HomeApplicationOffice information

How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size

This wikiHow teaches you how to reduce the file size of a Microsoft Word document. If your Word file is too big, it's often because the images in your document weren't inserted properly or aren't compressed enough. You can reduce the size...
Method 1 of 5:

Inserting Images Properly

  1. How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 1How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 1
    Click Insert. It's a tab in the menu bar at the top of the screen. This will reveal a new set of options at the top of the page.
    1. It's better to use the "Insert" option to add images to a Word document instead of using Copy & Paste. When you copy and paste an image you lose compression, change the file type, and bring in extra data that can increase the file size.[1]
  2. How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 2How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 2
    Click
    How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 3How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 3
    . Click the "Pictures" button that resembles a photo with a computer screen on the bottom-right corner of it. It's located at the top of the menu to the right of the "Table" icon. This will open a file browser where you can browse and select the images you want to add.
    1. On Mac, this opens a small drop-down menu. Select Picture from File... in the menu.
  3. How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 4How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 4
    Select the image you want to insert. Use the file browser window to navigate to the location of an image and click the image file to select it.
  4. How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 5How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 5
    Click Insert. It's the button on the bottom-right corner of the file browser window. This will insert the image into the Word document in a format that works best with Word documents, without copying any unnecessary extra data.
Method 2 of 5:

Compressing Images

  1. How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 6How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 6
    Select an image in your Word document. Click on any image on the page of your Word document to select it. This will open the "Format" menu in the blue menu bar at the top.
    1. On Mac this tab is labeled "Picture Format" at the top of Word.
  2. How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 7How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 7
    Click
    How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 8How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 8
    . Click the "Compress Pictures" button which resembles a photograph with blue arrows on each corner. It's located in the top-left section of the menu at the top of your Word document.
    1. On older versions of Word, click Format at the top and select Compress Image from the drop-down menu.
  3. How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 9How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 9
    Select which pictures you want to compress. If you want to apply compression to all the pictures in the document, select "All pictures in this file" unchecked. If you only want to compress only the image you selected, Select "Selected pictures only".
    1. If you've cropped any images in Word you can also check the box for "Delete cropped areas of pictures" which will delete the cropped areas permanently. This will reduce the file size, but you'll no longer be able to adjust the cropping.
  4. How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 10How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 10
    Select a resolution. Click the radio button for the level of compression you want to use, ranging from HF (Maximum image size), (HD 330 PPI) to Email (96 PPI). The lower the PPI, the more you will lower the file size of your Word document which will also decrease the image quality of the picture as well.
    1. Some options may be unavailable if the images in your document are already compressed below the higher PPI resolutions.
    2. Lower PPI resolutions are designed to be viewed on a computer screen. The image may look fuzzy in print format.
  5. How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 11How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 11
    Click Ok. It's at the bottom of the window. This compresses the images in your document which will reduce the file size of your Word file.[2]
Method 3 of 5:

Deleting Auto-Recovery Versions

  1. How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 12How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 12
    Click File. It's the first option in the top-left of the blue menu bar at the top of Word.
  2. How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 13How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 13
    Click Info. It's the first option at the top of the blue column on the left.
  3. How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 14How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 14
    Click Manage Document
    How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 15How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 15
    . It's the icon with several yellow pages and a magnifying glass. This will open a drop-down menu.
  4. How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 16How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 16
    Click Delete All Unsaved Documents
    How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 17How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 17
    . It's the option on the bottom with the icon of three yellow pages and a red "X." This will delete all the recent copies of any unsaved auto-recovery versions of your document.
Method 4 of 5:

Turning Off Thumbnails

  1. How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 18How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 18
    Click File. It's the first option in the top-left of the blue menu bar at the top of Word.
  2. How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 19How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 19
    Click Info. It's the first option at the top of the blue column on the left.
  3. How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 20How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 20
    Click Properties
    How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 21How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 21
    . It's at the top of the right side of the page. This opens a small drop-down menu with one option.
  4. How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 22How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 22
    Click Advanced Properties. It's the only option that appears next to the icon of a small bullet-point list. This will display the Properties window for your document.
  5. How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 23How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 23
    Click the Summary tab. It's the second tab at the top of the window.
  6. How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 24How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 24
    Uncheck the box
    How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 25How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 25
    for "Save Thumbnails for All Word Documents." It's at the bottom of the "Summary" page. If your document has a lot of images, disabling this feature will reduce the file size of your Word document even more.
  7. How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 26How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 26
    Click OK. This will save the changes to your document.
Method 5 of 5:

Turning Off Embedded Fonts

  1. How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 27How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 27
    Click File. It's the first option in the top-left of the blue menu bar at the top of Word.
  2. How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 28How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 28
    Click Options. It's the last option at the bottom of the blue column on the left. This will open the main settings for Microsoft Word.
  3. How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 29How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 29
    Click the Save tab on the left. Click the "Save" tab on the left-side column to open all the settings to customize how Word saves your documents in the pane on the right.
  4. How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 30How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 30
    Uncheck the box
    How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 31How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 31
    for "Embed Fonts in the file." When this option is turned off, fonts that are not on the computer will not be used in the document, which can reduce the file size of your Word document if you used uncommon fonts.
  5. How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 32How to Reduce a Microsoft Word File Size Picture 32
    Click Ok. It's at the bottom of the Save menu. This will save your changes in Microsoft Word.
    1. When this option is disabled, use only the standard common fonts in your Word document so other users will not have problems viewing your document correctly.
5 ★ | 1 Vote
clickworddocumentfile

You should read it

May be interested

Office information