400Kb at save, 14.5 MB at print

[nynavey]

I have an 8 page document with 1 thumbnail image, arial or times fonts, and
various word tables scattered throughout, that saves at approx. 400 Kb. When
sending to a printer, it balloons up to 14.5+ mb. This isn't a problem for
some of our printers, but others don't have that kind of buffer.

Why is this happening, and is there anything I can do to change it?

 

[Jay Freedman]

I have an 8 page document with 1 thumbnail image, arial or times
fonts, and various word tables scattered throughout, that saves at
approx. 400 Kb. When sending to a printer, it balloons up to 14.5+
mb. This isn't a problem for some of our printers, but others don't
have that kind of buffer.

Why is this happening, and is there anything I can do to change it?

It's happening because the pages have to be "rasterized" or converted from
vector-based to bit-mapped information in order to print. There isn't much
you can do to reduce the size in the printer queue, other than printing
fewer pages, and possibly turning off some or all of the table borders.

The cure for the problem printers is in Windows, not in Word. In the
Printers dialog, right-click the printer and select Properties, go to the
Advanced tab, and make sure the "Spool print documents" option is selected.
That causes the huge print file to be saved to disk and slowly fed to the
printer as it's needed, rather than being dumped in one great wad.

If you continue to have problems, try uninstalling and reinstalling the
printer driver.

 

[CyberTaz]

Hello-

Just an somewhat educated guess, but the printer needs to be sent much more
information than what the storage requirements of the file are.

The one graphic, for example, may consist of thousands of pixels, and each
one needs to be described to the printer. The tables are also graphic in
nature, especially if the cell walls are being printed... even more so if
there is any variation in line /fill color, border weight, etc.

Whereas the file may simply store a single command to a certain size & color
dot in 500 locations, the printer needs to be given a separate instruction
for each of the 500 dots.

Somewhat of an oversimplification, perhaps, but at least a partial
explaination.

HTH |:>)