RTF files too large

[briandina]

~I am using Word 2003. I have document (*.doc) that has color gaphics in the header and footer. File size 793K.
~I need to save it for a friend with an older version of Word, so I choose SAVE AS, and under Save-as-Type I choose
Word 97-2003 & 6.0/95 - RTF(*.doc)
~Now the document is 4.1MB!
~Anyone know why the file size is now so large?
~Is there any way to decrease the size of the file(without compressing the graphic)?
Thanks,
~Brian
brian-at-briandina.com

 

[MakeItSo]

Hi Brian,

the cause for this is fairly simple: RTF is a text format, so the graphics too are converted to text. That takes up lots of space, of course.

The simplest solution is, to store your graphics into a separate folder and LINK them into the document, rather than embedding them, e.g. by saving all into a "images" subfolder in the same location as the doc (for relative paths).
After that, only the link needs to be converted to text, hence your RTF will not bloat up.

However, you will of course have to send the document as well as the images folder to your friend.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Andy

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