PowerPoint File Size Fluctuates Dramatically

  • Thread starter Thread starter Matt
  • Start date Start date
M

Matt

Hi,

I've been creating PowerPoint presentations using
PowerPoint 2002 on a laptop running Windows 2000
Professional Edition and have noticed that the size of my
PPT file varies significantly each time I save. Sometimes
the file is over 2 MB and other times the file is only
just over 1 MB and this is without making major changes to
the document. Also, if I just save the document and do
nothing else to it, the size will increase by over 100 KB,
which makes no sense to me. Is this a problem with
PowerPoint or is this just how it works?

- Matt
 
Definitely take Bill's advice, Fast Saves can and will inflate/deflate the
size of a presentation dramatically.

You see (groans from various people around the news group) ...

Fast Saves was created (my best guess) to reduce the time it takes to save a
file to the hard drive (hence the name). This option allows the user's
computer to 'add-on' any changes to the existing PPT file and therefore save
to the hard drive only the modifications (as an appendix). Since 'No
modifacations' seems to be a valid entry, the file size increases even with
no changes. Therefore, deleted slides, changed text, moved pictures or
modified animations will all increase file size.

There is a trigger, that I do not pretend to comprehend, that tells
PowerPoint to clean house. It will get rid of the deleted stuff and save
only the actual slides and information (an active working copy). When this
happens, the file size will be smaller. If you have made a lot of changes
or changed large items, the file size may be far, far smaller. This
sometimes can be forced by using Save As .... and entering a new file name.

Overall, this is a helpful feature that is best turned off.


B
 
Thanks Bill and B! I thought maybe there was something
wrong with my PowerPoint app. I turned off Fast Saves and
the size of one of my files shrunk in half. What a
difference! Also, I tried saving again afterwards and the
file size remained the size. Now that's what should be
the default option :)

- Matt
 
Glad to hear! Now, just remember that since you have turned off "Fast
saves", you be saving a lot slower so you will need to save more often! HA!
(sorry, couldn't resist).

Glad it worked for you!

Bill Foley
www.pttinc.com
 
If you think the default should be off, tell Microsoft that. Make sure you
include the business reason, in your own words. You can pass along your
comments via the MS Wish interface at:
http://register.microsoft.com/mswish/suggestion.asp

As John L frequently says:
As with all product suggestions, it's important that you not just state
your wish but also WHY it is important to you that your product suggestion
be implemented by Microsoft. Microsoft receives thousands of product
suggestions every day and we read each one but, in any given product
development cycle, there are only sufficient resources to address the ones
that are most important to our customers so take the extra time to state
your case as clearly and completely as possible.

IMPORTANT: Each submission should be a single suggestion (not a list of
suggestions)


--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft PPT MVP
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There is a trigger, that I do not pretend to comprehend, that tells
PowerPoint to clean house.
Click to expand...

ISTR that PPT cleans up when the amount of tacked on stuff (changes) reaches a
certain percentage of the file size. 50% maybe?

Easier to turn it off and make it a known quantity.
 
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