Tips to make Prism files much smaller!

Prism files can get large, but we offer two ways to make them smaller. 

The best  method is to save the projects in the PZFX file format, instead of the PZF format. This is a choice in the File... Save As dialog. Change the default in the File&Printer tab of Prism's Preferences dialog.

With this format, the data and info tables are in plain text XML, but the rest of the file is greatly compressed. Overall, PZFX files tend to be MUCH smaller than PZF files. Typically, a PZFX file is less than 10% the size of the corresponding PZF file. They also are a bit more secure. All the data are stored in the first part of the file in plain text that could be recovered with a text editor, even if the file is damaged.

One drawback is that Prism must decompress these files when it opens them. With large files, this can be a slow process.

If you want to use PZF files, here is a trick to reduce the file size a bit. Go to the Preferences dialog, File tab, and check the option to "Save compact". With this option checked, Prism won't save the results of analyses, but rather recomputes the results when it opens the file. The difference in file size depends on how many analyses your file contains.