# Microsoft Word can't deal with large, 27meg, files **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 22, 2011, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-word-cant-deal-with-large-27meg-files/589975 "2011-07-22T12:59:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-word-cant-deal-with-large-27meg-files/589975/1 "2011-07-22T12:59:32Z")
I am trying to get a genealogical book ready for printing. It was created using the program Roots Magic (RM). RM can create a .rtf so I decided to do that and edit the file in Word. The document came out to be around 2600 pages, all text, with an index. When I go to open the document Word sits there and takes a while to open, then when I go to scroll through the document Word repaginates the document and then proceeds to not work properly. I’ve tried it using two different computers and converting it to a .doc. This is becoming really frustrating as I’ve been trying to get others to help with the work but I can’t if I can’t get it to work correctly. I can’t tell if the index is the problem, as I’ve tried without the index, and it works better sometimes. Is there anything I can do or am I screwed and have to find another way to write my book. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-word-cant-deal-with-large-27meg-files/589975/2 "2011-07-22T13:32:23Z")
What version of Word are you using? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-word-cant-deal-with-large-27meg-files/589975/3 "2011-07-22T13:41:20Z")
Word is not the best program to be doing this in. It often has trouble handling large files; once I edited a manual in an earlier version of Word and after 72 pages, it would invariably have problems. That was a while ago, and I’m sure Word has improved; but if you’re doing serious multi-hundred-page documents with indexes and footnotes and chapters, you really need to use something else. I used FrameMaker at my old job: heavy-duty book-creation software that _will_ do what you want, but it’s expensive and has a bit of a learning curve. I have InDesign now, but it is more adapted to smaller, more graphical documents, though it does have features for tables of content and such. You may want to try the freeware LaTeX, which is often used in the academic community. [Check out the SDMB thread!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=616488). Download it [here](http://www.latex-project.org/). ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-word-cant-deal-with-large-27meg-files/589975/4 "2011-07-22T14:39:50Z")
I’m using both 2003 and 2007. Sunspace, I will look into the LaTex and see how it works. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-word-cant-deal-with-large-27meg-files/589975/5 "2011-07-22T15:25:39Z")
I’ve never used the feature, but Word does have a master document / sub document capability which is designed to handle long documents by splitting them into “chapters.” You might look into that. ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-word-cant-deal-with-large-27meg-files/589975/6 "2011-07-22T15:35:15Z")
Use Draft View and turn off background repagination. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-word-cant-deal-with-large-27meg-files/589975/7 "2011-07-22T16:41:54Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > I’ve never used the feature, but Word does have a master document / sub document capability which is designed to handle long documents by splitting them into “chapters.” You might look into that. It’s a good idea, but unfortunately the Master Documents “feature” in Word has never worked correctly and nearly always results in corrupted documents. It’s always been broken and, AFAIK, has not been fixed. There are people that have gotten it to work successfully, but these people are vanishingly rare. I’m a technical writer, and I know of only one person who’s claimed to make it work. There are ways you can fake a master document using file include fields, but now we’re heading into advanced user territory. In short, stay far, far away from Master Documents in Word. That way lies madness. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-word-cant-deal-with-large-27meg-files/589975/8 "2011-07-22T17:09:42Z")
I will just add that I also have seen issues in Word when documents get very large. I do not know if these are bugs in functional code, or how it handles memory. I have seen one case recently where my computer will handle a particular file just fine but the person I worked with had corruptions throughout the file every time she tried to refresh the table of contents. I second the motion to use a different tool. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-word-cant-deal-with-large-27meg-files/589975/9 "2011-07-22T17:37:58Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > how it handles memory Word is, IMHO, fantastically bad at how it manages documents in memory. Back when floppy disks were the commonest method of storing documents, it seems that hardly a week would go by that I wouldn’t have to help a patron who had corrupted a Word document by opening it from one disk and then trying to save it to another. Word doesn’t open any more of the file into memory than it thinks you’re going to need right then, and if that document is more than a few pages long and if you should swap disks while a document is open on that disk, well, Word just considers that to be _your_ problem. ---
**Author:** ![Infoseeker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e68b1a/32.png) [@Infoseeker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infoseeker)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-word-cant-deal-with-large-27meg-files/589975/10 "2011-07-22T18:22:51Z")
Try opening the document with OpenOffice. It’s a great free open-source alternative to microsoft office in every way except for Excel (whcih it has its own similar version you would have to learn). It is compatible with all version of word; even the really old ones. It may be able to handle a heavy document too. [http://www.openoffice.org/](http://www.openoffice.org/) If a Microsoft office program gives me problems I always follow an attempt with Openoffice. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-word-cant-deal-with-large-27meg-files/589975/11 "2011-07-22T23:38:31Z")
Just my opinion, and feel free to disregard, but as they say, use the right tool for the job. I’d only attack a layout of this nature using nothing less than InDesign or Quark. Word and its ilk are just not cut out for this sort of task; it’s a word processor, not really a page layout application. if you can’t afford the software, perhaps there are open source or cheaper solutions, but you’ll have a _much_ easier time wrangling a project like this using page layout/desktop publishing software. Especially if you’re self publishing? Anyhow, sounds like a hefty job… good luck! ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2011, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-word-cant-deal-with-large-27meg-files/589975/12 "2011-07-23T00:08:45Z")
If you stick with Word, be sure to shut off the “track changes” feature. It was never intended to be a history of every keystroke ever made; yet many people do just that. If you ahd tracking on, accept all changes and shut that stupid feature off. 90% of our troubles with Word stemmed from people modifying tables over and over again while changes were being tracked. If for some reason you need tracking, I suggest you do not use Word.