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Don't confuse length with size. If you paste the U.S. Constitution into a
Word document, it will run 24 pages at 10 point type, single spaced - and
will yield a file size of only 124K. It's the images, tracked changes, and
(if you use them) objects that are bloating your files.
You might consider periodically archiving your documents, and then clearing
out all of the tracked changes. They can massively bloat a Word file. They
are probably your biggest culprit. The changes can always be printed out and
saved in an archive version for you to refer back to if you want to add
something back in that you deleted.
Another tip is to avoid using objects from other Office programs like Excel.
You didn't mention that you were, but in case you are, note that they add
about 75K of overhead for each object, and they contribute to document
instability no matter what the file size.
You got some sound advice from Keith about keeping your image sizes down,
although I don't have a problem pasting images into documents (I just use
the Paste Special > Picture method). I've had good luck using PNG for
screenshots; dialog boxes run about 12K.
Good luck!
Kevin
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