Increasing File Size

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I have a 120 page Word documents with graphics (pasted as pictures), the file size has balooned to 43MB. If I copy the file content and paste it into another document the file size decreases to 1.MB. Does anybody know what is happening here?

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Hi Jackie:

Could it be that you have Tools/Options/Save/Fast Saves ticked? If so, turn it off!! It will cause document corruption & slow you down eventually.

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Here’s a couple of additional possibilities.

What version of Word are you using? I think internally Word 95 changes the type of graphics to bitmaps(bmp) even if you put in a jpg and gif. I think Word 97 & 2000 internally save as PNG.

Also, if you are saving the document as Word 97/6.0/95, it saves it as a dual file format. i.e. The file size about doubles since it’s really saving it as Word 95 and Word 97/2000 in the same document.

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Thanks All

But I’m using Office2000 without fast saves. I’ve been reviewing the Office website and can find anything related to pictures. However, I’ve seem issues similar to this when OLE is used. I think somehow Word is not saving the file correctly – maybe not purging old edits. I know this file has been copied several times.

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Bloat has been around for a while. It occurs in tempaltes too, where each edit session seems to increase the file. I suspect that there is still a great deal of code in Word that marks text as deleted (thereby leaving it in place) without physically reclaiming the space.

You may be able to identify YOUR culprit by tabulation of the typical file that suffers bloat. e.g. perhaps it occurs often in files with many graphics, or in files that are exchanged between users, and so on.

A simnple fix ought to be to start a new document based on the OLD document and then save it over the old document. This technique ought to obtain all the template-like characteristics and all the text. I’m not sure whether Word would copy the entire document (thereby copying all the residual blaot) or whether it would obtain just the “live” stuff, leaving the flotsam behind.

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Hi Chris,

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This only applies to Fast Saves. A Fast Save simply merges changes to the file.

If Fast Saves are not enabled then during a Save the file is completely re-written.

See http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/ar…s/Q197/9/78.ASP (or type mskb 197978 in your Address bar) for more information.
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Cheers!

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>> type mskb 197978 in your Address bar..

. . . that didn’t work for me – ‘No Documents Found’

However, typing ‘Q197978’ brought up the KB article as first choice (default MSN search).

Interesting approach, though

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Hi Leif,

This is a relatively new method of obtaining KB articles since MS did away with the automated MS Help email service: mshelp@microsoft.com, so who knows if all of the “bugs” are worked out.

I heard that the results might be different if you are outside the US. Another thing to check is to see if you have MSN set as a search provider in Search/Customize/Autosearch Settings.

Also, under “When searching” if you have “Just go to the most likely site” selected you will jump to the KB article immediately.
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Cheers!

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Hi BAM:

I tried it too, using IE5.5. Typing mskb197978 brings up page cannot be displayed message. And I set the search settings to go to the most likely site & I’m in California (which is still in the U.S. unless there’s been a recent earthquake that I missed).

Oh, & the little box says “brought to you by MSN search”. Oh well…

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Hi Phil,
Did you go into Customize and then “AutoSearch Settings” and verify that MSN is the Search Provider?

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Hi BAM:
Yep. And changed the setting from “just display results” to “go to most likely site”. Maybe it’s the Network, although I have no trouble going there directly.

It just changes to “http:///? MSKB197978” & gives that message.

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Hi Phil,

Did you include a space between mskb and 197978?

Also, what happens if you change MSN to RealNames?

It worked fine for me on the first try. However I’m starting to think that this may not be as useful as MS thinks since there are those who are having difficulty with it…

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Hi BAM:
Uuh, no I didn’t include a space between mskb & the number–but I made that change & tried again. No dice. And I’m not familiar with “RealNames”. Where is that setting?

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Hi Phil,

It’s in the list of Search Providers in the Autosearch Settings of the Search/Customize.

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Dear All

Managed to figure it out, it wasn’t track changes as someone suggest, but it was close to that. Turns out it was Versioning. Someone during the lifecyle of this file had turned on “Automatically save a version on close”.

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Jackie – I tried to find the versioning you refer to in Options, but can’t. Please, where is it?

WHOOPS – JUST FOUND IT IN FILE/VERSIONS, butit wasn’t turned on in my case.

This has become a real pain, since my editor has not been able to download and Track Changes in the original i sent. He can only get the PDF version.

Thanks, Michael

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OK: I took a 100K jpg and inserted it into an empty word file. It came in at 5 Megs.

I took all the pics out of my 22 page 10 picture report that weighed in at 30 megs, and not it’s 80K.

What does Word do to pictures?

Michael

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Are you sure you’re not saving in RTF (rich text) format? RTF files are fantastically large compared with Word documents. Case in point: user yesterday could not send a 27MB document by email; turned out it was an RTF masquerading as a .doc that shrank down to 800K after a re-save in Word document format. Culprit: CompareWrite. YMMV.

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Not RTF – even tried saving the same thing in RTF to see what would happen, and it was even larger.

It seems as if it is the jpg conversion.
Michael

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Hi Michael,

Did you try saving the RTF back to a Word file type? If the size is due to corruption, saving it as RTF and then back again may take care of the problem.

Also, what steps are you using to insert the images?
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Cheers!

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Just tried that, and the RTF file went to 124Meg, then back down to the original 30Meg.

As for importing the jpgs, I’ve been dragging and dropping and then re-sizing in the word file. I’ll experiment with other ways.

Thanks,
Michael

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Well, well, well. Thank you all. here’s what I’ve discovered:
1] Using Insert Picture/File dramatically reduces the size making it something very close to the actual file size. The jpgs I’ve been saving in solo files to test are coming in at 110 or so K.

2] Re-sizing *before* inserting means that you are not being chrged for the original zie, only the compact size. I tried using more compression and sizing down to 4×3″ and ended up with a file size of 30K.

Hopefully, this will work when I re-insert the graphics.

Thanks again, and especially to BAM for pointing me in the right direction. Nowif only MS could fix this drag and drop problem!
Michael

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Hi Michael,

The fact that the file size did not decrease when you saved back again from an RTF file type, means that the actual content is making up the file size so that means the bulk is in the images.

When you use Insert/Picture, the image is converted to a MS Office Drawing Object and is no longer a jpeg, thus decreasing the image size.

If you use Insert/Object or drag/drop then original source of the image is maintained and you have an OLE object thus the larger image size.

If the resolution of the image looks then using Insert/Picture is the best method.

My other suggestion after reading your previous post was to reduce the size of the image prior to inserting them, since Word still maintains the physical file size of the image regardless of the visible image size, but you discovered that one already.
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Cheers!

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Final Report
I now have a reasonable sized file at 450K which includes about 10 graphics, mostly jpegs. I re-sized them in the photo software and inserted them using Insert-Picture.

I have to say that this Lounge has been a great help. Thanks to all.
Michael

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Hi BAM:

It works on my home computer, but not on the one at work. Obviously, it’s affected by some settings. I’ll have to look at the differences. Thanks for the info.

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Hi Phil,

If you do find the difference between the two, I’d be interested in the information.

Although I can’t see where using this method would be beneficial to all users, since you need to know the KB number. But for those who pull them off of TechNet or other means it is a useful tool.
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Cheers!

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Hi Jackie,

Have you verified that Track Changes is not turned on? Take a look in your Status Bar and if TRK is in bold then that is the culprit.

To turn off Track Changes, double-click TRK in the Status bar. You will also need to go to Tools/Track Changes/Accept or Reject Changes and Accept All.

If this isn’t it, then you may want to try saving the document as RTF or HTML and then back to a Word format again. The increase in file size can be an indicator that your document is on the verge of becoming corrupt, and saving it as RTF or HTML can decrease that chance.
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Cheers!

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