{"id":66,"date":"2009-11-04T19:12:04","date_gmt":"2009-11-05T02:12:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.visiozone.com\/?p=66"},"modified":"2010-12-22T19:39:51","modified_gmt":"2010-12-23T02:39:51","slug":"why-are-my-files-so-large","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/visiozone.com\/?p=66","title":{"rendered":"Why are my Visio files so large?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Post<\/a><\/p><\/div>

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Something we\u2019ve heard often over the years from various clients, customers, and users is, \u201cThere\u2019s not much in my drawing\u2026 why is the file so big?\u201d\u00a0 Of course, there can be several reasons for this but one of the most common is the concept of \u201cunused master shapes.\u201d\u00a0 Huh? I\u2019m glad you asked.<\/p>\n

The icons on a Visio stencil represent what\u2019s formally known as Master Shapes. \u00a0For example, when you drag a shape representing a server onto a page and place it into a rack, a copy of the Master is placed in the drawing\u2019s Document Stencil which you can\u2019t see (more on that in a bit), and what appears on the page is an Instance of the shape.\u00a0 An Instance is a pointer to the shape in the Document Stencil, kind of like a copy.\u00a0 So, if you place a dozen servers in your rack elevation, you will have a dozen pointers back to the one shape in your Document Stencil.\u00a0 This is one way that Visio actually keeps the file size down and performance up.<\/p>\n

You can see the Document Stencil by selecting File > Shapes > Show Document Stencil.\u00a0 It looks like a regular Visio stencil but it contains only the shapes that you have placed in your drawing.\u00a0 However, if you delete all of the Instances of a shape, such as those 12 servers in your rack, there will still be a server shape in your Document Stencil.\u00a0 In other words, the Document Stencil maintains a stock of every shape that you have placed in your drawing even if you\u2019ve deleted them all from the pages.<\/p>\n

Over time, a Visio file may become bloated especially if it has been worked on and modified frequently.\u00a0 Let\u2019s say you\u2019re changing out the equipment in your rack and you delete all of those servers and replace them with patch panels, routers, and other stuff.\u00a0 The server shape will still be on your Document Stencil as will all of those patch panels, routers, and other stuff.\u00a0 The next time the rack is provisioned, that stuff may be deleted but the shapes are still in the Document Stencil.\u00a0 Get the picture here?\u00a0 It\u2019s like an attic that accumulates junk that you no longer use in your house.<\/p>\n

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\"This

This Document Stencil contains over 100 unused masters... the only one used is the very last one on the bottom row above<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

So the file size grows and grows even though there\u2019s not much in the drawing.\u00a0 The best thing to do is clean out the \u201cunused Masters\u201d from your drawing.\u00a0 Visio 2007 has an easy way to do this.\u00a0 Select File > Remove Hidden Information and then the File Size Reduction tab.\u00a0 Checking the \u201cRemove unused master shapes\u201d box will clean the Document Stencil and reduce the file size.<\/p>\n

In the example below, there are just two equipment racks in the drawing but the file size is a whopping 2 MB!\u00a0 The Remove Hidden Information box shows 103 unused master shapes.\u00a0 Although this is just a sample drawing to illustrate the point, it\u2019s not unusual for a drawing that\u2019s been used for years to have over a hundred unused masters.\u00a0 After cleaning them out, the file size shrinks to 200 KB\u2026 quite a difference.<\/p>\n

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\"Sample <\/div>\n
What if you\u2019re still on Visio 2003?\u00a0 That version has no built in feature to clean the Document Stencil but Visimation has a free tool called VisiClean<\/a> that you can download from our ShapeSource store.\u00a0 VisiClean will clean individual drawings that you open.\u00a0 If you want to clean many files at once in a batch mode, VisiBatchClean<\/a> is another tool for sale at ShapeSource.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\"Post<\/a><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"Post<\/p>\n

\"This <\/p>\n

Something we\u2019ve heard often over the years from various clients, customers, and users is, \u201cThere\u2019s not much in my drawing\u2026 why is the file so big?\u201d Of course, there can be several reasons for this but one of the most common is the concept of \u201cunused master shapes.\u201d Huh? I\u2019m glad you asked.<\/p>\n

The icons on a Visio stencil represent what\u2019s formally known as …Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[61],"tags":[5,3,73,4],"yoast_head":"\nWhy are my Visio files so large?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This article explains how Visio files can become bloated due to unused master shapes and how you can clean them out and slim them down.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/visiozone.com\/?p=66\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why are my Visio files so large?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This article explains how Visio 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