chat to their IT Department

Cheers

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

--

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Phillip Jones, C.E.T.]

Do you have Acrobat Pro on your Mac?

If so go to Advanced menu and choose optimize file the got to User info
and click second item remove User info and metadata.

Save as a new file and check to see if file dramatically decreases.

Also go back on the new file and choose Fonts in the Optimize menu. look
for duplicate versions of the embedded fonts example say you have ten
copies of Helvetica Bold italic remove all but one copy. Look for other
duplicates. You only need one copy of each different font, once all
duplicates have been un-embedded save again. The two items could depend
upon the information discard could decrease the file size by 50-75%.

Its the difference between the way PC and Mac's handles graphics. png
and jpg are usually the ones that work the best.

 

[Tim Murray]

In particular, when I save an emailed file the size bloats tremendously.
So, for example, a 6 MB pdf file suddenly becomes a 22MB pdf file. . . .
I'm forced to compress many files, which I shouldn't have to.

Something is wrong with this picture. A file that shows itself as some size
in your e-mail should not expand upon saving to disk. And also, compression,
if you mean zip, usually does not save a whole lot of space in a PDF. You
you zip a PDF and you shrinks a great deal, then, well, frankly I'm at a
loss.

And about that compression: In another post you said than an inbound file
bloats when saved, but your original post would be valid for outbound. Do
files bloat in both directions? You send a 6 and your friend gets a 22?
Your friend sends you a 6 and you get a 22?

Finally, in any case, Acrobat's "reduce file size" command work well.

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Tim:

It occurs to me that if the "content" of that PDF were to be scanned
bitmaps, then it would indeed bloat up: to about 20 times its size, when
unpacked.

I guess the key question for the OP is "When it is expanded at the other
end, can the other user EDIT the file?"

I think we need to learn what exactly is in that thing...

Cheers

Something is wrong with this picture. A file that shows itself as some size
in your e-mail should not expand upon saving to disk. And also, compression,
if you mean zip, usually does not save a whole lot of space in a PDF. You
you zip a PDF and you shrinks a great deal, then, well, frankly I'm at a
loss.

And about that compression: In another post you said than an inbound file
bloats when saved, but your original post would be valid for outbound. Do
files bloat in both directions? You send a 6 and your friend gets a 22?
Your friend sends you a 6 and you get a 22?

Finally, in any case, Acrobat's "reduce file size" command work well.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[MichaelC via MacKB.com]

Thanks everyone. I'm going to test your suggestions and will let you know how
it turns out. At the very least I'll get a better feel for the scope of the
problem.

Tim, in answer to your question: No, it doesn't seem to bloat in reverse.
That said, the size limit on our e-mails means I simply can't send a 22 MB
file.

I must confess, it's all very frustrating.

Michael

 

[MichaelC via MacKB.com]

I stand corrected Tim!

I just inserted in an e-mail the document that was originally 6 MB, reads as
17 MB in my folder and which promptly bloated to 22 MB upon insertion. This
is the same file I originally quoted you, so I'm afraid I gave you a bum
steer. Even so, the case just curiouser.

Michel, I tried saving the picture files as both png and jpg rather than
simply cutting and pasting, but I'm afraid the quality is far too poor for my
purposes.

I'm quite new to macs but have never encountered a problem like this. It's
making work impossible.

Phillip, I haven't done as you suggested yet. I'll have to get on to my
editor as it's she who has the acrobat. You may be on to something here, and
it makes me think I might have to buy acrobat pro for my machine, rather than
relying on others.

Thanks everyone. I'm going to test your suggestions and will let you know how
it turns out. At the very least I'll get a better feel for the scope of the
problem.

Tim, in answer to your question: No, it doesn't seem to bloat in reverse.
That said, the size limit on our e-mails means I simply can't send a 22 MB
file.

I must confess, it's all very frustrating.

Michael
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]

Finally, in any case, Acrobat's "reduce file size" command work well.

 

[Rob Schneider]

MichaelC,

Like Tim, I feel something is wrong with this story. Can you please clarify

1. Someone sends you an email that when it leaves their desk, the
atttached file is 6 mb.

3. What is the format of this 6mb file? Word? PDF? Other?

3. You receive the file in email and without you doing anything to it
it "bloats" to 17 mb while still in email.

4. What is the format of this 17 mb file? Word? PDF? Other? What
program do you think converted it fom 6 to 17 mb?

5. What do you mean "insertion"? Inserting from where to where? What
was inserted into what? You inserted the 17mb PDF file into a Word file?

6. When you use Word exactly what steps do you go through to do what
you are doing?

--rms

www.rmschneider.com

I stand corrected Tim!

I just inserted in an e-mail the document that was originally 6 MB, reads as
17 MB in my folder and which promptly bloated to 22 MB upon insertion. This
is the same file I originally quoted you, so I'm afraid I gave you a bum
steer. Even so, the case just curiouser.

Michel, I tried saving the picture files as both png and jpg rather than
simply cutting and pasting, but I'm afraid the quality is far too poor for my
purposes.

I'm quite new to macs but have never encountered a problem like this. It's
making work impossible.

Phillip, I haven't done as you suggested yet. I'll have to get on to my
editor as it's she who has the acrobat. You may be on to something here, and
it makes me think I might have to buy acrobat pro for my machine, rather than
relying on others.

Thanks everyone. I'm going to test your suggestions and will let you know how
it turns out. At the very least I'll get a better feel for the scope of the
problem.

Tim, in answer to your question: No, it doesn't seem to bloat in reverse.
That said, the size limit on our e-mails means I simply can't send a 22 MB
file.

I must confess, it's all very frustrating.

Michael

In particular, when I save an emailed file the size bloats tremendously.
So, for example, a 6 MB pdf file suddenly becomes a 22MB pdf file. . . .

[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]

Finally, in any case, Acrobat's "reduce file size" command work well.

 

[MichaelC via MacKB.com]

Hi Rob,

Apologies if I've confused you.

1. Yes, the file attached to the incoming email is 6 mb.
2. The file is in PDF.
3. I find the file has 'bloated' to 17 mb once I've saved it. If I then try
to attach it to an outgoing email, it grows to 22mb. (Interestingly, a
different file, but with the same images, shrunk from 4.66 to about 3.5 mb
when I saved it to my folder!)
4. PDF. Other than the suggestions from you and others on this forum, I don't
know why it enlarges.
5. I'm sorry for confusing you here. I used "insert" when I should have said
"attach". When I attach the (now) 17 mb file is grows again to 22 mb.
6. I use Word to draft the document. I then send that word file to a
colleague who has a simple pdf tool (not sure which but I will ask). The pdf
version she then sends back to me is roughly 6 mb (see #1 above).

I hope this is clearer. (Part of the problem is that I am not especially IT
literate, as you may have guessed already.)

Michael

MichaelC,

Like Tim, I feel something is wrong with this story. Can you please clarify

1. Someone sends you an email that when it leaves their desk, the
atttached file is 6 mb.

3. What is the format of this 6mb file? Word? PDF? Other?

3. You receive the file in email and without you doing anything to it
it "bloats" to 17 mb while still in email.

4. What is the format of this 17 mb file? Word? PDF? Other? What
program do you think converted it fom 6 to 17 mb?

5. What do you mean "insertion"? Inserting from where to where? What
was inserted into what? You inserted the 17mb PDF file into a Word file?

6. When you use Word exactly what steps do you go through to do what
you are doing?

--rms

www.rmschneider.com

I stand corrected Tim!

[quoted text clipped - 31 lines]

[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
Finally, in any case, Acrobat's "reduce file size" command work well.

 

[Rob Schneider]

From what you say, I can only conclude the same as I did back on 10/10,
that since you say that the file goes from 6 mb to 17 when you "save it"
(presumably with your email program) that you email programe is flawed.
You also talk about how attaching the file causes it to grow.
Something in your email program is messing with the attachment file.
That is bad.

I don't think, based on the information you provide, that your issue has
much to do with Word. Your email program is flawed.

--rms

www.rmschneider.com

Hi Rob,

Apologies if I've confused you.

1. Yes, the file attached to the incoming email is 6 mb.
2. The file is in PDF.
3. I find the file has 'bloated' to 17 mb once I've saved it. If I then try
to attach it to an outgoing email, it grows to 22mb. (Interestingly, a
different file, but with the same images, shrunk from 4.66 to about 3.5 mb
when I saved it to my folder!)
4. PDF. Other than the suggestions from you and others on this forum, I don't
know why it enlarges.
5. I'm sorry for confusing you here. I used "insert" when I should have said
"attach". When I attach the (now) 17 mb file is grows again to 22 mb.
6. I use Word to draft the document. I then send that word file to a
colleague who has a simple pdf tool (not sure which but I will ask). The pdf
version she then sends back to me is roughly 6 mb (see #1 above).

I hope this is clearer. (Part of the problem is that I am not especially IT
literate, as you may have guessed already.)

Michael

MichaelC,

Like Tim, I feel something is wrong with this story. Can you please clarify

1. Someone sends you an email that when it leaves their desk, the
atttached file is 6 mb.

3. What is the format of this 6mb file? Word? PDF? Other?

3. You receive the file in email and without you doing anything to it
it "bloats" to 17 mb while still in email.

4. What is the format of this 17 mb file? Word? PDF? Other? What
program do you think converted it fom 6 to 17 mb?

5. What do you mean "insertion"? Inserting from where to where? What
was inserted into what? You inserted the 17mb PDF file into a Word file?

6. When you use Word exactly what steps do you go through to do what
you are doing?

--rms

www.rmschneider.com

I stand corrected Tim!

[quoted text clipped - 31 lines]

[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
Finally, in any case, Acrobat's "reduce file size" command work well.