How-to
How to reduce the size of a Word document before you email it
The short answer
The usual cause is large pictures. Resize or compress them before you insert them, delete pictures you do not need, remove old tracked changes and save a new copy. If it is still too big, export a PDF or share a link instead of an attachment.
You press send and your email says the attachment is too large. A document with no more than a few pages should not be heavy, so something inside is. Here is how to find it and shrink it.
What makes a document big
- Pictures. By far the most common cause. One phone photo can be 3 to 8 MB.
- Pictures pasted several times. Each copy is stored separately.
- Charts and objects pasted from other programs.
- Tracked changes and comments from long review rounds.
- Embedded fonts if your program stores them.
How to see what is inside
A DOCX is a zip file. Make a copy, rename it to end in .zip and open it. Look in the word/media folder. If you see a handful of multi-megabyte images, you have found the problem. See what is inside a DOCX file.
Shrink it, step by step
- Make a copy. Keep the original untouched.
- Resize the pictures before inserting. A photo app can export a smaller version. About 1600 pixels across is plenty for a page.
- Replace the heavy pictures in the document with the smaller ones.
- Delete pictures you no longer need, including ones hidden behind others.
- Accept or reject tracked changes and delete old comments. See tracked changes and comments.
- Save a new copy and compare the size.
Other ways to send it
- Send a PDF. For a read-only copy, a PDF is a good choice. Check its size too. See saving as PDF.
- Share a link from a cloud drive instead of attaching the file.
- Split it into two documents if it is really two things.
- Zip it. It helps little, because DOCX is already compressed.
Keep the quality where it matters. A logo or a diagram with text must stay sharp, so shrink it less. A background photo can be much smaller.
A habit that prevents it
Resize photos before they ever go into a document. It takes a few seconds in any phone gallery and saves a lot of trouble later.
Questions people ask
Why is my Word document so big?
Usually because of large pictures. A few phone photos can add many megabytes. Embedded fonts, tracked changes and charts can add more.
How do I make a DOCX smaller?
Shrink the pictures, remove what you do not need, accept or reject tracked changes and save a copy. A PDF of the final version is often smaller still.
What is the email attachment limit?
Many providers allow about 20 to 25 MB per message. Check yours, and remember that attachments grow a little when encoded.
Is a PDF smaller than a DOCX?
Often, but not always. A PDF of a picture-heavy document can be as large as the original.