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#1
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Word's file format bloat
This is more of a general Word topic, but it's most apparent when
dealing with tables. I've noticed that identically formatted (from the user's perspective) documents are much, MUCH larger when they're created in later versions of Word. If you have an installation of Word 97 handy, try this experiment: (1) In Word 97, start a blank document (2) Create a 10x50 (or whatever size) table, and fill each cell with the word "Test" (3) Save the document (4) Note the size of the document (5) Repeat steps 1-4 using Word 2003 instead In my test runs on various computers (including a couple with fresh installs), the Word 97 version weighed in at around 37KB. The Word 2003 version, however, was no smaller than 105KB! And yes, I have tried the standard laundry list of file-size reduction measures for Word 2003. Fast saves are disabled. The preview picture is disabled. Versioning is disabled. Track Changes is disabled. There are no embedded fonts, pictures, or objects. And I'm saving in the native .doc format. My question is this: are there any options left for reducing the file size while still using Word's native format(s)? Thanks! |
#2
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Among the other new bells and whistles that can be removed (though I don't
know how much they contribute to file bloat) are smart tags. The fact is that, when new features are introduced that have an effect on formatting (that is, things that make a difference in what you can actually do in a document as opposed to changes in the way you do it--new front ends to old functions), they will invariably require more "code" to describe in the binary file. -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. wrote in message oups.com... This is more of a general Word topic, but it's most apparent when dealing with tables. I've noticed that identically formatted (from the user's perspective) documents are much, MUCH larger when they're created in later versions of Word. If you have an installation of Word 97 handy, try this experiment: (1) In Word 97, start a blank document (2) Create a 10x50 (or whatever size) table, and fill each cell with the word "Test" (3) Save the document (4) Note the size of the document (5) Repeat steps 1-4 using Word 2003 instead In my test runs on various computers (including a couple with fresh installs), the Word 97 version weighed in at around 37KB. The Word 2003 version, however, was no smaller than 105KB! And yes, I have tried the standard laundry list of file-size reduction measures for Word 2003. Fast saves are disabled. The preview picture is disabled. Versioning is disabled. Track Changes is disabled. There are no embedded fonts, pictures, or objects. And I'm saving in the native .doc format. My question is this: are there any options left for reducing the file size while still using Word's native format(s)? Thanks! |
#3
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Word completely redesigned the 'table engine' between 97 and 2000,
presumably to deal with the complexities of rendering tables in HTML. And in practice, on recent computers with at least 20GB of hard disk, the extra 68kb for your table really doesn't matter very much. wrote in message oups.com... This is more of a general Word topic, but it's most apparent when dealing with tables. I've noticed that identically formatted (from the user's perspective) documents are much, MUCH larger when they're created in later versions of Word. If you have an installation of Word 97 handy, try this experiment: (1) In Word 97, start a blank document (2) Create a 10x50 (or whatever size) table, and fill each cell with the word "Test" (3) Save the document (4) Note the size of the document (5) Repeat steps 1-4 using Word 2003 instead In my test runs on various computers (including a couple with fresh installs), the Word 97 version weighed in at around 37KB. The Word 2003 version, however, was no smaller than 105KB! And yes, I have tried the standard laundry list of file-size reduction measures for Word 2003. Fast saves are disabled. The preview picture is disabled. Versioning is disabled. Track Changes is disabled. There are no embedded fonts, pictures, or objects. And I'm saving in the native .doc format. My question is this: are there any options left for reducing the file size while still using Word's native format(s)? Thanks! |
#4
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Hi Ben,
As Beth and Jezebel have mentioned the structure of MS Word was changed after Office 97, leaving behind the limited HTML capabilities provided by the add-in used since Word 6 to a more highly featured file format support capability including primary support use of 'HTML' through Edit=Paste. This article includes a small bit of the data stored with the Word 2000 change and since then Table styles usable in Word 2002 and 2003 have added more data that is stored. 24 bit color (16million choices)for text, for example vs the 16 colors in Word 97 is a tradeoff to file size as well as the ability to 'nest' tables so that a fairly simple web page could be imported into Word was another trade. http://support.microsoft.com/default...us;220564&FR=1 At the same time, Word's ability to compress embedded graphics in a document has improved among other features. You could get your test table document down to around 91,650 (Remove checks for everything in Tools=Options=Save that is 'embedded') but saving it as a Word webpage will jump to about 314,000 and Web Page 'filtered' to about 142,800 ========= wrote in message oups.com... This is more of a general Word topic, but it's most apparent when dealing with tables. I've noticed that identically formatted (from the user's perspective) documents are much, MUCH larger when they're created in later versions of Word. If you have an installation of Word 97 handy, try this experiment: (1) In Word 97, start a blank document (2) Create a 10x50 (or whatever size) table, and fill each cell with the word "Test" (3) Save the document (4) Note the size of the document (5) Repeat steps 1-4 using Word 2003 instead In my test runs on various computers (including a couple with fresh installs), the Word 97 version weighed in at around 37KB. The Word 2003 version, however, was no smaller than 105KB! And yes, I have tried the standard laundry list of file-size reduction measures for Word 2003. Fast saves are disabled. The preview picture is disabled. Versioning is disabled. Track Changes is disabled. There are no embedded fonts, pictures, or objects. And I'm saving in the native .doc format. My question is this: are there any options left for reducing the file size while still using Word's native format(s)? Thanks! -- Let us know if this helped you, Bob Buckland ?:-) MS Office System Products MVP *Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends* Office 2003 Editions explained http://www.microsoft.com/uk/office/editions.mspx |
#5
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Thank you Bob, Jezebel, and Suzanne for the prompt and very informative
replies. Jezebel wrote: And in practice, on recent computers with at least 20GB of hard disk, the extra 68kb for your table really doesn't matter very much. That's true when you're dealing with PCs. However, I'm working with a server application that handles hundreds of thousands of short Word documents, all of which rely on tables to varying degrees. Unfortunately, the server application is very strict about file size, and doesn't let users upload documents bigger than 200KB. In practice, even four pages worth of tables in Word 2000+ is enough to tip the scales... while the same document in Word 97 doesn't even come close to 100KB. Of course, the ideal solution would be to update the server application to either ease the file size restriction, or to use a different file format. I guess it's safe to assume that unless the app can be updated, users are stuck using Word 97 or reducing their table usage. I was hoping for some "table lite" or "Save as Word 97 doc" feature, but it doesn't look like there's such a thing. Thanks again for the replies. |
#6
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Hi Ben,
Unfortunately using the Tools=Options=Save choice to disable features not supported in Word 97 may actually increase the file size slightly in Word 2003 when using tables. Word 97 has been on the market 8+ years now. Counting the development and beta time it's close to being a decade old ======== "benc" wrote in message oups.com... ...I was hoping for some "table lite" or "Save as Word 97 doc" feature, but it doesn't look like there's such a thing. Thanks again for the replies. -- Let us know if this helped you, Bob Buckland ?:-) MS Office System Products MVP *Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends* Office 2003 Editions explained http://www.microsoft.com/uk/office/editions.mspx |
#7
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Just a thought - does setting the compatibility options to Word 97 make
things better or worse? -- Margaret Aldis - Microsoft Word MVP Syntagma partnership site: http://www.syntagma.co.uk Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.word.mvps.org "Bob Buckland ?:-)" 75214.226(At Beautiful Downtown)compuserve.com wrote in message ... Hi Ben, Unfortunately using the Tools=Options=Save choice to disable features not supported in Word 97 may actually increase the file size slightly in Word 2003 when using tables. Word 97 has been on the market 8+ years now. Counting the development and beta time it's close to being a decade old ======== "benc" wrote in message oups.com... ...I was hoping for some "table lite" or "Save as Word 97 doc" feature, but it doesn't look like there's such a thing. Thanks again for the replies. -- Let us know if this helped you, Bob Buckland ?:-) MS Office System Products MVP *Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends* Office 2003 Editions explained http://www.microsoft.com/uk/office/editions.mspx |
#8
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Sorry, no change... Following the directions in Ben's original post
after setting Word 97 compatibility, and disabling features introduced after Word 97, gave me a file of 104 KB -- nearly the same as Ben got. -- Regards, Jay Freedman Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org On Tue, 3 May 2005 21:20:19 +0100, "Margaret Aldis" wrote: Just a thought - does setting the compatibility options to Word 97 make things better or worse? -- Margaret Aldis - Microsoft Word MVP Syntagma partnership site: http://www.syntagma.co.uk Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.word.mvps.org "Bob Buckland ?:-)" 75214.226(At Beautiful Downtown)compuserve.com wrote in message ... Hi Ben, Unfortunately using the Tools=Options=Save choice to disable features not supported in Word 97 may actually increase the file size slightly in Word 2003 when using tables. Word 97 has been on the market 8+ years now. Counting the development and beta time it's close to being a decade old ======== "benc" wrote in message oups.com... ...I was hoping for some "table lite" or "Save as Word 97 doc" feature, but it doesn't look like there's such a thing. Thanks again for the replies. -- Let us know if this helped you, Bob Buckland ?:-) MS Office System Products MVP *Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends* Office 2003 Editions explained http://www.microsoft.com/uk/office/editions.mspx |
#9
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Hi Margaret,
It can increase the file size It can also decrease the file size. There seems to be a connection there with the last table resizing done by Table=Autofit. FWIW, changing the setting in Tools=Options=Save, to not use features available after Word 97, should generally also reset the compatability options to that level. I did achieve a very 'small' file size by opening the document in Windows Wordpad then saving it from there as a Word 6 .doc file. Only 14K g It removed everything but the Word 'test' repeated over and over. From within Word 2003 if I saved the file as Word 6 .doc format the size drops to 21K. The table comes up in a frame when reopened that needs to be removed. ============== "Margaret Aldis" wrote in message ... Just a thought - does setting the compatibility options to Word 97 make things better or worse? -- Margaret Aldis - Microsoft Word MVP -- Let us know if this helped you, Bob Buckland ?:-) MS Office System Products MVP *Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends* Office 2003 Editions explained http://www.microsoft.com/uk/office/editions.mspx |
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