Users have been known to create Word documents upwards of 10,000 pages. The
size document your system can handle depends primarily on the amount of
available memory and secondarily on the amount of available HD space (speed
of the processor is a factor but a less important one). The absolute maximum
size for a Word document is 32 MB, but that's for text only; it doesn't
count graphics. Every layer of complexity (graphics, tables, section breaks)
causes Word to bog down more, but you can improve performance in a variety
of ways:
1. Work in Normal view as much as possible.
2. On the View tab, clear the check box for "Drawings" (wrapped objects,
which won't display in Normal view, anyway, but this will keep them from
being displayed in Print Layout view) and check the box for "Picture
placeholders (which applies to inline graphics, which can be displayed in
Normal view). Linking graphics if possible will also keep the size down.
3. Use styles rather than direct formatting as much as possible.
4. Avoid long tables, especially long single-row tables. Whenever there is
an opportunity to break a table, do so. When you're working in a long table,
split it temporarily just above the point where you're working, then rejoin
it when you move on.
--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
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