Reducing The Size Of A Word Document
Microsoft Word is the most popular word-processing software worldwide. Whether you are in the accounting, legal, or architectural industry, you will need to prepare a Word document for one reason or the other. It is no wonder that most industries require their staff to have some skills in Microsoft Word. Despite being the most used word-processing software, MS Word has its own challenges. For users who need to store or share large files, the size of the Word document becomes a challenge. Your IT support provider, should, however, help you reduce the size of Word documents to make them easy to share online, print, and store. Nevertheless, here are some useful tips on how to reduce the size of your MS Word documents.
What Makes Your Document Too Large?
Most people blame pictures and images on their documents for the ballooning size of their MS Word document. While pictures take much of your space, they should not be singled out as the only cause of the increased size. Before you remove some important images from an MS Word document, check on the following: size of images, embedded fonts, word document format, and pasted images.
Images and Pictures
Any MS Word expert will tell you that pictures occupy much of your MS Word document. You therefore need to deal with the space occupied by the images if you have to reduce the size of your document. However, the images must have been part of the document right from the onset. Removing them would, therefore, not be the best option.
How to Reduce The Size of the Images Without Deleting Them
Since you need the images, you can apply the following tips to reduce their size and retain their importance in the document:
Compress The Images
You can save quite some space by just compressing the images on the Word document. To compress an image:
- Click on the image to open the Picture Format tab
- Once the picture format tab is open, go to the adjust group and select compress pictures
- Uncheck the ‘Apply only to this picture dialog box’ to ensure the changes you have made on the picture apply to all the pictures on the document
- Check the ‘Delete cropped areas of pictures box’ to discard the cropped picture data. Removing the cropped picture data saves space, but once the data is lost, it may be hard to restore. Make sure you do not need the cropped data before selecting this option.
Change The Resolution of the Picture
Saving an image in a high-resolution format takes more space in your document. Reducing the resolution of the image helps to save the needed space. To adjust the image resolution, apply the following steps:
- Under the compress picture dialog, go to resolution
- Select the default resolution, usually 150ppi
- If you intend to share the document, you can select E-mail 96ppi
While you make the changes under compress pictures, remember MS Word restores the resolution of your images in your saved documents. To ensure the changes are maintained during saving, go to files, select options and then select advanced. Under the advanced option, select Image Size and Quality.
Once Image Size and Quality is open,
- Check Discard editing data box to remove any editing data stored under the image
- Uncheck the Do not compress images in file box
Before you close the Image Size and Quality dialog, go to Default resolution and set your desired resolution. Most images will be legible on your Word document with a resolution lower than 150ppi.
Import Smaller Image Files from Your Camera
Most cameras will give you the option of adjusting image resolutions. Apply this option to reduce the size of the images before exporting them to your PC.
Insert The Images On the Word Document
In most cases, MS Word users are tempted to copy and paste images to the Word document. While copy and paste may appear easy, it increases the size of the image. To save the much-needed space, insert the image on the Word document.
You can insert the image by using the insert option on the ribbon. Once you click insert, select Pictures if the image is stored on your computer or Online Pictures if you are downloading the image from the internet.
Avoid Embedding Fonts
Embedding fonts increases the size of your Word document. However, some recipients may request you to embed a specific font if the font is not available on their device. Unless the recipient of the document specifies their desired fonts, avoid embedding fonts if you want to reduce the size of the document.
To ensure your fonts are not embedded, go to files, select options, select save, under Preserve fidelity when saving this document, uncheck the Embed fonts in this file box.
Save Your Document as DOCX
Most MS Word users may not tell the difference between the DOCX and DOC Format. However, understanding their differences may help you adjust the size of your Word document. The DOCX format compresses your Word document or simply acts as a Zip file for your Word document. Documents saved in the DOCX format are much smaller than those saved in the DOC format. To use the word zip option, go to file, select save as, and select DOCX format.
Bottom Line
MS Word documents may be too large to share or may take up too much of your space. Before you rush to delete part of your Word document, apply some tips given above to check to reduce the size of the document. However, if you frequently experience the challenge of large MS Word files, you can request assistance from an IT Support team in Vancouver.
Contact the Experts
At Compunet Infotech, we have an experienced Microsoft Windows Computer support team that will provide solutions to challenges with MS Word documents. Allow us to help you save and share all important parts of your Word documents by utilizing our support team. Contact us today at (604) 986-8170 for more information.
