I am writing a style guide for our company. I am using Styles to control each
of the elements in the document because that's what we want to encourage our
users to do. However, my 11 page document has grown to over 55mb in size with
only a few, small images inserted so far. Are the styles making the file so
huge?

I am also noticing a severe reduction in response when I change a line of
text's formatting. It takes several minutes for certain formats to take
effect. My machine is otherwise powerful with plenty of memory and processing
power (I use it for graphics and such all the time without any performance
loss).

Last, and I have had an answer to this before but can't find it now, when I
tell Word to make some paragraphs bulleted (by first highlighting the
paragraphs then selecting the Style), a couple of minutes pass while Word is
doing something and suddenly my whole document is bulleted. When I hit CTRL+Z
it undoes all the bulleting except for the items I wanted bulleted in the
first place. Worse yet, all my Styles get changed along with it.

I am used to working with CSS for web sites. Is there a similar way to
program the style sheet separately from the document and not have it
automatically update globally in my document like this? I am trying to use as
few Styles as possible for the sake of our users.

Any suggestions/replies, much appreciated!

The specific issue you describe is addressed in
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting...eformatted.htm. As for
the rest, 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 Pictu 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. Embedded True Type fonts (Tools | Options | Save); embedding fonts should
be avoided wherever possible.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

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


--
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.

"Geoff Tucker" wrote in message
...
I am writing a style guide for our company. I am using Styles to control
each
of the elements in the document because that's what we want to encourage
our
users to do. However, my 11 page document has grown to over 55mb in size
with
only a few, small images inserted so far. Are the styles making the file
so
huge?

I am also noticing a severe reduction in response when I change a line of
text's formatting. It takes several minutes for certain formats to take
effect. My machine is otherwise powerful with plenty of memory and
processing
power (I use it for graphics and such all the time without any performance
loss).

Last, and I have had an answer to this before but can't find it now, when
I
tell Word to make some paragraphs bulleted (by first highlighting the
paragraphs then selecting the Style), a couple of minutes pass while Word
is
doing something and suddenly my whole document is bulleted. When I hit
CTRL+Z
it undoes all the bulleting except for the items I wanted bulleted in the
first place. Worse yet, all my Styles get changed along with it.

I am used to working with CSS for web sites. Is there a similar way to
program the style sheet separately from the document and not have it
automatically update globally in my document like this? I am trying to use
as
few Styles as possible for the sake of our users.

Any suggestions/replies, much appreciated!

Thanks for the answer. That seems to have solved the problems mostly.

I updated the various settings you indicated. Also, I noticed that many of
the Styles I had created as "automatically update" checked, which I think I
did, thinking that it meant "update the document when the style is updated"
but in reading your tutorial I now see it has a cascade/loop effect on the
document instead.

And I printed your page about Undo and Update Styles so I won't forget again


Thanks again!

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

The specific issue you describe is addressed in
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting...eformatted.htm. As for
the rest, 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 Pictu 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. Embedded True Type fonts (Tools | Options | Save); embedding fonts should
be avoided wherever possible.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

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


--
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.

"Geoff Tucker" wrote in message
...
I am writing a style guide for our company. I am using Styles to control
each
of the elements in the document because that's what we want to encourage
our
users to do. However, my 11 page document has grown to over 55mb in size
with
only a few, small images inserted so far. Are the styles making the file
so
huge?

I am also noticing a severe reduction in response when I change a line of
text's formatting. It takes several minutes for certain formats to take
effect. My machine is otherwise powerful with plenty of memory and
processing
power (I use it for graphics and such all the time without any performance
loss).

Last, and I have had an answer to this before but can't find it now, when
I
tell Word to make some paragraphs bulleted (by first highlighting the
paragraphs then selecting the Style), a couple of minutes pass while Word
is
doing something and suddenly my whole document is bulleted. When I hit
CTRL+Z
it undoes all the bulleting except for the items I wanted bulleted in the
first place. Worse yet, all my Styles get changed along with it.

I am used to working with CSS for web sites. Is there a similar way to
program the style sheet separately from the document and not have it
automatically update globally in my document like this? I am trying to use
as
few Styles as possible for the sake of our users.

Any suggestions/replies, much appreciated!