How to Reduce the File Size of Documents and Photographs So

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HowtoReducetheFileSizeofDocumentsandPhotographsSoTheyCanBeEmailed

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KTP‐ART‐041,Rev.13.1 UncontrolledWhenPrinted 1

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Figure1: ViceCompressingDocuments

HowtoReducetheFileSizeofDocumentsandPhotographsSo

TheyCanBeEmailed

ThisarticledescribeshowtoreducethefilesizeofaMicrosoftWord(MSWord) orpdf document

soitcanbe sentasanemailattachment.Specifically,itdescribesbestpractice lowriskmethods

forreducingthefilesizeofa:

 MSWorddocumentby:

○ Compressingit(Section3.5.1);and,

○ Convertingit toapdf(Section3.6.1).

 Pdfdocumentby:

○ Compressingit(Section3.6.2);and,

○ Combining‐mergingitwithotherpdfs(Section3.6.3).

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HowtoReducetheFileSizeofDocumentsandPhotographsSoTheyCanBeEmailed

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KTP‐ART‐041,Rev.13.1 UncontrolledWhenPrinted 2

©KTProject2022 Complete February20,2022

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 Selectionofphotographsby:

○ Creatingapdfcontactsheet(Section3.6.4).

1 Introduction

Itisnosurprisethatcountlessprojectsusedigitalphotographs(photographs)indocumentsand

emailstoimprovereadercomprehension.Readersmayincludebusinesspartners,clients,project

teams, suppliers, and others. With today’s technology, it is easy to produce photogr aphs.

However,thesheernumber ofphotographstakenandlargephotographfilesizes

meantheyare

difficult to manage and share. How many times have you tried  and failed to email several

photographsinoneemailbecause thefilessizesoftheattachmentsweretoolarge?

Photographs with large file sizes are problematic because they may not be emailed as

attachmentsifthey

exceedthemaximumattachmentfilesizelimitofsetbyaninternetservice

provider(ISP)orinformationTechnology(IT)networkadministrator.Thisvariesbuttypicallythe

maximumfilesizeis≤20MB.Sendinganemailattachmentthatistoolarge(e.g.,>20MB)willfail

inmostcases.

Thisarticleaddresses

howtoreducefilesizesso theymaybeemailedonceandforall!Section2

describes quick workarounds that involve some risk. Section3 describes best practice low risk

methods.

Apictureisworthathousandwords

‐FredR.Barnard

Lessismore

‐RobertBrowning

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Related:CreatingVideoPresentationsUsingPowerPointAlone

2 QuickWorkaroundsforReducingtheFileSizeofPhotographs

Sections2.1 and 2.2 describe quickworkarounds forreducing the file size of photographs that

involve some risk. While these workarounds work, Section3 describes best practice low risk

methods.

2.1 Workaround1–ProvideaHyp erlinkorShareFilesinaCloudFolder

To circumvent file size limitations, provide a hyperlink in an email to an internal folder that

containsthephotographs. Theproblemswiththismethodare:

 Filescanbeinadvertentlydeleted;

 Itrequiresthereceivertoopen, process,orsavethephotographsforthemselves;

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HowtoReducetheFileSizeofDocumentsandPhotographsSoTheyCanBeEmailed

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 Thelocationofthefoldermaychange(whichchangesthefilepathandbreaksthehyperlink!);

and,

 Thosewithnoaccesstothesharedfolderwilllackaccesstothephotographs.

Using a  cloud folder has similar risks. The folder’s location could  change. And saving files to a

shared

cloudfoldercan stilllead toinadvertentdeletionoffilesunlessthecloudserviceoffers

documentversioning,whichelimina testhisproblem.

Bothmethodswork.Butbothhaveinherentrisks.Grrr!

2.2 Workaround2–DistributeDocumentsorPhotographsinSeparateEmails

Distributingdocumentsorphotographsinmultipleseparatee mails is undesirablebecauseit:

 Confusesandfrustratesemailrecipients;

 Requires that email recipients  open,  view, close, save, manage, and organize multip le files

(whichisrarelyperformedconsistentl y). Thisputsthe filesatriskof beingignored,lost, or

overlooked;and,



Requires time from email recipients that could be spent elsewhere. For accessibility and

efficiency, recipients need the ability to access all photographs from one location (e.g., in

1document–not16)!

The more attachments sent by email, the higher the potential  confusion and greater time

requirementsfromtheemail

recipient–allofwhichbringsinherentrisks.Grrr–again!

Butwait.Whatmethodseliminate theseinherentrisks?Whatrecommended bestpracticelow

riskmethodseliminatetheserisksandreplacetheseworkarounds?SeeSection3.

3 BestMethodsforReducingtheFileSizeofMSWordandPDF

Documents,andPhotographs

Fromanemailrecipientperspective,thebestwaytoreceivephotographsisinacentrallocation. 

Thisprovideseasyaccesstoallphotographswhilem inimizingrequiredmouseclicks.Thegoalis

toincludeallphotographsin1document–not16,whilemaintainingafilesizethatcanbeemailed

(≤20MB).This sectiondes cribesrecommendedmethodsforreducingdocumentfilesize.These

bestpracticelowriskmethodsavoidtheinherentrisksofworkaroundsdescribedinsections2.1

and2.2.

3.1 TakingPhotographswithFileSizeinMind

Tolowerthefilesizeofphotographs,lowertheresolutionorfilesizesettingsinthecamerathat

takesthephotographs.Thisalonemaybeenoughtoreducefilesizessufficiently.

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HowtoReducetheFileSizeofDocumentsandPhotographsSoTheyCanBeEmailed

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3.2 UsingSoftwaretoReducetheFileSizeofExistingPhotograph s

Therearemanyfreeimageoptimizationsoftwarethatcompressimagesandreducethefilesizes

of photograp hs.[1] Compress the file sizes of photographs using one of these tools before

insertingthemin toanMSWorddocumentorincludingthemin apdf.

3.3 ManagingFewPhotographs

Whenmanagingonlyafewphotograp hs,attachthemtoanemailorinsertthemdirectlyintoan

MS Word document. Reducing the file size of a small number of photographs is usually not

requiredbecausetheirtotalfilesize is usuallysufficientlysmall.

3.4 ManagingManyPhotographs

After inserti ng many photographs into an  MS Word document, it is possible to compress the

MSWorddocumentandmakeitsmallenoughtosendasanemailattachment.Tocompressan

MSWorddocument,followthestepsinSection3.5.1.

3.5 WorkingwithMSWordDocuments 

Use MS Word to compress or reduce the file size of an MS  Word document. The more

photographs an MS Word document contains,  the greater the file compression or file size 

reductionma y beexpected.Bycon trast,compressingatext‐heavydocumentwillyieldlittlefile

sizereduction.

Con: Compressing an

MSWorddocumentreducesthe quality orresolutionofall document

imagesandphotographs.

Pro: Compressing an MS Word  document r educes  its file size so it can be sent as an email

attachment.Exceptions areextremelylargedocuments.

3.5.1 ProceduretoCompressanMSWordDocument

Softwareneeded:MSWord.

FollowthenextproceduretocompressandreducethefilesizeofanMSWorddocument.

Procedure:

1. OpentheMSWorddocumentthatneedstobecompressed.

2. Double‐clickanimageinthedocument torevealthePictureFormattab(see1inFigure2).

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HowtoReducetheFileSizeofDocumentsandPhotographsSoTheyCanBeEmailed

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3. ClickCompressPictures(see2inFigure2)torevealtheCompressPicturesdialog(Figure3).

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Figure2: PictureFormatTab

4. Tocompress:

a. Theselectedimage:

i. SelecttheApplyonlytothispicturecheckbox(see1inFigure3).

ii. ClickOK(see2in

Figure3).

Congratulations,youhavecompressedtheselectedimage.

b. Alldocumentimages:

i. CleartheApplyonlytothispicturecheckbox(see1inFigure3).Clearingthischeck

boxmaximizestotalfilesizereduction.

ii. ClickOK(see2inFigure3).

Congratulations,youhavecompressedalldocument

images.

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Figure3: CompressPicturesDialog

5. Savethefile.Ifthefilesizeis≤20MBitislikelysmallenoughtosendasanemailattachment.

File still not smallenough? Follow the procedure in Section3.6.1 to reduce file size further  by

convertingittoapdf.

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HowtoReducetheFileSizeofDocumentsandPhotographsSoTheyCanBeEmailed

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3.6 WorkingwithPDFs

ConvertinganMSWorddocumentintoapdfgreatlyreducesfilesizeusingvectorgraphics.Pdf

conversionis usuallyenoughtoreducefilesizesothefilemay besentas anemailattachment

(Section3.6.1). After pdf creation, the pdf may be  compressed for further file size reduction

(Section3.6.2).

 After producing two or  more pdfs, these pdfs may be combined into one pdf

document(Section3.6.3).

Finally,useMSWordtocreateapdfcontactsheet.Acontactsheetcontainsmultiplephotographs

withareducedfilesizearrangedinapre‐setlayout(Section3.6.4).

3.6.1 ProcedurestoConvertanMSWordDocumenttoaPDF

Thissectioncontainstwousefulproceduresforconve rtinganMSWorddocumenttoapdf.

For maximum file size reduction, first compress the MS Word docume nt (see Section3.5) and

then perform one of the procedures in Section3.6.1.1 or Section3.6.1.2 to convert the Word

documentintoapdfdocument.



Procedure1:ConvertanMSWordDocumenttoaPDFDocument(UsingPDFSoftware)

Softwareneeded:Anypdfconversionsoftware,suchasAdobeAcrobatDCorCutePDF[2].

FollowthisproceduretoconvertanMSWorddocumenttoa pdfdocument:

1. OpentheMSWorddocumentthatneedstobeconvertedtoapdfdocument.

2. ClickFile,Print.

3. Click the Printer drop‐down and then click Adobe PDF or similar pdf‐making  software to

specify

itastheprinter(e.g.,AdobeorCutePDF).SeeoutlinedobjectinFigure 4.



Figure4: PrintSidebar

4. ClickPrint(seeFigure4)andfollowtheprompts.

5. Savethefile.Ifthefilesizeis≤20MBitislikelysmallenoughtosendasanemailattachment.

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HowtoReducetheFileSizeofDocumentsandPhotographsSoTheyCanBeEmailed

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Congratulations.YouhaveconvertedanMSWorddocumenttoapdfdocumentusingpdf‐making

software.

File still not smallenough? Follow the procedure in Section3.6.2 to reduce file size further  by

compressingthepdf.

Procedure2:ConvertanMSWordDocumenttoaPDFDocument(UsingMSWord)

Softwareneeded:MSWord.

FollowthisproceduretoconvertanMSWorddocumenttoa pdfdocument:

1. OpentheMSWorddocumentthatneedstobeconvertedtoapdfdocument.

2. ClickFile,Saveas.

3. Clickthedrop‐downarrowandthenclickPDF(*.pdf)–1and2inFigure

5,respectively.



Figure5: FileSaveAsWindow

4. ClickSavetosavethefile.Ifthefilesizeis≤20MBitislikelysmallenoughtosend asanemail

attachment.

Congratulations.YouhaveconvertedanMSWorddocumenttoapdfdocume ntusingMSWord.

File still

 not smallenough? Follow the procedure in Section3.6.2 to reduce file size further by

compressingthepdf.

3.6.2 ProceduretoCompressaPDF

Sometimes,afteranMSWorddocu mentiscompressedandconvertedtoapdf document,the

pdffilesizeisstilltoolarge .Inthesecases,compressthepdfitself.Thismethodismosteffective

withimage‐heavypdfs.



HowtoReducetheFileSizeofDocumentsandPhotographsSoTheyCanBeEmailed



KTP‐ART‐041,Rev.13.1 UncontrolledWhenPrinted 8

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ProceduretoCompressaPDFDocument(UsingAdobeAcrobatDC)

Softwareneeded:AdobeAcrobatDC.

Followthisproceduretocompressa pdfdocument:

1. OpenthepdfdocumentthatneedstobecompressedusingAdobeAcrobatDC.

2. ClicktheToolstab(Figure6).



Figure6: ToolsTab

3. IntheOptimizePDFtoolbar,clicktheOptimizePDFdrop‐down

(1)andthenclick Open(2).

SeeFigure7.



Figure7: OptimizePDF

4. IntheOptimizePDFtoolbar,clickReduceFileSize(Figure8).



Figure8: ReduceFileSizeButton

5. Savethefile.Ifthefilesizeis≤20MBitislikelysmallenoughtosendas

anemailattachment.

Congratulations.YouhavecompressedapdfdocumentusingAdobeAcrobatDC.

Needtocombinetwo ormorepdfsintoonepdf?FollowtheprocedureinSection3.6.3.



HowtoReducetheFileSizeofDocumentsandPhotographsSoTheyCanBeEmailed

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3.6.3 ProceduretoCombine‐MergePDFs

Youhavetwoormorepdfsandwanttocombine‐mer gethemintoone.You’vecometotheright

place.SeeSection3.6.3.1 

ProceduretoCombine‐MergePDFs(UsingAdobeAcrobatDC)

Softwareneeded:AdobeAcrobatDC.

Followthisproceduretocombine‐mergetwoormorepdfsintoone:

1. Navigatetothefolderthatcontains thepdfstocom bine‐merge.

2. Right‐clickonepdf. 

3. ClickCombinefilesinAcrobat(Figure

9).



Figure9: CombinefilesinAcrobat…

4. IntheCombineFilestoolbar,clickAddFiles(Figure10).



Figure10: AddFiles…

5. Navigatetoandclickthepdfsthatwillbecombined‐merged.

6. Draganddropthepdfstosorttheminthepreferredsequence,

asneeded.

6. IntheCombineFilestoolbar,clickCombinetomerge‐combineallpdfs intoonepdf(Figure11).

Compilingalargefilemaytakesometime.



Figure11: CombineFiles

7. Click File, Save and then save the file with an appropriate file name (e.g., Technical Notes

Combined).Ifthefilesizeis≤20MBitis likelysmallenoughtosendasanemailattachment.



HowtoReducetheFileSizeofDocumentsandPhotographsSoTheyCanBeEmailed

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

Congratulations.Youhavecombined‐mergedtwoormorepdfsintooneusingAdobeAcrobatDC.

AdobeAcrobatDC hasmanyotherusefulandintuitivepdfeditingfeatures,includingbookmark

creation,hyperlinkinsertion,andpagedeletionandinsertion.Exploreandexperiment withthese

featurestoimprovepdfmanipulationskills.

3.6.4 ProceduretoCreateaPDFContactSheetwithMSWord

A contact sheet con tains  one or many photographs on one or many pages. It allows many

photographstobeviewedsimultaneously.[3]A contactsheetpresentsphotographswithreduced

filesizesinanautomaticallyformattedlayout.Thisisespeciallyusefulwhenphotographsarefor

generalinformationandadequatedetailscanbedescribed

indocumentoremailprose,making

a caption for each photograph unnecessary. Assembling a contact sheet is easy, intuitive, and

quick.

Figure12isacontactsheet featuringninephotographs.MSWord’sPrintPicturesfeature,which

automatically arranges between 1 and 35 photographs per page, created this contact sheetas

one pdf documen t.  This pdf can then be combined with other  pdfs (see Section3.6.3), sent

independentlyasanemailattachment,orboth. 



Figure12: ContactSheetCreatedUsingMSWord’sPrintPicturesFeature 



HowtoReducetheFileSizeofDocumentsandPhotographsSoTheyCanBeEmailed

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

Wanttocreateacontactsheet?FollowtheprocedureinSection3.6.4.1.

ProceduretoCreateaPDFContactSheet(Using MSWord)

Softwareneeded:MSWord.

FollowthisproceduretocreateapdfcontactsheetusingMSWord:

1. Savephotographsthatwillcomprisethecontactsheettoafolderwheretheycanbe

accessed.

Deleteormoveunwantedphotographsfromthe

folderasneeded.

2. Sequence(nameornumber)filesinthepreferredorderasneeded.

Fileswillprintbyfilenamesequence.

3. Ifneeded,crop,edit,format,androta tefilesusingphotographeditingsoftware

(e.g.,MSOfficePictureManager,WindowsPictureandFaxViewer).

4. Navigatetothefolderthatcontains

thephotographs(savedinStep1).

5. Clickimagesthatwillbeincludedinthecontactsheet.

7. Right‐clickselectedfilesandclickPrinttoopenthePrintPicturesdialog(Figure13).



Figure13: MSWordPrintPicturesDialog

8. UseFigure13toidentifyandspecifydesiredoptions.



HowtoReducetheFileSizeofDocumentsandPhotographsSoTheyCanBeEmailed

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

The example in Figure13 will generate a letter‐sized pdf with nine photographs per page

(see1inFigure13).

9. ClickPrint(see2inFigure13)togeneratethepdf.

10. ClickSaveandthensavethefilewithanappropriatefilename(e.g.,PhotographsCombined).

Saving

alargefilemaytakesometime.

Congratulations.Youhavecreatedacon tactsheet pdfusingMSWord.

4 Conclusion

To reduce file sizes, consider using the workarounds  described in Section2 but beware the

inherentrisks!Thefollowingsummarizesbestpracticelowriskmethodsforreducingthefilesize

ofa:

 MSWorddocumentby:

○ Compressingit(Section3.5.1);and/or,

○ Convertingittoapdf(Section3.6.1).

 Pdfdocumentby:

○ Compressingit(Section3.6.2);and/or,

○ Combining‐mergingitwithotherpdfs(Section3.6.3).

 Selectionofphotographsby:

○ Creatingacontactsheet(Section3.6.4).

Experiment with file size reduction settings to acquire a suitable  file size with acceptable 

photographquality.Documentorrememberthepreferredfile sizereductionproceduresoitcan

berepeatedandshared.FindadditionalinstructionalvideosonYo uTubetha tdemonstratehow

toperformtheseand

similartasks.

Remember–apictureisworthathousandwords…andlessismore!

5 Figures

1. FreeIconsPNG.ViceCompressingDocuments.

https://www.freeiconspng.com/downloadimg/15945

2. RoyO.Christensen.MicrosoftWordscreencapture.PictureFormatTab.

3. RoyO.Christensen.MicrosoftWordscreencapture.CompressPictureDialog.

4. RoyO.Christensen.MicrosoftWordscreencapture.PrintSidebar.

5. RoyO.Christensen.MicrosoftWordscreencapture.FileSaveAsWindow.

6. RoyO.Christensen.Adobe

AcrobatDCscreencapture.ToolsTab.

7. RoyO.Christensen.AdobeAcrobatDCscreencapture.OptimizePDF.



HowtoReducetheFileSizeofDocumentsandPhotographsSoTheyCanBeEmailed



KTP‐ART‐041,Rev.13.1 UncontrolledWhenPrinted 13



8. RoyO.Christensen.AdobeAcrobatDCscreencapture.ReduceFileSizeButton.

9. RoyO.Christensen.AdobeAcrobatDCscreencapture.CombineFiles inAcrobat .

10. RoyO.Christensen.AdobeAcrobatDCscreencapture.AddFiles.

11. RoyO.Christensen.AdobeAcrobatDCscreencapture.CombineFiles.

12.

RoyO.Christensen.ContactSheetCreatedUsingMSWord’sPrintPicturesFeature(see

referencesbelow,toptobo ttom,andlefttoright):

a. Mining.com.Glass‐fibreReinforcedPlastic(GRP)Tank.

b. Pillar.PipingModule.

c. OCLGroup.SubArcWelding(SAW).

d. TheTyee.CrumpledPipeline.

e. Foremost.

OilStorageTanks.

f. KerrMarketing.ActuatedButterflyValves.

g. PSFilter.CoalescingFilterFabrication.

h. HeavyLiftSpecialist.PressureVesselLift.

i. TVDredging.StructuralSteelFabrication.

13. RoyO.Christensen.MicrosoftWordscreencapture.MSWordPrintPicturesDialog.

6 References

1. EnviraGalleryBlog.BestFreeImageOptimizationToolsforImageCompressio n.

https://enviragallery.com/best‐free‐image‐optimization‐tools‐for‐image‐compression/

2. CutePDF.CutePDFWriter,CreatePDFsfromalmostanyapplication—FreeSoftware!

http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp

3. KTProject.Contactsheetdefinition.KTP‐GEN‐002GlossaryofCommonIndustry andProject

Terminology.

7 ReadMore

Tolearnaboutprojectsuccess,readthisKTProjecteBook:

SuccessfulProjectsNeedEffectiveCommunication. 

8 AbouttheAuthor

RoyO.ChristensenfoundedtheKTProjecttosaveorganizationssignificantmoneyandtimeby

providingkeyresourcestoleverageexpertknowledgetransferforsuccessfulprojectexecution.



HowtoReducetheFileSizeofDocumentsandPhotographsSoTheyCanBeEmailed

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KTP‐ART‐041,Rev.13.1 UncontrolledWhenPrinted 14



8.1 Contact

RoyO.Christensen

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: +1403703‐2686

9 Notes

1. Theproceduresinthisdocumentmayvarydependinguponsoftware(e.g.,AdobeAcrobat

DC,CutePDF,orMSWord)andsoftwareversion.Otheralternativemethodscanbe

developedorestablished,ormayexist.

2. ThisarticlewasoriginallypublishedasHowtoPrepareDigitalPhotographs Quicklyand

Easily!onLinkedIn27

‐Mar‐16.

