We have a Word 2000 document that contains numerous pictures. Recent updates made to the document increased the size to over 18MB. A year ago this document was less than 4 GB.

I suspect the pictures in the document are the main cause. There are many screen-shots that have either been directly pasted into the document or inserted via Insert - Picture from File. This document also contains a Table of Contents so conversion to HTML and back is not a viable option since it loses the formatting.

There are a number of people who make updates to this document and I do not have copies of each version that was created. I am hoping to take the opportunity now to correct the bloating and devise a recommended rule on how best to add images.

I was wondering if anyone can tell me what the best image format and embedding process is to have the least amount of bloating impact on a Document.

JPG vs BMP
Paste vs Insert from File
etc.

I appreciate any assistance that can be provided.