Comparison of Word 2010 and 2019

When Word "struggles" with a large document, it isn't the number of pages that's important.

One main factor is the size of the file in bytes. The article on Word's limitations (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office/troubleshoot/word/operating-parameter-limitation) says that the text is limited to 32 megabytes, not including graphics; the largest file that Word can open is 512 MB. Long before those limits are reached, though, Word slows down significantly, and the point at which that happens depends mostly on the amount of physical memory in your computer and on what other programs are running at the same time.

It's advisable to use a separate graphics program to reduce each picture to the final display size and resolution, to minimize its file size, before inserting it into the Word document. Otherwise, the original file size determines how much memory it'll occupy when you load the document, and Word will have to use CPU to recompute the picture's data to match the display size each time.

Another main factor is the complexity of the document. You can minimize this by doing all (or almost all) formatting with styles and not with directly applied formatting; by using "in line with text" wrapping for all graphics; and by not using any nested tables (that is, a table inside a cell of another table).

One thing that may help, if you update to Word 2019, is that new installations now default to 64-bit programs (your Word 2010 is probably 32-bit). That should make memory manipulation by Word and Windows somewhat faster. Other than that, though, most of Word's internal code is largely the same except for the new features.

Because your document is so large, having at least one reliable backup is crucial. Word's tools for timely backups have improved over the years but are still inadequate for critical projects. I recommend that you set up the Windows 10 File History feature (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/17143/windows-10-back-up-your-files) to maintain multiple versions of the document. Although the article says the feature needs an external drive or a network drive, it will also work with a drive that's internal to your computer as long as it isn't the same one as the drive that holds the working document. In addition, you can manually back up the file to a cloud service such as OneDrive or Dropbox -- but don't store the working copy in the cloud-linked folder, which would slow down Word.

Hello jrj1040

The operational parameters for a .docx file have not changed for '2019 as described in

Operating parameter limitations and specifications in Word

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office/trouble...

You may want to consider breaking up the 7000 page document into smaller .docx documents to avoid reaching any maximum limits. It would also provide the benefit of avoiding losing the entire document should a problem be encountered.

Adding to Rohn's advice...

1. Hard drives, good hard drives, fail. If you use computers long enough, it will happen to you and be devastating without backups.
2. Here are two good backup utilities for Word documents. They serve slightly different purposes.

• Automatically backup Word documents by Graham Mayor, MVP
• Save in two places by Graham Mayor, MVP

Here is a further note to emphasize what Jay said about using Styles for formatting.

Importance of Styles in Word

Also, any time you use track changes you add to your file's size and complexity, at least until the changes are accepted.

I agree with pretty much everything that Karl and Jay have said.

2019 has no functional improvements (that I know of) to make it better suited to handle your large file than 2010.

.

What sort of "struggles" does 2010 have with this file.?

.

If you have both installed on the same computer, they CAN ONLY be in the same bit version, 32 OR 64.  The installer will NOT allow you to mix bit versions on the same computer.

.

When did you install 2019?  If it was before Feb 2019, then there is a good chance 2019 was installed in 32 bit.  In theory, 64 bit can handle larger files better than 32 bit. IF your computer has adequate RAM.  These days that is a minimum of 8GB of RAM, 16GB is better (32GB is probably a waste of money).

.

2010 also has a 64 bit version that you can install. You first have to uninstall 32 bit 2010 (and 2019 if it is on the same computer).

.

As Karl pointed out, "pages" are a construct for printers, not significant to Word.  I regularly work with a document with 1000-1200 "pages which is 45-50MB in total size.  32 BIT Word 2010, and 2016 both have no problem with this file. It does not have many images.

.

Jay's suggestion to optimize photo size outside of Word is SPOT ON. It will go a long way to reducing the load images place on your file.

.

Do you actually print this document (at all), or is it an online resource? Splitting the file in half or quarters is a good way to reduce the load on Word.  Split the files at logical places, ie chapters, even if the size split is not even.

.

Since you notice Word is struggling with the file FREQUENT backups are VITAL to preserve your work.   You have 3 options to automate backups:

• old school, macros or macro based addon tools
• Win 10 File History
• Win 10 / OneDrive "Autosave"

.

Personally, I prefer the first option. I am talking about full "SAVE AS" copies of your document that have a datetime stamp or version number.It has worked best for me. I never could beat File History into submission to get it to work for me. And OneDrive Autosave depends on a good internet connection. People have mentioned that OneDrive autosave creates a performance lag as it struggles to keep up with updates.

.

No matter which type of backup you use, you will find that it uses up a lot of space, so you will have to periodically go through and clean up backups.  Depending on the importance of the file to me, and the amount of change I make, I prefer to have 5-10 minute backup intervals. The point of the backups is to protect you in case there is file corruption discovered. Quite often the corrupt file will save, but will not open. So the corruption can span back over several versions.  What I like to do is keep most of the most recent backups, then delete to create wider intervals the farther back in time I go.  ie:

• Day 1-2- keep all 5minut backups for the first couple of days.
• Days 2-7- keep hourly backups only,
• Week 2-3- just one copy each day (start or end of day, you choose).
• Week 4 later, delete all older copies

.

Word also has an option to save time interval files as ASD file type. But they are deleted when Word is closed normally, so the don't work as long term backup. There is also an option to create a full .BAK copy when you open the file. But that gets overwritten each time you open, so it is not a good backup strategy.

.

There is one more form of document complexity you may want to investigate and minimize. That is the accumulation of unused or unwanted styles if you copy/paste from many other documents and/or the internet. There are macros that can automate removing unused styles. After that you can review the remaining styles and apply the correct styles in order to free up more to be deleted.

.

Let me know if you want the backup macros and/or style clean up macros.

.