Minimizing the Size of Generated Documents
About this Article
Some clients will require bidders to upload bid response documents to the client's bid site. Some of these sites will have file size limitations.
This article provides tips for minimizing the size of your generated bid response documents.
See also: Generating a Document Zip File for Upload
Minimize the Use of Attachments
Many RFPs will require or allow for the inclusion of attachments as part of your response. The attachments you provide may include Office documents such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint, as well as PDFs and images, with PDFs and Excel being among the most common.
A Sample Requirement That Allows an Attachment
When considering or planning the use of attachments, key questions to ask include:
- Is the attachment necessary?
- Will the attachment be helpful... or ornamental?
- Is all of the content in the attachment necessary and helpful?
- Can the content be reduced to an essential minimum?
- Are the images or graphics necessary and helpful?
- Is the attachment redundant? Was it, or something very similar, included in another requirement elsewhere in the RFP response?
- If so, then add a note in the narrative field explaining where the same or similar attachment was included.
- If the requirement requires an attachment, and that attachment was included elsewhere, then add a small attachment that explains where the same or similar attachment was included.
Minimizing the Size of Attachments
If the Zip file you generate is too big to upload, and the response document has attachments, the first place to look is in the attachments folder in the Zip file for large attachments.
Go to the Attachments Folder in the Zip File
Review the Attachments in the Zip File for Large Sizes
Utilize Utilities to Reduce Attachment Size
There are numerous utilities that can be used to reduce the size of images and PDF documents. Adobe, for example, provides these capabilities.
Reduce or Eliminate Graphics in Narrative Responses
The text editor in DecisionDirector supports richly formatted text as well as images. As with attachments, care must be taken when providing image-rich responses in the editor.
An Image Pasted Within a Narrative Response
When considering the use of images or graphics in a narrative response, ask:
- Is the image or graphic necessary and helpful?
- Can it be reduced in size before pasting into the response field in DecisionDirector?
For more information about pasting images, see: Pasting Graphics within a Narrative Response
Content Pasted from Other Documents into a Narrative Response
A common practice in responding to requirements in DecisionDirector is for a vendor to attempt to save time by copying content from another document and paste it into the narrative response field.
Whether or not the content from the other document provides a clear, on-point and efficient response to the requirement is a different topic. But, the content from that other document may contain graphics, links, and other items than may not render well, so it will be important to review the rendered result before the client does: Generating a Response Document for Quality Review.
Copied content will contribute to the overall size of the generated document, so be sure to evaluate all aspects of the copied content, from images and their sizes to the relevance and conciseness of the content in response to the requirement.
Need Support?
If you have any difficulty, please send a note to support@advantiv.com and attach the archive file that you generated.
