Word document size grows exponentially after saving

There may be some form of corruption causing the bloat. Tables are among the most likely culprits especially if the document is being revised constantly by a variety of users.

One method of curing the document is to use the Repair feature in the File> Open dialog. Save a copy of the file & close both it & the original. When you go to open the file click the ↕️ on the Open dropdown & select Repair.

Another option is to do what is referred to as a Maggie named for the MVP who discovered the method years ago:

1. Command+A[Select All]

2. Shift+← [deselect final ¶]*

3. Command+C [Copy]

4. Command+N [create a new blank document]

5. Command+V [Paste into new document]

6. Command+S [Save the new document]

*****Don’t omit this step. Otherwise it’s just a regular copy/paste which
 includes the cause of the corruption.

For other methods see: Corrupt document

Dear Kgl1,

Thanks for your updates and letting us know the current situation in your environment.

I understand that the file is confidential and the data privacy is important. Another guess may be that the issue happens with the current version of the Word for Mac application when working with the file in your environment.

If it is convenient, you can use the previous version number of the Word for Mac applications to check whether the issue goes away.

Update history for Office for Mac - Office release notes | Microsoft Learn

If yes, you may report the issue to our related team via the built-in Feedback option in your Word for Mac application so that they can be aware of the issue in your environment and try to see whether they can fix the issue in the later released version number of the Office for Mac applications.

Thank you for your effort and time!

Sincerely

Cliff | Microsoft Community Moderator

There may be some form of corruption causing the bloat. Tables are among the most likely culprits especially if the document is being revised constantly by a variety of users.

One method of curing the document is to use the Repair feature in the File> Open dialog. Save a copy of the file & close both it & the original. When you go to open the file click the ↕️ on the Open dropdown & select Repair.

Another option is to do what is referred to as a Maggie named for the MVP who discovered the method years ago:

1. Command+A[Select All]

2. Shift+← [deselect final ¶]*

3. Command+C [Copy]

4. Command+N [create a new blank document]

5. Command+V [Paste into new document]

6. Command+S [Save the new document]

*****Don’t omit this step. Otherwise it’s just a regular copy/paste which
 includes the cause of the corruption.

For other methods see: Corrupt document

Thank you for the suggestions. I have tried both options, and unfortunately they both ended up with ~65MB file size.

Dear Kgl1,

Regarding "When I work on a draft document (with tracked changes) in both systems and with collaborators, its size tripled after another person (using Mac) made minor edits and sent it back to me (from 4 to 12MB).", how do you collaborate with the files? Do you perform the co-authoring in OneDrive for Business or SharePoint Online?

Does the issue happen in the specific file you are using? If you open other files, what's the result?

When does the issue start to happen? Does it occur suddenly? What did you do before the issue occurred?

If it is convenient, please share the affected file in your environment for us to do a test. If the file and the file link can be shared publicly, please add your confirmation and share the file link here.

If no, welcome to let us know and we'll take the next step to collect the file.

Moreover, I'd like you to provide the version number of the Word for Mac application you are using currently for our reference.

Thank you for your effort and time!

Sincerely

Cliff | Microsoft Community Moderator

Hi Cliff,

Thank you for your quick response. I edit the file across Windows 10 and Mac OS devices with Dropbox. And for collaboration, it was a combination of Teams file share and email attachment.

It seems this issue happened mostly with this specific file, and also only during recent months. This file has tables and images, which may result in the large size at the end, but the size growing exponentially is not reasonable.

And unfortunately I will not be able to share the file because it contains confidential information. The version of the Word for Mac I am using is 16.74, from Microsoft 365 Subscription.

Dear Kgl1,

Regarding "When I work on a draft document (with tracked changes) in both systems and with collaborators, its size tripled after another person (using Mac) made minor edits and sent it back to me (from 4 to 12MB).", how do you collaborate with the files? Do you perform the co-authoring in OneDrive for Business or SharePoint Online?

Does the issue happen in the specific file you are using? If you open other files, what's the result?

When does the issue start to happen? Does it occur suddenly? What did you do before the issue occurred?

If it is convenient, please share the affected file in your environment for us to do a test. If the file and the file link can be shared publicly, please add your confirmation and share the file link here.

If no, welcome to let us know and we'll take the next step to collect the file.

Moreover, I'd like you to provide the version number of the Word for Mac application you are using currently for our reference.

Thank you for your effort and time!

Sincerely

Cliff | Microsoft Community Moderator