Dave... try going back to inserting the link, but then COMPACT your database before checking the file size. Remember, if you add a 10 MB image, your database goes up 10 MB. If you delete that image and replace it with a 2 MB image, your database might only go down to 9 MB because Access reserved a ton of space for that big image. Try compacting (compact & repair) and see if that does the trick. If not, ask me your second question again. :)