Adding images and/or photographs to a Word document can significantly increase the size of the file. In all likelihood the images do not need to be as high quality as you would need if you were printing the image out on its own or if you were sending just the image or photo.
Reducing the size of the file saves hard drive space, better for emailing and in some cases where you have to upload a document such as proposal, quote, assignment, dissertation or thesis this can help too.
In recent versions of Word like 2007, 2010 and 2013 it may well be automatically reducing the file size automatically. Here in this video tutorial I show you how to do it.
If you want to see more Word tutorials check out my website www.jargonfreehelp.com/word-tutorials
Gary Schwartz's Blog 