CAPACITY OF WORD FILE

S

StevenM

As an afterthought, I came up with the following rough estimate.

Roughly, I would estimate Word’s capacity to be well over 7,626 pages (a
number derived from the following data: MB = 1,048,576 bytes; and a page with
6-pica (= 1â€) margins and text with 12 point Times New Roman font would
contain almost 4,400 character; thus 1,048,456 x 32 ÷ 4,400 = 7,626 pages).

If I have erred in my calculation, I would welcome correction. As for my
assumptions, it was only to illustrate a rough estimate.

Steven Craig Miller
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

Documents of 10,000 pages have been reported to be handled (more or less)
easily in Word.
 
S

StevenM

I should have also added, that my "estimate" was based on single spacing (and
a single paragraph), and obviously anything which might reduce the average
number of characters per page would increase Word's ability to handle more
pages. Thus a little thing like double spacing would double my "estimate."
And any "white space" would increase it, such as wider margins, headings,
half blank, or full blank pages, etc.

Steven Craig Miller
 
S

StevenM

Here is another estimate to balance my earlier conservative estimate.

Robert Bringhurst, in his classic work “The Elements of Typographic Style,â€
states that most books now printed with the “Latin Alphabet†usually hold on
average between 300 to 500 words per page (and an average word size is 5
characters plus a space). Using these numbers, a page would contain between
1,800 and 3,000 characters per page, and thus Word’s maximum capacity would
be between 11,183 and 18,639 pages (depending, of course, on the average
density of the characters per page).

Steven Craig Miller
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

The bottom line is that there is no practical limitation on the text. Most
of the people who are asking this question will never create a document of
more than a few hundred pages (if that).

It always amuses me to see questions in
microsoft.public.word.formatting.longdocs about 30-page term papers (which
obviously are "long" to people who have never written anything longer than a
letter).
 
S

StevenM

To: Suzanne S. Barnhill,

<< The bottom line is that there is no practical limitation on the text. >>

I've read a number of books which were over 1,000 pages, but I don't think
I've ever seen a single volume with anywhere close to 10,000 pages. It is
hard to imagine anyone trying to printout a 10,000 page document -- with
double sided printing that would take ten reams of paper. And then, where
would you put it? That would be one large 3-ring binder!

Steven Craig Miller
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

The MVP who claimed to have worked on documents this size was helping to
prepare telecomms standards (i.e., legal stuff), and yes, I'm sure they do
fill many volumes/binders.
 
S

StevenM

To: Suzanne S. Barnhill,

<< The MVP who claimed to have worked on documents this size was helping to
prepare telecomms standards (i.e., legal stuff), and yes, I'm sure they do
fill many volumes/binders. >>

Yes, but did anyone read the whole document? I've read "War and Peace," and
enjoyed doing so, I've read many a book over 1,000 pages, but never something
like a 10,000 page work on telecomms standards. Does Readers Digest publish
an abridged version? Cliffnotes? <grin>

Steven Craig Miller
 
G

grammatim

To: Suzanne S. Barnhill,

<< The bottom line is that there is no practical limitation on the text. >>

I've read a number of books which were over 1,000 pages, but I don't think
I've ever seen a single volume with anywhere close to 10,000 pages. It is
hard to imagine anyone trying to printout a 10,000 page document -- with
double sided printing that would take ten reams of paper. And then, where
would you put it? That would be one large 3-ring binder!

Yale UP's new biography of Mozart is around 1600 rather large pages
with rather narrow margins. It's probably close to the limit of what
can be put into a single binding.

The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World's Ancient Languages is 1170
pages of the same or a slightly larger size, and you probably won't
find a copy in any library whose cover isn't partly or mostly detached
from the book already. They're now reissuing it in something like four
paperback volumes (sold separately).
 
B

Bob Buckland ?:-\)

Hi Steven,

The Microsoft submitted MS Office 2007 file formats standard to ECMA has 5 'parts'. Part four, the Language Reference is over 5200
pages and sad to say I have read it and more than once.

Poor story line, a couple of surprising plot twists, little character development and a predictable ending <g>

Microsoft mentions in several of its webcasts that Word 2007 is able to generate the document when they revise it, pulling in all of
the segments from a wide spectrum of user inputs in only a couple of minutes. I don't know how long it then takes someone to check
the whole thing though, they never say <g>.

Having worked on similar standards and contracts, specifications and manuals having to read them is a part of the job, but not
always one that keeps you awake :)

I think that right around xmas time that when trying to do the 'easy assembly' of a toy late at night that some of the instruction
guides 'feel' like they're a couple hundred pages too long ;)

==============
<<"StevenM" <stevencraigmiller(at)comcast(dot)net> wrote in message Yes, but did anyone read the whole document? I've read "War and Peace," and
enjoyed doing so, I've read many a book over 1,000 pages, but never something
like a 10,000 page work on telecomms standards. Does Readers Digest publish
an abridged version? Cliffnotes? <grin>

Steven Craig Miller >>
--

Bob Buckland ?:)
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

I think that right around xmas time that when trying to do the 'easy
assembly' of a toy late at night that some of the instruction
guides 'feel' like they're a couple hundred pages too long ;)

My father used to refer to this (illogically IMO) as "putting tab A in slot
B." He was perhaps unusual in that he would actually read the instructions.
Most men seem to disdain them, assuming that anyone with any mechanical
ability could figure the thing out without pictures. <g>

The instruction I found most useful was the one that warned assemblers of
G.I. Joe (or maybe it was Star Wars) toys that "You have only one shot at
putting these stickers on, so get it right the first time."
 

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