Guidebook: Microsoft Office Tip #1 - Reducing File Size

Got a Microsoft Word proposal with lots of photos in it?
Just finished preparing a PowerPoint slide deck with large product shots?
Trying to email your Excel workbook with embedded images but the file is just too big?

Here's a quick lesson on how to compress the photos and pictures in Microsoft Office programs. The same method works with Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook. The result will be a smaller file that is easier to share.

In this example I have inserted a WebEcho banner image into my document. The image is actually quite large because we use this banner on printed material. For this lesson, I start by resizing the image be half the original size.

This is the important thing to uderstand. The document still contains the large image and is just displaying it at half size. You can dramatically reduce the file size and memory required by compressing the images in your document.

To compress the images in your document right-click one of the images and choose Format Picture...

A new window will open. Click the Compress... button.

It is best to compress All pictures in document to get the smallest file size possible. Set the resolution to Web/Screen. Select Compress pictures and Delete cropped area of pictures.

Apply these settings by clicking OK and returning to the main document.
Save the file and you should see that the size of the file is much smaller.

Note: If the document is an important file that you want to print in the best quality possible, you should change your resolution to Print instead of Web/Screen. Your file size will not be quite as small, but you will see some improvement. Also be aware that you cannot increase the resolution of a picture once you have reduced it. You cannot take a picture that is already set to Web/Screen and then set it to Print.