MS Project File Bloat

Hello,

I am having what seems like similar issues. I'm not sure how to go about fixing it so I hope I will get some sort of response to this post asap.

Issue: Ms Project 2010 File is running extreamly slow to the point where many tasks are taking 20 seconds or more to execute. For example clicking on the dropdown menu for the total slack task around 20 seconds to show up. Changing the duration 15 secs or more. Adding activities etc.

Some Facts:

File Size - sometimes 65k KB sometimes 100k kb.

I have saved as and renamed file to reduce the size. Sometimes it reduces the size sometimes it doesnt. But it doesnt change the time it takes to execute certain commands like i listed before.

creating the xml file didnt work still slow

tried copying the whole schedule and it just keep loading probably becasue it is to much data

3000ish tasks

2 diff calendars

one custom text column with a formula to produce status lights

10 baselines saved

I get this error message "there was a problem sending the command to the program" when opening the file i assume it means it is corrupted...

Please Help!!!

Open the project file, and then don’t do anything other than save it to a new filename.



This often cleans things up.

If you delete the Actuals then the Task Start will change from the Actual Start to (well, there are a variety of possiblities depending on Predecessor/Successor relationships, task constraint types/dates ...) so I’d leave them alone for now.



As for the server version ... you can d/l a free trial of Server and a free trial of Pro and there’s some good documentation about installing both on a single machine.



I suspect that if you made your case (about the file size issue) they’d be willing to give you a loaner so you can try out the possible fix. Your only "big" (note the quotes) issue is that you might want it set up so that you can easily refresh the machine to an uninstalled state in case something goes wrong during your install.



So ... 1. d/l the server and pro trial versions; 2. get your fresh machine; 3. copy the d/l’d files to the fresh machine; 4. make an image of the fresh machine with the d/l files; 5. try installing the d/l files -- if it works then it’s great and if it fails then refresh your machine with the copy you made in step 3.



I’m working in a *large* org right now and we had to do something similar on a different project ... took the usual 2 weeks to move the paperwork through and the machines were returned at the end of the test. Not really a "biggie" because we did the work -- note, we did need an exception to get machines where we had access to an Admin account and had the admin password.

You’ve tried all the approaches that I was going to suggest. Well, all but 1.



Save it to a previous version’s format. Use a previous version to open and save it. Then use the current version to open the file. I’ve never tried this but you’ve tried everything else!



There might actually be a legitimate reason for the large size: how many baselines are you carrying and how much tracking of Actuals are you doing? If you’ve got several baselines and you’re tracking the Actuals for a large number of resources then you’re carrying a large amount of data.



As for the VBA backup ... that just ain’t gonna happen. All of the basic info for the project, tasks, resources and assignments is exposed by the object model. But lots of stuff just isn’t available. How much? Save the file to an Access database format and look at the number of memo fields. Those fields are binary data and much (all?) of it isn’t exposed via the object model.



Now ... if you have project server, you get better definitions of the underlying data structures (though there is some duplication of data for a variety of reasons including performance).



Hmmm ... that suggests another possiblity. If you can get a trial version of Server and a trial version of Pro up and running then you could put the file onto that machine, open it in Pro, publish it to the server, pull it back out and see what you’ve got.

OK, you have successfully provoked a response.

If you are just going to vent and froth at the mouth, why not just stay out of the discussion?

How about something constructive and helpful, based on actual knowledge or research?



MSP works fine. Also, it ain’t going away anytime soon. Sure, it has a few idiosyncrasies. So what, big deal. There are people who know what they are doing with it (and they are not fools). There are plenty of people who slag it off when they cannot make it work because they spend their time and effort fuming rather than understanding.

There are people who go out and buy way more expensive software so that can produce a much more expensive mess than they were previously capable of.



The file size problem is well known and discussed and solved many times in the newsgroup at microsoft.project.public (have you ever looked there?), where you will find some of the people who know what they are doing (who are not fools).



Try this:

http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.project/search?group=mi…



Try this:



http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm#Handling_project_file_corruption_and/o…

Has someone tried save the project to mdb file, then re-save to .mpp?

I have a 20mb MSP file with no activities or resources.



This may fix some files but not mine.



Paul E Harris

Eastwood Harris Pty Ltd, Melbourne, Australia

Planning and Scheduling Training Manual & Book Publishers & Consulting

www.eh.com.au

There are several thing that make this happen, there was a post earlier on this topic.



In my experience adding a logo increase the file size by 20 and will not decrease when the logo is deleted.



To fix this problem I create a new file and transfer or paste the data from the old file into the new file to fix it.



Paul E Harris

Eastwood Harris Pty Ltd, Melbourne, Australia

Planning and Scheduling Training Manual & Book Publishers & Consulting

www.eh.com.au