Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Compress Word Files (by up to 70%)

If you are going to send many large Word files by email, I have some tips to share with you to cut down on their file size.


1) Use "Insert Picture"

Go to Insert > Picture > From File and select the picture you want to add. Never copy and paste the picture from elsewhere. This will cut as much as 90% off the file size.


2) Use JPEG format instead of BMP

If you encounter a BMP picture file that you need to insert into your presentation, go to Start > Programs > Accessories > Paint. Open the file in question, and select "save as". Click on the "save as type" and select JPEG. This should greatly reduce the file size and result in a smaller PowerPoint file.


3) Compress Pictures

Go to File > Save As > Tools > Compress Pictures, tick "compress pictures" and "delete cropped areas of pictures".

Unless you intend to make high resolution copies of the document, go to "Change Resolution" and select "Web / Screen".

Press OK and save the document. This has a huge effect on the file size if you are using very high resolution photos or illustrations.


4) Turn off "Fast Save"

Under Tools > Options > Save > Save Options, untick "Allow fast saves".


5) Use compressed folders (a.k.a ZIP files)

Right click on the Word file and select "Send To" > "Compressed (zipped) Folder".

I have seen a 1 megabyte Word document shrink by 70% of its size. This difference is very significant to the around 20% to 30% of the people still using dial-up access.


6) Remove preview picture

Under File > Properties > Summary, untick "Save Preview Picture". This saves a small amount of space.


7) Save in Microsoft Word 95 format

If you have only a plain English Word document without any pictures or advanced features, you can reduce the file size by half if you use this advice.

Under the Save As option, select "Word 6.0/95 (*.doc)". You may get a security warning but it is generally safe to save the file.


Warning: This format will create gibberish with non-English documents, will cause any unsupported features to be lost and greatly increase the file size if you have pictures.

It is best to save another copy in Word 95 format, close Word, and then open the document again to see if it has any adverse effects.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi there. Came across your page and I found the Microsoft Office add-in below worked miracles for me! 15x reduction in filesize!

"Office 2003/XP Add-in: Remove Hidden Data"

Unknown said...

YES, thanks for that.
Re: Office 2003/XP Add-in: Remove Hidden Data

Anonymous said...

Thanks very much for that very helpful

Anonymous said...

Very useful. Many thanks to you. My 6MB file I could manage to reduce to a 600kB file, just by re inserting the 12 pics I had in it, through "insert picture".

ASHIM said...

THANK YOU VERY MUCH....

adpatel36 said...

love this post. how do i compress pics in microsoft word that doesn't give me the save as then tools option...?

Eric said...

adpatel36: If you are using Word 2007, firstly select a picture. The Picture Tools > Format ribbon will appear. You will find "Compress Pictures" in the upper left corner, next to the Brightness button.

Flick said...

Lifesaver! Thank you!

Anonymous said...

Wow ! My Girlfired request me to help her compress a file which was 60MB. I just your post and used insert option by removing 4 pictures in it. Thats it !!, it came down to 2.4 MB :) !!She is impressed! Thanks a ton to ur post !

Anonymous said...

Lol wish i could impress mygf with compressing word docs

Abidawud said...

Thank you, my word file reduce from 22 MB to 2 MB