Hi, I am a master student and I have to use a lot of images for my thesis.
I have an issue about docx (or doc) file larger than 512 mb when I open it via Office 2010 (or older Office versions).
But I dont have any issue when I open it via Office 2013!
What is the difference between Office 2013 and its older versions?
Is not there a docx limit (like 512 mb) for Office 2013?

I wonder whether I will have the same issue in the future for Office 2013 as well, or not.
Indeed, I'm so scared in case of occuring the same problem with Office 2013...
This bad possibility makes me nervous.

Thank you in advance
I really need to hear comforting wo

Hi Serdaruzun,

There is in fact a limit, you can find all the information on the limitations here:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/211489

Hi Serdaruzun,

There is in fact a limit, you can find all the information on the limitations here:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/211489

Hi Serdaruzun,

This forum is for devleopers discussing developing isssues Microsoft Word like Word automation and customization etc.

Since the issue is more relative to end-user, I would like to move it to Technet forums - Word IT Pro Discussions - Microsoft forum.

The reason why we recommend posting appropriately is you will get the most qualified pool of respondents, and other partners who read the forums regularly can either share their knowledge or learn from your interaction with us.

Thanks for your understanding.

Regards & Fei

I must not reduce the size of my images....

Hi serdaruzun,

What is the bit edition of Office 2010 and 2013 you are using. Is your PC a 64bit or 32bit(x86), how much RAM(memory) and Page File(Virtual Memory) set for your PC.

Here is some information that talks about 64bit Excel improvements, see if you can utilize those.

64-bit editions of Office 2013

Excel expert users who work with complex Excel worksheets can benefit from using 64-bit Office 2013. This is because 64-bit Office doesnt impose hard limits on file size. Instead, workbook size is limited only by available memory and system resources. On the other hand, 32-bit Office is limited to 2 gigabytes (GB) of virtual address space, shared by Excel, the workbook, and add-ins that run in the same process. (Worksheets smaller than 2 GB on disk might still contain enough data to occupy 2 GB or more of addressable memory.)

Also as per the earlier article from John tallks about "Word 2007/Word 2010 in compatibility mode limits".

That would mean if you have a document that is stored in the compatibility mode for previous versions (.doc etc) it will be bound by those limitations. Article says Applies to Microsoft Word 2013, hence we would consider its the supported limits, beyond that you might have corruptions.

Just FYI, note that .DOCX is already compressed zip file.

Rename the Word file to a Zip (.docx to .zip). Extract to find what is the actual size you are using.

Have a look at OneNote as well.

How about you considering to convert the files to PDF for read-only purposes, incase you just want to display it to someone or so.

Architecturally there is only one limit in the PDF standard: the overall file size must be below ~10GB as the cross-reference tables which define the PDF structure use 10 bits.

Best advise would be split the data across multiple files.

Do you create really long documents in Word? If so, you probably know that Word doesnt always play well with them. Its usually smarter to split your long documents into multiple Word files.

But, then, how do you make sure the pages are numbered correctly and easily create a table of contents and an index for the whole document? Thats where Words master document feature can help. It allows you to combine multiple Word files into a single Word file.

Create a Master Document in Word 2010 from Multiple Documents

Hello Serdaruzun,

The maximum size limit for opening a word file (containing text only is 32 MB) and 512 (including images and other stuff). This limit applies to all the versions of office including the latest 2013. Please see the link to open  a file larger than 512 MB in Word.

Link: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2599449

The bit edition of Office 2013 is x64; my PC is x64; ram is 8 gb.
But I have a notebook (laptop) with 2 gb ram, x86 Office 2013, x86 PC; and Word 2013 didn't give any error with 650 mb docx file (not compatibility mode). I am not able open the same docx file via Word 2010 in the same notebook.

I dont think this issue is related to PC's hardware or software features. 
Because All Word 2013 (in different PC's (x86/x64 etc) can open larger than 512 mb.

After putting an end my master thesis, I will give it to Institute of Social Sciences, and they want to receive it totaly as docx with one part :( They dont want it as PDF. Even if I split it to multiple word files I will have to submit it to them as one part as docx :(

Is there a file max size limit for Office 2013, or not? If not I will be very glad :)
Otherwise I will have to reduce size of the images...

Thank you again

Hi Serdaruzun,

Look at the link below, its from Word2010 to Word2013 issue, might help in your case as well opening the vice versa.

Make a copy and delete the .xml file zip it back and rename to .docx

Word 2013 cannot open large file saved by Word 2010

The limit for Word 2013 is 512MB as well as per the articles above. You being able to open a file above the supported limits doesn't mean that Word 2013 supports, it. The limitation is not a hard limit as it seems, but you need to be cautious. Inform them you are splitting the document just not to jeopardize your situation.

I would not advise anyone to use the Master Documents "Feature" unless they are prepared to lose all their work.

Hello Serdaruzun,

The maximum size limit for opening a word file (containing text only is 32 MB) and 512 (including images and other stuff). This limit applies to all the versions of office including the latest 2013. Please see the link to open  a file larger than 512 MB in Word.

Link: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/25994