i am writing a technical book and frequently i must add simple graphics that i draw myself or rarely some photos. will the file size be a problem after a while and slow things down? my book will be totally about 250 pages. assume 1 graph every 2 page. or i should not insert when working but only in the very end, when i am ready to publish and convert to pdf, because it will slow things down?

If you are drawing them yourself on paper and scanning onto the computer and inserting as picture it's hard to tell what file size they will end up being. Essentially any images or photos you insert will add to the overall file size of the document. Unless the file sizes are really large > 50MB then I don't think 250 page should cause you too much of an issue. I have some documents which are over 250+ pages and many pages have 2 or 3 images per page and these were all high resolution photographs. One of these files is only 27MB but it does not give me any issues with performance. It does obviously depend on what your computer is capable of.

If the end document file size ends up being an issue, you can use the Compress Pictures tool to reduce this and therefore the overall file size. Simply select one of the images in your document, go to the Picture Tools > Format tab and from the Adjust group of icons click the Compress Pictures button. You will be able to select your target output E.g. Print, Screen, Email and then there is a check box that is ticked which applies the settings only to the image you have selected, untick this box to apply the setting to ALL images in your document. Click OK. Save your document and then re-check the file size.

Let me know if you require further assistance.

P.S. I can give you a step by step list of what to do via my blog site if you like, just let me know and I'll write something up and post online.

hi ketanco,
I've just uploaded a blog post showing how to compress pictures, in case you need more information: URL is: http://www.thetraininglady.com/Sk24Y