Huge document mystery

  • Thread starter Thread starter Paul MR
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Paul MR

Word 2000. I have a document that is all text as far as I know -- no
fancy formatting or pictures for sure. It is almost four single-spaced
pages, but its size is 9420KB! I scanned the document for viruses;
nothing. I selected the entire text and pasted it into a blank
document, but the new document is also 9416KB. What can I do to locate
and eliminate whatever is making this document so big? Possible clue:
most of the document was typed but on a couple of paragraphs I was
testing the speech recognition.
Paul in San Francisco
 
Therse are "some" of the things that can cause a bloated file:

1) Fast Saves (Tools/Options/Save)
2) Preview Picture (File/Properties)
3) Versions (File/Versions) Make sure "Automatically save version on
close" is not turned on
4) Revisions (Tools/Track Changes)
Highlight Changes: Make sure "Highlight changes on screen is
turned on"
Accept/Reject Changes: If "Accept All" or "Reject All" is
available then revisions are present.
5) Embedded True Type fonts (Tools/Options/Save)"

Address any that may pertain to the file in question & it should reduce the
file size.

You might also try copying all but the *last ¶* & pasting into a new blank
doc.

If you're really desperate (with time on your hands) you can copy/paste half
the doc at a time into new files & keep cutting in half until you isolate
the cause.
 
There are a number of reasons for excessive file size, including:

1. Fast Saves: Disable this at on the Save tab of Tools | Options.

2. Preview Picture: Clear the check box on the Summary tab of File |
Properties.

3. Versions (File | Versions): Make sure "Automatically save version on
close" is not turned on.

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.

5. Keep track of formatting (Tools | Options | Edit). This is reportedly a
major cause of file bloat in Word 2002 and above.

6. Embedded True Type fonts (Tools | Options | Save); embedding fonts should
be avoided wherever possible.

7. 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.

8. Embedded objects: These are even worse than ordinary graphics saved with
the document. If you see an { EMBED } code, the graphic is an OLE object.
Unless you need to be able to edit the object in place, unlink it using
Ctrl+Shift+F9.

9. 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.

10. Document corruption: See
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/AppErrors/CorruptDoc.htm.


--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
Solved. Thanks Bob and Suzanne. Your suggestions led me to the
solution. I unchecked "Embed linguistic data" -- whatever that is -- in
tools | options | save. The document is back to normal size.

Paul in San Francisco
 
Sheesh! Another one to add to the list.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
I knew there had to be a reason why I always unchecked that on installation!

Terry
 
I don't know that I've ever seen it checked, but perhaps I've also unchecked
it without thinking.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
Curious - I've never had reason to tamper with that option, but I just
looked on this installation - where I "know" it hasn't been changed - and
it's apparently checked by default.
 
If you're not using Speech Recognition or Handwriting Recognition, it's
undoubtedly safe to clear it. The KB article "Frequently asked questions
about the speech recognition feature for Office"
(http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=826853), includes the following question
and answer:

Why is the file size of my document so large after I save it?

There are two options that save information in your Word document and
increase the file size of the document: the Save Speech Data option and the
Embed linguistic data option.

The Save Speech Data option saves speech recognition input for recognition
processing and corrections. To turn off this option, click Speech Tools on
the Language bar, and then click to clear the Save Speech Data check box.
The next time that you save your Word document, this data is removed from
your Word document.

The Embed linguistic data option affects both speech recognition and
handwriting recognition. The Embed linguistic data option can cause you to
lose conversion information about non-ink objects. This means that
handwriting that appears as text in the document becomes text without
handwriting or speech attributes that permit conversion or correction. Also,
speech data is a subset of the linguistic data. This means that if you turn
off the Embed linguistic data option, you cannot save speech data for
recognized text. However, handwriting information is retained. To turn off
this option, click Options on the Tools menu. On the Save tab, click to
clear the Embed linguistic data check box, and then click OK.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
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