mxd file sizes

[MatthiasWoerner]

Dear all,

a few weeks ago I updated from ArcGIS 10.0 to 10.1. Now recently I noticed a phenomenon several times:

When running processes take very long time or even don't work out at all I try to clear the .mxd file from no more required layers. Quite surprised I found out that the file size - instead of decreasing - was even enlarged.

What reason might there be for that? Maybe it doesn't have to do with version 10.1 but I just didn't observe it before.

Thanks in advance and kind regards,
Matthias

[RichardFairhurst · Accepted solution]

Dear all,

a few weeks ago I updated from ArcGIS 10.0 to 10.1. Now recently I noticed a phenomenon several times:

When running processes take very long time or even don't work out at all I try to clear the .mxd file from no more required layers. Quite surprised I found out that the file size - instead of decreasing - was even enlarged.

What reason might there be for that? Maybe it doesn't have to do with version 10.1 but I just didn't observe it before.

Thanks in advance and kind regards,
Matthias

mxd files save a history of actions like the addition and removal of layers.  You just have not observed it before.  The only way I know of to clear the history is to save the file under a new name.

[KimOllivier]

There is a tool to clean up crashed objects from a MXD, called MXD Document Defragrementer. This is a fancy name for the earlier MXD Doctor. The MXD does fill up with indexes and tables from some processes such as network analysis to be huge, but for normal viewing my MXD files are less than 1MB.