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Software Help & Advice

The Trust offers technical advice about the effective use of computer software. This is designed to help less experienced users become more familiar with some of the basic operations of computer software. Please click on one of the subsections below or scroll down the page.

1. Reducing File Sizes:

1.1 About File Compression.
1.2 Converting Files to .pdf Format.
1.3 Compressing Microsoft® Office Documents Without Converting to .pdf.
1.4 Compressing Multiple Files or Folders.

1.1 About File Compression:

The Trust receives documents from its grantees through e-mail, but often finds that the size of the files submitted are very large. The Trust has therefore put together some advice about how to easily reduce the size of documents. The benefits of smaller files are that they:

take less time to send / receive,
are not blocked by servers which restrict the size of individual files being submitted,
cost less to send / receive if you are paying a rate per minute for internet usage,
take up less space on a storage device, and
open and run quicker.

The reason that that files are often so large, is because they have not been suitably compressed. Pictures are usually the main culprit for large file sizes. This is because when you take a picture with a digital camera, the picture is saved to the device with a high resolution (and thus a high file size). This is done to allow the user the greatest possible flexibility in what they can do with the image (e.g. they might want to significantly enlarge the picture to go on a poster, in which case the highest resolution available is needed).
However, for the purpose of reports for example, pictures mainly serve as a demonstration of what has been achieved. Therefore the Trust does not require high resolution photographs. Smaller, lower resolution images will suffice.

1.2 Converting Files to .pdf Format:

To convert documents to a .pdf file format, you must first download and install "Adobe Reader" and "Cute PDF Writer", which allow you to create the compressed (pdf) files. Once successfully installed, please follow the simple steps below to compress your document. The example below is demonstrated on Microsoft® Word 2003, in Microsoft® Windows XP. The process may differ slightly using other software.

1. Open up your file using its default programme (e.g. Microsoft® Word 2003).
2. Click on "File" and then "Print". Select the "CutePDF Writer" as the printer and then click on the adjacent "Properties" button.
3. Click the "Advanced" button on the bottom right of the dialog box and another pop up box will appear.
4. Change the "Print Quality" from 600dpi to 144dpi. This resolution will usually suffice for reports.
5. Click "OK" to close each of the screens. You will then be prompted to name the file and select where you want to save it.
6. The file will be saved to the location that you have specified. You can check the size of the file by right clicking on it and selecting "Properties". A dialog box will then pop up. The size of the file is shown under the header "Size on disk".

Please click on the pictures below for a graphical representation of the steps above.

A file size no bigger than 2MB will usually be satisfactory for a report. However, if you need to compress the document further, you can do so in Microsoft® Word 2003, by right clicking on a picture in your document and clicking on "Format picture". Under the "Picture" tab click "compress". Then select the radio button under "Apply to" called "All pictures in document". Then change the resolution to "Web/Screen". A pop up box will then appear; click "Apply" and then "OK". Then convert your document to a pdf file (as shown in steps 1-6 above).

The main things to remember when creating a .pdf file are:

Your original document will be left unaltered by the process. When you create a .pdf file, the software is simply making a copy and compressing it. If you need to make any changes, you can do so on your original document and re-create a new pdf file.
You can create a .pdf file from any software that has the option to print (you do not require a printer). The .pdf writer software is always listed as a printer on your machine, it is this "printer" that you use.
Reading .pdf files is different from creating them. You use Adobe Reader to read a pdf file. Other software (which charge) such as Adobe Acrobat, allow much greater flexibility over what you can do with .pdf files (such as edit the files, insert pages and much, much more).

1.3 Compressing Microsoft® Office Documents Without Converting to .pdf:

It is often necessary for users to want to send Microsoft® Office files to one another, whilst keeping the file in its original format, but needing to avoid the restrictions imposed by converting to a pdf.
However, due to the size of pictures used with in the document, the files can often get very large. Compressing the pictures within the document can drastically reduce the file size, and make e-mailing the file far quicker and easier. It is very easy and quick to do:

Office 2007 / 2010 users: Select (left click) on the picture you wish to compress. A tab at the top of the screen should appear called "Format" (within "Picture Tools"). Left click on this tab and you should find a button called "Compress Pictures" (about a quarter of the way in from the left edge of the screen). A dialogue box will then pop up. Make sure that the two boxes are checked and that you select the option "E-mail (96 ppi): minimize document size for sharing". Office 2007 users will need to click the "Options..." button for these additional settings to appear.
Office 2003 users: Select (left click) on the picture you wish to compress, then right click and select "Format Picture". A dialogue box will appear, so click on the "Picture" tab, and then click the "Compress.." button. Make sure that "All pictures in document", "Web/Screen" and "Compress Pictures" are selected. Then Click on "OK" (and then "Apply" if it asks) and on "OK" again to close the dialogue boxes.
OpenOffice 3.3 users: Please refer to the Tutorial section of the OpenOffice website.

1.4 Compressing Multiple Files or Folders:

Sometimes it is necessary to compress multiple files or folders and send them to someone via e-mail. The easiest way to do this, is to either add the files to a .zip or to a .7z archive. Creating a .zip ("zip") file is the easiest method, but does not usually compress the contents very efficiently. 7z (or "7-Zip" files) usually offer a greater variety of options for file compression, but can be a bit more tricky to use for less experienced users:

Creating a .zip file: Right clicking somewhere on your desktop, or in a folder, etc and Selecting "New", then clicking on "Compressed (zipped) Folder". Open this new "zip" folder and simply drag and drop the files you want to send into it.
Creating a .7z file: This software is not usually included with Windows, but it can be downloaded from the 7zip website. After installation, right click one of the files you want to add to the archive and click "7-Zip" and then "Add to archive...". A dialogue box will pop up where you can enter the name of the archive file and location you want to store it. There are other options you can change, which will usually affect the size of the file (you can even enter a password if sending sensitive documents). Click "OK" and you will a .7z file will have been created where you specified. Then open the .7z file and drag and drop any other files you want to add to the archive.

You may also want to consider using the processes described above, to archive old documents you might have on your computer, in order to save hard disk space.