Enormous File Sizes

[Julie Magerka]

I've been working on a layout for two days now. Each time I save it as PSP, it becomes SO large (330 MB or 290 MB). I thought maybe it was the font (Samantha Upright) because that one is weird to work with. It is so small on the layout so I make it a bit bigger (but I should just stretch it with the handles?).  Once it's saved as PSP, the menu items are no longer available to use. I click on File to save it, and nothing happens. No other menu items will open either. I merge the layers, resize to save as .jpg and it won't save.

Anyone had this problem before? It's a mystery to me.

[Cassel]

Large files are normal when you work on large format (scrapbook pages) and multiple layers. Fonts are typically negligible as far as "file weight".

Now, I don't understand what you mean when you say that the menu items are no longer available.

To save, can you use F12 instead of a menu?

[Julie Magerka]

7 minutes ago, Cassel said:

Large files are normal when you work on large format (scrapbook pages) and multiple layers. Fonts are typically negligible as far as "file weight".

Now, I don't understand what you mean when you say that the menu items are no longer available.

To save, can you use F12 instead of a menu?

When I clicked on File or Image or any other Menu option, they didn't open. I tried CTRL+S but that didn't work. When I checked the file sizes on other of my projects, they are no where near as large as the one I was working on. And there was nothing large or special about that layout. Just typical, 3600x3600 with maybe 10 layers or so. One of the PSP gremlins no doubt. But thanks Carole.

[Susan Ewart]

1 hour ago, Julie Magerka said:

When I clicked on File or Image or any other Menu option, they didn't open. I tried CTRL+S but that didn't work. When I checked the file sizes on other of my projects, they are no where near as large as the one I was working on. And there was nothing large or special about that layout. Just typical, 3600x3600 with maybe 10 layers or so. One of the PSP gremlins no doubt. But thanks Carole.

This happened to me once.  I don't know why or how I resolved it (I know, some help I am).  I thought something was wrong until hubby looked at the file size and it was the size of yours and not typical of  my file sizes back then.  I actually  had to re-create the layout. I think it was something on one layer that was the issue. for some reason was way larger than it should have been, larger than it's original.  I just chalked it up to me hitting a wrong button.  Working with the layout was awful, it took forever to do any function; like, 'save' would take several minutes for the pop up to happen.  it has not happened since.  To this day I don't know what I did to get the size that big.  But I do know a size that big would take a long time to execute any command.  Even watching some of the photographers I like using Photoshop, they'll say it will take a minute because the file size is big...and it will only be 50MB, so you can imagine how long it would take for 300 MB or more.  Sorry, I could not help since I never found the reason, or what I did to make it happen like that.  I think hubby thinks PSP was doing something in the back ground when I clicked save or something else and it added the file size to that layer, I cant quite remember.  

[Julie Magerka]

6 hours ago, Susan Ewart said:

This happened to me once.  I don't know why or how I resolved it (I know, some help I am).  I thought something was wrong until hubby looked at the file size and it was the size of yours and not typical of  my file sizes back then.  I actually  had to re-create the layout. I think it was something on one layer that was the issue. for some reason was way larger than it should have been, larger than it's original.  I just chalked it up to me hitting a wrong button.  Working with the layout was awful, it took forever to do any function; like, 'save' would take several minutes for the pop up to happen.  it has not happened since.  To this day I don't know what I did to get the size that big.  But I do know a size that big would take a long time to execute any command.  Even watching some of the photographers I like using Photoshop, they'll say it will take a minute because the file size is big...and it will only be 50MB, so you can imagine how long it would take for 300 MB or more.  Sorry, I could not help since I never found the reason, or what I did to make it happen like that.  I think hubby thinks PSP was doing something in the back ground when I clicked save or something else and it added the file size to that layer, I cant quite remember.  

This is the third time I've tried to reply to your comment! This has been happening more frequently than ever before. I type out the message, click submit and it doesn't appear. I worry those darn elves are at work here....

Anyway, I'm glad to hear that this has happened to someone else. I did get it resized and saved but it was long and very slow. Hoping it's a one-off anomaly like yours.

[Julie Magerka]

Well, it has happened again. A simple layout, background, a few elements added, and a font for 2024 with a patterned background. Just the usual type of layout and the file size is already over 300 MB!!!  What is going on  here?

[Cassel]

10 minutes ago, Julie Magerka said:

Well, it has happened again. A simple layout, background, a few elements added, and a font for 2024 with a patterned background. Just the usual type of layout and the file size is already over 300 MB!!!  What is going on  here?

For testing purposes, can you delete some layers and resave and then compare at which point the file size would change? Or do it the other way around and re-add layers one by one (or a few), even if you are not arranging precisely?

[Susan Ewart]

3 hours ago, Cassel said:

For testing purposes, can you delete some layers and resave and then compare at which point the file size would change? Or do it the other way around and re-add layers one by one (or a few), even if you are not arranging precisely?

Yes, Carole you are a genius.  This is what my husband told me to do.  And I believe there was one layer that was the culprit.  It happened so long ago it's foggy.  I hope this works for you Julie.  It's frustrating when something is going wrong and you dont know why. 

 

4 hours ago, Julie Magerka said:

Well, it has happened again. A simple layout, background, a few elements added, and a font for 2024 with a patterned background. Just the usual type of layout and the file size is already over 300 MB!!!  What is going on  here?

 

 

[Julie Magerka]

13 hours ago, Cassel said:

For testing purposes, can you delete some layers and resave and then compare at which point the file size would change? Or do it the other way around and re-add layers one by one (or a few), even if you are not arranging precisely?

I will try that, but not until later. Got to be out today. That's a good idea though as a test.

[Marie-Claire]

Now that this has been brought up, I also have a question.
I scanned old photos at 1200 dpi. so they are large files. I just bring them into my project like this. And then resize them in my project to the size I want.
Does that make my project large as a pspimage file?
Is it important that I resize the photos in advance to approximately the size that I will use in my project?

[Cassel]

5 minutes ago, Marie-Claire said:

I scanned old photos at 1200 dpi. so they are large files. I just bring them into my project like this. And then resize them in my project to the size I want.
Does that make my project large as a pspimage file?
Is it important that I resize the photos in advance to approximately the size that I will use in my project?

PSP works with pixels. The resolution will be important for the printing/displaying. So, if you have a 4-inch image, it will be 4800 pixels wide, which is obviously going to be a larger file size than a 1200 pixels image (which would be typical of a 300 dpi).

As far as resizing, it will just be easier to resize it before adding to your current project as it will be easier to manipulate.

[Rene Marker]

1 hour ago, Marie-Claire said:

Now that this has been brought up, I also have a question.
I scanned old photos at 1200 dpi. so they are large files. I just bring them into my project like this. And then resize them in my project to the size I want.
Does that make my project large as a pspimage file?
Is it important that I resize the photos in advance to approximately the size that I will use in my project?

I never resize my photos before adding them to a layout project. I resize them in the layout since I can see better how it will fit in the layout. I also have all my cameras set for a large pixel size and do not resize them before adding them to the layout.  I want the best quality of photo on my layouts.  Even before I started using the Raster to Mask script, I would make a selection and delete the part of the photo that I did not want in my layout. Trimmed the fat on the photo!

@Julie Magerka

A quick glance at some of my pspimage files for their size, I see that the projects that have a lot of layers are larger. One has over 80 layers and is 144MB in size. The largest file size I saw has about 59 layers with 28 of them being the drop shadow layer. There is one text vector layer and 2 layers that have no shadow (paint and a photo that is at the bottom). It is 186MB in size. That layout also has a lot of linked layers and layers that I color coded in the layer properties. 

What I also just noticed is that layouts that were done with older versions (X7 or X8) are smaller in size than those I did in PSP2021 or PSP2023. Curious...

[Julie Magerka]

4 hours ago, Rene Marker said:

I never resize my photos before adding them to a layout project. I resize them in the layout since I can see better how it will fit in the layout. I also have all my cameras set for a large pixel size and do not resize them before adding them to the layout.  I want the best quality of photo on my layouts.  Even before I started using the Raster to Mask script, I would make a selection and delete the part of the photo that I did not want in my layout. Trimmed the fat on the photo!

@Julie Magerka

A quick glance at some of my pspimage files for their size, I see that the projects that have a lot of layers are larger. One has over 80 layers and is 144MB in size. The largest file size I saw has about 59 layers with 28 of them being the drop shadow layer. There is one text vector layer and 2 layers that have no shadow (paint and a photo that is at the bottom). It is 186MB in size. That layout also has a lot of linked layers and layers that I color coded in the layer properties. 

What I also just noticed is that layouts that were done with older versions (X7 or X8) are smaller in size than those I did in PSP2021 or PSP2023. Curious...

Thanks Rene. I did what Carole suggested and deleted layers of "small stuff" and was left with only a transparent background and the text 2024 with a gradient background. That's it. Nothing more than that and it's still 264 MB in size. That just can't be right. The other projects I've done (and there are many of them and more complicated) are about 30-55 MB in size. Something's going on here and I can't quite figure it out yet. (P.S. No photos - resized or otherwise in this layout.) I am using PSP 2022.

Edited December 31, 2023 by Julie Magerka

[Julie Magerka]

Just as another test, I opened a 3600x3600 canvas. Added a background paper, a text (2024), and a bit of gold glitter. The file size is already about 47.1 MB as seen in the screenshot from the desktop. Even that seems large, or am I imagining that? I've included another screenshot of a project that has more elements, etc. and it is not much larger in MB. I've never really paid attention to this issue before having trouble with the layout I was working on just after Christmas (not shown here).

[Mary Solaas]

Does any of this have to do with the history ?  Last year I had trouble with one file I had and it was one I had done of lot of undoing and redoing.  It's the only time I've had trouble with saving and the PSP just seeming to hang up and not want to do anything.  I did not stop to see what the size of the file was.  But the 600px size of that file was accepted in the forum.