make word file smaller to e-mail

[Guest]

I have to email a file from word with lots of pictures and The file I did is
to big to email how do I make it smaller to email

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Not from within Word. You may want to investigate a file compression
application such as WinZip (www.winzip.com), which allows you to easily Zip
to Email. A free trial is available
(http://www.winzip.com/downwzeval.htm?wzdm).

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Guest]

Tammy,

You may also wish to investigate Adobe Acrobat. You would need the Acrobat
Creator, not the free reader. Once installed it is as easy as selecting
Acrobat as the "printer" to create easy optimized documents for distribution
on the web.

http://www.adobe.co.uk/products/acrobat/main.html

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Rarely is a PDF smaller than a Word doc, though, I suspect.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Guest]

First off, I should have asked if it must remain an editable .DOC file. IF
it must, then it probably should be built in such a way that the picture
files are not embedded in the file (set as links) and have the picture files
sent separately as bandwidth provides. Save the doccument as several
individual parts. Or a ZIP program can be used and finger crossed that the
new file will be small enough.

If it doesn’t need to arrive as an editable .DOC, I'll go with a PDF.

When a document contains many picture files that are not optimized for
print, web view or transmitting (even if they are compressed .jpg type files)
Acrobat can generate a PDF that will be smaller, always. This is because
when the PDF is created, the user can decide on what level of quality
(compression and resolution) to have as a final product. Different graphic
types can be handled differently within the same document.

Using a lossless compression program like PKZIP just adds complexity,
recipient will now need to have a ZIP program to decompress or if it is a
self decompressing file...not advisable. The file will not be immediately
viewable and the .zip file extension is blocked by Outlook. Now files must
be renamed.

I guess the important question is: What must the distributed document’s
quality be and how large of a file can be sent? The PDF solution allows the
user to decide this whereas the ZIP solutions yield only a single new file
size. What to do if this is still to large, only large uncompressed picture
files will yield any meaningful results with ZIP. Most common picture files
of types like .jpg are already compressed.

I don't know if fonts are embedded in the .DOC file type? If not, more pain.

 

[Graham Mayor]

Using a lossless compression program like PKZIP just adds complexity,
recipient will now need to have a ZIP program to decompress or if it
is a self decompressing file...not advisable. The file will not be
immediately viewable and the .zip file extension is blocked by
Outlook. Now files must be renamed.

ZIP files are not automatically excluded by Outlook - at least not by
default, and it is not necessary to rename the files the zip contains. It is
also bad practice to open attachments - especially Word documents - directly
from e-mail messages.

Word documents contain a lot of 'air' so they compress well. The pictures
less so. PDF files with graphics are usually smaller than the original
documents (and are certainly more secure), but they may not reduce the file
size sufficiently to have a major impact on the e-mail size issue.

If this is really a *very* large file and both parties have broadband, I
would file exchange it with (say) Windows Messenger. If one or other party
has dial-up I would save it to CDR and stick it in the post.

 

[Guest]

Graham,

Yes, for sure on majority text files. And the uncertainty of final file
size is exactly why I like the options in Acrobat (specifically the
Distiller). Without affecting the text quality, pictures can easily be
compressed up to the maximum (albeit probably unrecognizable). The only time
I can see not yielding much of a result would be if all the picture files
were properly sized, cropped and optimized with a file type that compresses
(lossless or not). But even then, if the final file is still too big, the
decision to reduce picture quality to further decrease file size can be made
as easily as "Print".

In regards to the file type exclusion: Mine is a "Typical" installation of
Outlook (Office Pro XP SP2) that has blocked .zip files from day one. Do you
know where the file type exclusions can be added or deleted for Outlook or is
it better to post this in the Outlook forum?

And thank you Graham for the thoughtful comments, would never have imagined
using Messenger as a mini FTP type client. A+

 

[Graham Mayor]

The KB article on blocked extensions is
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=837388. However ZIP is not blocked by
default and is Microsoft's recommended means of passing files through the
security. (See Outlook Help on blocked attachments).

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[Guest]

Graham,

Thank you! In the morning I will beat the first IT person I see with a
printout of it!

Thanks again.

 

[JoAnn Paules [MVP]]

Now you did it, Graham! You'll probably be sued as some sort of an
accomplice to assault with a paper weapon.