Word File size jumped

Until September 6, my 1200-page book's file size was about 6500 kb. (All text except for one b/w line drawing map.) In the next version, having made only small changes, the file size jumped to about 13,000 kb. The page numbers shown in the TOC's before and after 9/6 are almost the same. Layouts, margins, fonts, table counts, etc. all the same.

Any ideas?

Thank you.

Steve

If you've activated 'Track Changes', you'll now how copies of whatever has been deleted, plus whatever's been added. Accepting all changes (via the Ribbon's Review tab) and switching off Track Changes should fix that.

Reinserting the b/w line drawing map could increase the file size if the new one is higher resolution or hasn't been compressed in Word the same as the original.

Saving in the .doc format is also liable to result in an increased file size. if you've done that, save it back to the docx format.

Importing content from other sources, with different Styles or Style definitions, or overriding paragraph Styles with hard formatting can also increase the file size.

Updating all references (via Ctrl-A, F9) then saving can also reduce file size.

As you can see, numerous factors can account for significant changes in file size.

Cheers
Paul Edstein
(Fmr MS MVP - Word)

1 person found this reply helpful

·

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

Just as suddenly, the file size went down to about 9500 KB. And when I switched to Word 2013, it reduced further to about 7100 KB, near what it was before it started changing. Word works in mysterious ways.
sbg

1 person found this reply helpful

·

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

Oddly enough, preference settings can have a huge influence over document file size. Two I can think of right off the bat is having Allow background saves checked, and saving documents with "Save Thumbnails" checked. I've had docs increase 3 times their size just from these two settings.

3 people found this reply helpful

·

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

If you converted it from a .doc to a .docx, the reduction in size is not surprising since the XML file format is much more compact.
Microsoft MVP (Word) since 1999
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://ssbarnhill.com
http://wordfaqs.ssbarnhill.com
Screen shots captured with TechSmith's Snagit

1 person found this reply helpful

·

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

"Save Thumbnails" (and, in previous versions, "Save preview picture") will definitely result in file bloat. I've never seen background saves indicted as a cause. The traditional "causes of file bloat" were:

  1. Fast Saves: Disable this on the Save tab of Tools | Options. This one was eliminated many versions ago.
  2. Preview Picture: Clear the check box on the Summary tab of File | Properties. This is the equivalent of the current Thumbnails.
  3. Versions (File | Versions): Make sure "Automatically save version on close" is not turned on. Versioning was also eliminated several versions back.
  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. This one is still a problem (though the path to eliminate markup is different). 
  5. Keep track of formatting (Tools | Options | Edit): This is reportedly a major cause of file bloat in Word 2002 and above. I have no evidence of whether it matters in recent versions.
  6. Embedded True Type fonts (Tools | Options | Save): Embedding fonts should be avoided wherever possible. This is still true.
  7. Embedded linguistic data (Tools | Options | Save). Possibly still an issue.
  8. 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. This is still true, but documents with linked graphics are less portable.
  9. Embedded objects: These are even worse than ordinary graphics saved with the document. If you see an { EMBED } code when you press Alt+F9, the graphic is an OLE object. Unless you need to be able to edit the object in place, unlink it using Ctrl+Shift+F9. Still valid.
  10. 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. As noted, .docx files will be smaller than the corresponding .doc format.
Microsoft MVP (Word) since 1999
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://ssbarnhill.com
http://wordfaqs.ssbarnhill.com
Screen shots captured with TechSmith's Snagit

7 people found this reply helpful

·

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn't help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

 
 

Question Info


Last updated February 26, 2024 Views 9,448 Applies to: