I am compiling a family history using a program called Family Origins 9.0. I have entered the data and generated from it a “book,” which I can save as an rtf file. I can then further edit the “book.” I also have photos (jpg) that I would like to incorporate. I find that taken separately the text file is about 500 KB and the photo is also of the same order. When I incorporate the photo in the text the file leaps up to 13 MB and continues to grow at astronomical leaps as I add more photos. Is this normal? What is going on?

   Yes, as I remember it (it has been a long time since I have used RTF), that is normal.  The thing is that (again, if I remember this correctly) the pictures have to be saved in the text in BMP format.
   Last month in our newsletter (you can view it online at http://superwin.com/RaysComputerTips/Issue12.htm) I wrote an article explaining the different picture formats.  JPG is basically a compressed BMP file and so the BMP format that is saved in the text for your JPG file will be several times bigger.

Thanks for the response, but saving the picture in bmp format did not solve the problem. Let me restate the problem as follows. I have three files, which I will call J(RTF), E(W), and J(W). The J files are in RTF  and Word and the E file is a photo saved in Word. Their sizes are J(RTF) 12.7KB, J(W)18.3KB, and E(W) 320KB. When I open J(RTF) or J(W) and then open E(W) select, copy and insert it into J(RTF) or J(W) the file size is 39.6MB. When I open E(W) and insert either of the J files the size is 344KB. What is happening here? And how can I prepare a document with many photos that has a size somewhat less than astronomical?

   You misunderstood me.
   What you experienced is normal.  I was not telling you how to get around that because I don't think that there is a way around it.  I was simply explaining why that happens.  It is also possible that the RTF formatting adds code around the picture that makes it even bigger.
   If you don't want the file so big, don't use RTF.  That is the only solution that I know of and I am sure that is the only solution that there is.