PPT4: PowerPoint Presentations Much Larger in Version 4.0
  
PSS ID Number: Q111823
Article last modified on 05-16-1998
 
windows:4.0,4.0a
 
WINDOWS
 

======================================================================
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The information in this article applies to:
 
 - Microsoft PowerPoint for Windows, versions 4.0 and 4.0a
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
SUMMARY
=======
 
Under certain circumstances, the file size of a Microsoft PowerPoint
version 4.0 for Windows presentation can be much larger than an equivalent
presentation file created in an earlier version of PowerPoint. This is
primarily due to the following factors:
 
 - Overhead for storage of OLE objects
 - Creation of Summary Info picture used in the Find File dialog box
 
The most dramatic increase is generally caused by the creation of the
Summary Info picture, so simplifying the first slide in the presentation
can result in a dramatic improvement in the size of the file.
 
MORE INFORMATION
================
 
Because the Summary Info picture used in the Find File dialog is a
metafile, each PowerPoint object that appears on the first slide of a
presentation must be duplicated and rendered as a metafile.
 
The following are some file sizes that demonstrate the increase that may
occur when you convert a PowerPoint 3.0 presentation, with many objects on
the first slide, to a PowerPoint 4.0 presentation. In the example below,
the original presentation consisted of a one-slide PowerPoint 3.0 file with
2000 small rectangle PowerPoint objects.
 
   Size    File Description
   ----    ----------------
 
   75K     PowerPoint 3.0 Presentation - first slide with 2000 objects
 
  365K     PowerPoint 4.0 Presentation - first slide with 2000 objects
 
   80K     PowerPoint 4.0 Presentation - first slide blank, but second
           slide with 2000 objects
 
Notice that the creation of the Summary Info picture with 2000 objects
on the first slide increased the file size by nearly 400 percent.
When an empty slide was inserted as the first slide, the size of the
PowerPoint 4.0 presentation was reduced dramatically and showed only
a slight increase over the size of the original PowerPoint 3.0 file.
 
NOTE: Objects that are on the Slide Master and visible when viewing the
first slide of a presentation will also have to be duplicated and
rendered for the Summary Info picture. You can use the Slide Background
to turn off the display of objects that are on the Slide Master for the
first slide of the presentation in order to reduce the size of the
presentation file.
 
Additional query words: 4.00 grow expand large big huge preview
macppt winppt
======================================================================
Keywords          : kbusage
Version           : windows:4.0,4.0a
Platform          : WINDOWS
Hardware          : x86
Issue type        : kbinfo
=============================================================================
Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1998.