Why am I getting the warning message "This action uses large templates ( > 250k), which can cause degraded performance"

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When Apsona displays this warning message in the "Match Fields" step of a merge action, it is designed as a courtesy messaging indicating that the template is large and could cause performance issues with the merge. This warning message should not block you from finishing and using the merge action; and depending on other size factors in the merge (size of data source, complexity of merge action, etc.) the merge action may function perfectly with no performance issues. You can test out the merge and if it works fine, you can ignore this warning message. Below are more technical details to help you troubleshoot this:

  • You may find that the file size of the template, when displayed in your File Explorer on your local machine, is not as large as the warning indicates. The reason for this is that there is a hidden "uncompressed" file size that Apsona must use as it translates the template into the final output. If there are images, complex logic, or other components included in the template, it may lead to a larger uncompressed file size and lead to this warning. Some ways to reduce this uncompressed file size include:
    • Use an image editor to reduce the size of images before adding them to your template so that they are as small as possible in the template.
    • If you have iterated your template many times, adding and editing merge fields, the hidden syntax behind the merge fields can get corrupted (see this video for best practices around generating merge fields) it is sometimes best to start with a blank document and retype your content and merge fields, rather than copy/paste. This can avoid accidentally pulling in corrupted code.
    • If your template is truly large as it displays in your File Explorer, even outside of the uncompressed size, then it is best to try to reduce the size of the template through standard ways. For example, remove images, avoid footers and headers, reduce the amount of pages, etc. if you have conditionally displayed text (using our IF/THEN logic) consider other methods of dynamically displaying text like using our Conditional Template feature, or Calculated fields. This can simplify the logic in the template and reduce the size.
  • The reason that this warning message is a warning and not a blocking error is that Apsona uses the browser to do its calculations and operations. This means that it is dependent on the browser's compute capabilities. As a result there is not a hard limit to the size of any one component in Apsona's features. The size of the template, size of the data source, setup of the merge action, all contribute to the overall size of the operation in question; and different browsers have different compute strengths. So this warning is more of a 'heads up' that it may contribute to an overall heavier operation that may fail if the browser can't handle it. Ways to reduce the overall size of a merge operation include:
    • Reduce template size (as mentioned above)
    • Reduce the data source size through filtering
    • Reduce the complexity of the merge action

In conclusion, we suggest testing the merge action to see if it performs well. If it does, then it is optional for you to adjust the template size. If there are performance issues, then you'll have to take some of the steps listed above.