Maximum word length

[Clarendon]

What is the maximum number of words I can have in a MS Word document (2007)?
Does the Word function suffer when its size rises above a certain word
length? If so, what is the limit under which I can use the Word without a
problem associated with the size?

Thanks.

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

Supposedly you can have 32 Mb of text (not graphics etc.) in one file.
You can't even _count_ how many words that would be!

 

[macropod]

Expressed another way, 2^32 characters, that is 4,294,967,296 characters. If every word had one letter and one space separated each
word, that'd be 2,147,483,648 words.

--
Cheers
macropod
[Microsoft MVP - Word]


Supposedly you can have 32 Mb of text (not graphics etc.) in one file.
You can't even _count_ how many words that would be!

 

[Yves Dhondt]

The short answer: unless you are creating really huge documents (+10000
pages) or embedding really huge object (an entire HD movie), you will never
come near any of the limits. So don't worry about them.

You are actually asking two different things. On the one hand, you are
asking about the limitations of Word 2007 documents (docx files), on the
other hand you are asking about the limitations of Microsoft Word, the
software program. It is important to differentiate between those two things
as docx files can be opened by many programs (Word, Papers, OpenOffice, ...)
on many systems (Windows, MacOS, Linux, ...). For example, it is possible
that while OpenOffice Writer can handle a particulary large docx file,
Microsoft Word can't, or the other way around. It all comes down to how word
processing programs represent documents internally.

Now, with regards to the limitations. A docx file is basically a zip-file
and therefore follows the limitations of zip-files. That is, the file should
be less than 4GB in size. Next to that, a zip file can't contain more than
65,536 files. Assuming you only add ordinary images, you could add almost
65,000 of them. More complex objects like embedded excel sheets might take
up multiple files and lower that last number.

The above numbers are the theory. In reality, there probably isn't any word
processor which could handle a file with 65,000 images in it or 4GB of
compressed text. (I haven't tested this.)

Concerning the limatations of Word, you might want to check out
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=211489 . However, some of the data on
that page is incorrect. For example, it states that there is a max of 32MB
of text. I have seen documents containing over 35MB of pure text being
opened by Word, so I know for a fact that that value is incorrect. I believe
that the data on that page is a lower limit and that for some of these
limitations, the current value might be (a lot) higher.

As to when the file size becomes a problem, it all depends on your machine
(processor, memory, ...) and what you try to do. Some things, like doing a
find/replace operation in a 10,000 page document will always be slow.

Yves

 

[Yves Dhondt]

You probably meant 32 MB instead of 32Mb. There is a factor 8 difference
between the two so it is rather important.

Yves

Supposedly you can have 32 Mb of text (not graphics etc.) in one file.
You can't even _count_ how many words that would be!

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

Be that as it may, the usual abbreviation is Mb. I don't think anyone
would imagine someone was talking about megabits.

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

Typing speeds were expressed in words per minute, where "word" was
defined as five letters followed by a space -- so I suppose you could
divide four and a quarter billion by six to get an answer.

Expressed another way, 2^32 characters, that is 4,294,967,296 characters.If every word had one letter and one space separated each
word, that'd be 2,147,483,648 words.

--
Cheers
macropod
[Microsoft MVP - Word]

Supposedly you can have 32 Mb of text (not graphics etc.) in one file.
You can't even _count_ how many words that would be!

What is the maximum number of words I can have in a MS Word document (2007)?
Does the Word function suffer when its size rises above a certain word
length? If so, what is the limit under which I can use the Word withouta
problem associated with the size?

Thanks.-

 

[macropod]

Yes, but that's not what the OP asked: "What is the maximum number of words". The *maximum* can only exist where each word has one
character.

Conversely, the post title suggested the OP was after the "Maximum word length". In that case, pick the longest word you can find,
up to 4,294,967,296 characters in length ...

--
Cheers
macropod
[Microsoft MVP - Word]


Typing speeds were expressed in words per minute, where "word" was
defined as five letters followed by a space -- so I suppose you could
divide four and a quarter billion by six to get an answer.

Expressed another way, 2^32 characters, that is 4,294,967,296 characters. If every word had one letter and one space separated
each
word, that'd be 2,147,483,648 words.

--
Cheers
macropod
[Microsoft MVP - Word]

messageSupposedly you can have 32 Mb of text (not graphics etc.) in one file.
You can't even _count_ how many words that would be!

What is the maximum number of words I can have in a MS Word document (2007)?
Does the Word function suffer when its size rises above a certain word
length? If so, what is the limit under which I can use the Word without a
problem associated with the size?

Thanks.-

 

[Twayne]

In

Be that as it may, the usual abbreviation is Mb. I don't
think anyone
would imagine someone was talking about megabits.

Mb = Mega bits
MB = Mega Bytes (there are 8 bits to a Byte).

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

Did you fail to read the message you responded to?