Easy ways to reduce the size of a Microsoft Word document

Do you want to reduce the size of your Word document? In most cases, the size of the files is not an issue as they don’t take up much of your memory compared to games, videos, and other large files. However, if you are uploading a Word document online and emailing it, you should reduce its size.

This article teaches you how to reduce the size of a Microsoft Word document. There are several techniques to minimize the size of the document. Image compression is the most popular way to minimize the size of Word files. You can also deal with huge documents in other ways, such as saving media and Word files in other formats, removing any version of automatic recovery, and limiting the use of specific functions.

1. Converting the document to .docx format

Newer versions of Word documents are saved in DOCX formats rather than DOC format because the DOCX file type compresses the contents of the document as a ZIP file, making your document smaller. The only reason we need to use DOC is if you need backward compatibility with older processing programs. Therefore, while saving your document, be sure to select the.docx format to save it.

2. Compress photos / images

1. Select the image you want to compress into your document. The Picture Format tab will be available once you select it.

2. In the Picture format tab, select Compress images.

3. Once the Compression tab appears, follow the steps below and finally click on OK.

• Check the box against Remove cropped areas from the image.
• Check the radio button against Use the default resolution.

Setting these values ​​eliminates extra space and fixes the resolution for all images used in the document.

3. Save images in a lower resolution

1.Click File> Options.

2. Click Advanced> Image size and quality.

In this section, check the box against Discard edit data and set the default resolution to 150ppi.

4. Don’t embed fonts

Embedded fonts will allow people to read or print your document with the fonts they used to write, even when your system doesn’t support them. This will also increase the size of your document.

1.Open File> Options> Save.

2. Scroll down to select Retain fidelity when saving this document. In this section, do not check the box next to Embed fonts in file.

5. Insert images instead of copy and paste

Inserting the image into the document instead of copying helps reduce the size of the document. When you copy, the image may lose compression, it may bring in other data as well, and the file type may change. To insert the image follow

1.Click Insert> Pictures.

2. Select the image you want to insert and click Insert or you can just double click in the image to insert it.

NOTE: You can simply edit your images in another editor before saving them to your system and using them in your work accordingly. This also helps reduce the size of the document.

6. Automatic recovery versions

1.Click File> Options.

2. Click Save> Save Documents

• If you want to delete the automatic recovery information Mark off the box next to it. With this action, we cannot retrieve the document when necessary.
• So you can simply increase the time instead. You can change it from 10 minutes to 20 minutes.

7. Disable thumbnails

1.Click File> Information> Properties (Advanced)

2. Under the Summary tab, Mark off the Save thumbnails box and press OK.

8. Stop / convert embedded objects

If you include objects such as Excel spreadsheets in your documents, the size increases. Stop this embedding as much as possible if you want to reduce the size.

If you need to embed it, you need to convert it to an image. To do so, select an embedded item and press Cltr + Shift + F9.

9. Remove hidden information from the document

1. Click File> Information> Find Problems.

2. click To inspect.

3. Click Delete all and To close.

10. Instead of formatting manually, apply styles

In a Word document, the more manual or direct formatting you apply, the larger it will be. This is a big problem when it comes to big roles. To reduce file size and automate formatting, use styles as much as possible.

For example, consider using a style instead of 14 points, bold, and blue to create a heading.

To use a style, simply select the text and apply the style you want. Styles Group present in the home tab.

To modify the style you are using, simply right-click on Styles

11. Keep a copy of the document.

Lastly, you can save a copy of the Word document in RTF (rich text format) or PDF format and you can also copy the full text and paste it into a new document.

This is to reduce the size of the Microsoft Word document.

I hope this article is useful.

Thank you for reading.