Bloated Word doc?

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

Mike Bradley wondered: <<How many ways can Word expand the size of a 
document beyond reason?>>

Got an hour? <g> Here's a brief list:
- using Fast Save (a recipe for disaster), enabled under 
Tools--Options--Save tab
- using Versions, enabled under the File menu, and forgetting to delete 
them
- using revision tracking, under the Tools menu, and forgetting to 
accept or reject the edits
- inserting (rather than linking to) graphics
- attaching multiple templates (using the Templates and Add-ins option 
under the Tools menu)
- attaching one or more enormous custom or personal dictionaries
- embedding fonts (a disaster if you try to transfer the file between a 
Mac and a PC)
- random corruption because Word figures our lives are boring

<<One of my users has a Word 2002 doc that's 5 times bigger than it 
should be. It has no versions saved internally, no TrueType fonts 
saved, and all tracked changes have been accepted, yet the file is 
still humongous. He dumped the file to text and formatted it all over 
again when the file got so big that Word bogged down, so we know its 
true size.>>

I'd bet a nickel the problem is with Fast Saves. Particularly since:

<<Not only that. When I applied a different template to the file than 
Normal.dot, the bloated file doubled again in size.>>

Fast Saves would certainly do this because it will update every single 
character in the file using the new template's definitions, and store 
all these changes in the document.

--Geoff Hart   ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca
(try geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com if you don't get a reply)