I have had a few files lately grow ~10 fold recently while using SolidWorks 2011 x64 SP2. A part that was originally 5MB grew to 60MB. Unchecking "Tools > Options > Document Properties > Image Quality> save tessellation with part," did not reduce the file size. According to my VAR (thanks Jenny), "the most likely explanation is the presence of duplicate display objects saved in the file. SolidWorks has taken steps in SolidWorks 2011 SP2 and SP3 to prevent this from occurring, however if duplicate display objects already exist in the file structure, the file size can continue to snowball." Her way of resolving it is to use SolidWorks 2011 SP3 new option "Remove All Display States." This works if you have 2011 SP3. However, SolidWorks 2011 SP3 is not released yet and I have had similar problems with older versions of SolidWorks. Here is another workaround:
- Make a copy of the problematic file for backup purposes before doing any of the following. Use the instructions below at your OWN RISK! It worked for me and I cannot guarantee it will work for you.
- Download Structured Storage Viewer (SSView) from here: http://www.mitec.cz/ssv.html
- Unzip and run "SSview.exe".
- In SSview.exe, go to File -->Open and then select the problematic SolidWorks file.
- Now you should see the internal structure of the SolidWorks file like below.
5. Next browse to "...\ThrdPtyStore\" in Structured Storage Viewer. Right Click on "VisualStates_ZLB" and click delete like in the picture below.
6. Close Structured Storage Viewer and then open the file with SolidWorks to confirm the display information has been reset. Check the difference in file size. You should notice a significant difference. In my case, I went from a 60MB file back to a 10MB file.
Enjoy. Post your findings here.