So. You’ve created a megawatt, massive presentation in PowerPoint 2003 and find it’s grown just a tad too big now that the impressive grahics and Flash files are embedded.

There are a number of steps you can take to reduce file size in PowerPoint 2003. First, try this quick fix:

• On the Tools menu, select Options  and then click on the Save tab.
• If Allow fast saves has a checkmark, click the box to remove the checkmark and click OK.
• Now save your presentation under a new file name. On the menu, select File > Save As, type a new file name and click Save. This step alone may reduce the file size even more.

The Allow fast saves option does allow you to save files faster as you work, but the tradeoff is a larger file size because PowerPoint appends new changes each time you save the file. Turning off Allow fast saves means data is completely rewritten with each save, resulting in a smaller file.