increasing file size

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Guest

Two scenarios - one issue:

Occurs in both Office XP on Windows XP SP2 and Office 2K3 on W2k SP4

(1) Files grow considerably every time you save a Powerpoint document - I've
disabled the "allow fast saves" option but this makes no difference.

(2) If you take two small ppt files (I've done this with a 154kb file and a
271kb file) and copy the slides from one document into the other and save the
new document then this new file becomes 12MB however many times you save or
save as it.

With either of these scenarios if you drag the slides to a new ppt document
then it returns to being a reasonable size but it doesn't carry all the
formatting with it (typically font sizes increase) which is not much good to
have to do this in the first place but especially if you have to reformat the
entire document.

It seems to be saving revisions or something. I've changed undo levels down
from 20 to 5 but this makes no difference either.

So how can I:
(a) Stop this happening?
(b) Compact the files that have already grown to 20 to 30 MB when they
should be less than 1MB?

Any ideas anyone?

Thank you.
 
Have a look here, particularly at the info about presentations that are being
circulated for review:

Why are my PowerPoint files so big? What can I do about it?
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00062.htm

If that helps, but only a little, it might be the result of a review gone
haywire; I've seen one example where the presentation contained something like
seven copies of itself for review. If that's the case, there may be a fix.
 
Steve,

Thanks very much - very interesting.

With the review thing - I think this may well be the case because when you
try to save the document (with the copied slides) as a new document it takes
ages to save and then asks if you want "your changes to be marked as
revisions" - even if you say "No" it's still a huge file. Anyway you say
there "may be a fix" - do you know the fix is?

Thanks very much...

Mike
 
Steve,

Thanks very much - very interesting.

With the review thing - I think this may well be the case because when you
try to save the document (with the copied slides) as a new document it takes
ages to save and then asks if you want "your changes to be marked as
revisions" - even if you say "No" it's still a huge file. Anyway you say
there "may be a fix" - do you know the fix is?
Click to expand...

It's fairly simple so I've added it to the same page:

Why are my PowerPoint files so big? What can I do about it?
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00062.htm

Short version, run this to make all the shapes on the slide and title master visible
so you can examine and delete any that don't seem to belong.

Sub ShowAllMasterShapes()

Dim oSh As Shape

For Each oSh In ActivePresentation.SlideMaster.Shapes
oSh.Visible = msoTrue
Next
If ActivePresentation.HasTitleMaster Then
For Each oSh In ActivePresentation.TitleMaster.Shapes
oSh.Visible = msoTrue
Next
End If

End Sub
 
Steve,

Thanks again.

Mike

Steve Rindsberg said:
It's fairly simple so I've added it to the same page:

Why are my PowerPoint files so big? What can I do about it?
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00062.htm

Short version, run this to make all the shapes on the slide and title master visible
so you can examine and delete any that don't seem to belong.

Sub ShowAllMasterShapes()

Dim oSh As Shape

For Each oSh In ActivePresentation.SlideMaster.Shapes
oSh.Visible = msoTrue
Next
If ActivePresentation.HasTitleMaster Then
For Each oSh In ActivePresentation.TitleMaster.Shapes
oSh.Visible = msoTrue
Next
End If

End Sub


-----------------------------------------
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================
Click to expand...
 
Steve,

I tried both of these vb scripts and neither of them do anything! The remove
the checkmark next to "Add properties to attachments to enable Reply with
Changes" in Outlook makes no difference either.

Is there no way to definitively turn off the revisioning feature?

Thanks very much...
 
I tried both of these vb scripts and neither of them do anything!
Click to expand...

That's possible ... if the presentation wasn't sent for review in PPT
originally, then the macros wouldn't do anything. They only address one or
two possible causes of file monstrosity. Still, after running the second
one did you check the Slide Master for odd shapes that shouldn't be there
ordinarily?
The remove
the checkmark next to "Add properties to attachments to enable Reply with
Changes" in Outlook makes no difference either.

Is there no way to definitively turn off the revisioning feature?
Click to expand...

It sounds as though revision tracking isn't the culprit in this case.

I doubt my mailbox would suck up 12mb but if you can post it on a web or
FTP site someplace and email me a link, I'd be happy to have a look. Email
to steve at sign pptools dot com

Thanks very much...

MF said:
Steve,

Thanks again.

Mike

Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Aha, we have a bingo.

Mike sent me two of the files in question. Both were little things, well under
200k each. I opened the first, chose Insert, Slides From File to bring in the
slides from the second and it happened like a shot.

Then when I tried to save, PPT stopped responding. Or so it appeared. After a
few tries and a few trips through Task Manager, I decided to let it chug for a
while, and sure enough, given time, the two mice gave birth to an elephant.
The saved file was a good 12mb and counting.

I've updated this to explain it:
Why are my PowerPoint files so big? What can I do about it?
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00062.htm

To save a trip there, here's the deal:

Both files were set to save with fonts embedded, but only to embed Used
Characters. The second file, the one I inserted into the first, used Arial
Unicode MS, but was small because of the Used Characters setting.

When you insert one file into another like this, and later check the TT embed
options, you find that it's now set to Embed All Characters. With Arial
Unicode MS, that's a LOT or characters. The font itself is 22.7mb but is
apparently compressed within the PPT file. In any case, it's what accounts for
the elephantinosity.

It makes sense for PPT to do this, I think; consider: I insert slides from
one file into another. Either or both may have a font embedded, and I may also
intend to insert more slides from other files and then add or edit text. In
short, PPT has no way of knowing what characters will be used in the final
file, so it needs to bring the entire embedded font along.

It'd be nice if we got a warning when this ends up fully embedding a font of
more than say 200k, but other than that, it's reasonable behavior, IMO.

In any case, the fix is easy:

Once done inserting slides and editing, do Tools, Options, choose the Save Tab
and set PPT back to embedding Used Characters Only; then resave the file and
watch PPT squeeze all the air out of it again. ;-)

Thanks again for sending the files along, Mike.
 
WOOO...

I just select the used font and my file size squeezes from 20MB to 2MB...

Why I spent so much time to go thought "Do this before using powerpoint
seriously", "Why are my powerpoint file so big"... and go thought so many
forums, website, and download so many add-ins, optimizer, updates...

What's a crazy world.
 
It is indeed!

Angus said:
WOOO...

I just select the used font and my file size squeezes from 20MB to 2MB...

Why I spent so much time to go thought "Do this before using powerpoint
seriously", "Why are my powerpoint file so big"... and go thought so many
forums, website, and download so many add-ins, optimizer, updates...

What's a crazy world.
Click to expand...
 
Steve,

This entire post was very enlightening, but I have a question regarding
using the WhosOnBase VBA code at the link you provided. Rather than having to
paste this code into every PPT file I wanted to check, I followed the
instructions at this link to add a toolbar with a button that executes the
WhosOnBase macro. http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00031.htm

Here is the problem: when I manually insert WhosOnBase in a module as part
of the PPT file in question, it runs fine and eliminates the additional file
size. When I try to execute WhosOnBase by clicking on the toolbar I created,
it does not run. How can I get it to run correctly with the button as opposed
to having to re-paste it in each PPT file I want to check?

FYI - I also put the ShowAllMasterShapes code on a button on the same
toolbar and it executes just fine.

Thanks,
Bob
 
Steve,

This entire post was very enlightening, but I have a question regarding
using the WhosOnBase VBA code at the link you provided. Rather than having to
paste this code into every PPT file I wanted to check, I followed the
instructions at this link to add a toolbar with a button that executes the
WhosOnBase macro. http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00031.htm

Here is the problem: when I manually insert WhosOnBase in a module as part
of the PPT file in question, it runs fine and eliminates the additional file
size. When I try to execute WhosOnBase by clicking on the toolbar I created,
it does not run. How can I get it to run correctly with the button as opposed
to having to re-paste it in each PPT file I want to check?

FYI - I also put the ShowAllMasterShapes code on a button on the same
toolbar and it executes just fine.
Click to expand...

Hard to say, but try using View, Toolbars, Customize to delete the toolbar then
restart PPT. The addin should re-create the toolbar and buttons.

If you'd already run the button creation code from within a PPT file rather than an
add-in, the buttons would refer back to the PPT file for the code.
 
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