Microsoft KB Archive/912676

= The size of a Word document may be 20 to 50 times larger than a PowerPoint presentation when you send the presentation to Word =

Article ID: 912676

Article Last Modified on 2/2/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003
 * Microsoft PowerPoint 2002 Standard Edition

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SYMPTOMS
When you send a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation to Microsoft Word, the size of the resulting Word document may be 20 to 50 times larger than the PowerPoint presentation.



CAUSE
When the PowerPoint slide objects are inserted into Word, OLE overhead is created for each slide object. The following actions occur:
 * An OLE container is created to hold the presentation data. This includes the master slide data.
 * An OLE container is created to hold the raw slide data and a copy of the presentation data.
 * An OLE container is created to hold the Windows Metafile format (WMF) representation of the slide data.
 * A master OLE container is created to hold the other OLE containers that are created.
 * The master OLE container is added to the OLE stream of the Word document.



WORKAROUND
To work around this behavior, you must eliminate OLE overhead by reducing the overall size of the Word document. To do this, use one of the following methods.

Method 1: Simplify the template
Simplify the template that you use for the master slide background. A pure white master slide background is the best option.

Note Most of the data that is stored in the master OLE container consists of the master slide data and the WMF representation of the master slide data. Additionally, the master slide background is stored two times in the master OLE container. Therefore, if the master slide contains many details or contains large graphics, a significant overhead is added to the master OLE container in Word.

Method 2: Break the links in the Word document

 * 1) Start PowerPoint.
 * 2) On the File menu, point to Send To, and then click Microsoft Office Word.
 * 3) Click Paste link, and then click OK.
 * 4) In the resulting Word document, click Links on the Edit menu.
 * 5) Select all the links that are listed, and then click Break Link.
 * 6) Click Yes when you are prompted.
 * 7) Save the Word document.

Note If the Word document is larger than the PowerPoint presentation, you may have to break the PowerPoint presentation into parts. Then, repeat steps 1 through 7 for each part. You can then combine the parts later. 

MORE INFORMATION
When you eliminate the OLE overhead, you can reduce the size of the Word document by 90 percent. The Word document still may be larger than the original PowerPoint presentation, depending on the design that you use.

If you use a background picture fill for the slide design, the picture fill will be replicated for each slide object or image that is sent to Word. Word cannot prevent this behavior.

If you use a high-resolution background image for the slide design, PowerPoint uses only one copy of the image. PowerPoint does not store copies of the image for all slide objects. However, OLE does not communicate to Word that each slide object contains the same background graphics. Therefore, redundant data is not discarded. You must always simplify the slide design before you send it to Word.



STATUS
This behavior is by design.

Keywords: kbtshoot KB912676

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