Reducing size of Microsoft Word file?

Question

I have read every "help" source I can find so far and not found an answer to my question. I have created a word document which is a template for a book - it is not saved as a .dotx file, just a .docx. It contains some introductory text and illustrations, and a lot of empty space in a formatted heading layout for information to be pasted and photos to be inserted. The "empty" document is 1.2 MB, of which the illustrations are 1.1 MB. The full collection of 33 photos (JPEG files) to be inserted is 2.8 MB - average photo size is 85 KB. Once the text is pasted in to fill the empy space, the file is 1.4 MB (this includes the original 1.2 MB of the template file). When the 2.8 MB of photos are added, the file is 39.4 MB. How can that be, when the individual elements of the file total about 3.2 MB? All the photos have been compressed. What else can I do to reduce the size of the file?

Answer 1

How are you adding the images? Are you using the Insert Picture command or are you copying and pasting? When you copy and paste, the image can lose compression, change file type and also bring in other data that can increase file size.

You also mentioned that you are pasting in the text. The same might apply if there's a lot of text formatting. The more manual or direct formatting you use in a Word document, the larger it will become. You might want to clear all of the formatting before you paste it into the document and then apply styles, which take a lot less space.

If you try these tips and the file is still too large, try saving it as an RTF file and then opening it again. Now save it as a docx file and see if that makes a difference.