This jade plant is one of my oldest and most treasured plants. My Mom gave it to me decades ago–so long ago that I have lost track but I am pretty sure that it was before I was married and I have been married over 26 years so it’s been with me quite a long time.
The above photo shows just how long some of the branches have gotten. Unfortunately there isn’t any real growth near the center of the plant so I am going to try a bit of a modified cutback of the longest branches to see if I can spur some interior growth.
Also unfortunately the weight of these stems has caused some of these to break spontaneously–or with just a slight tap from a nearby plant or leaf–so it really needs to be done.
It hardly looks much different but I knew as soon as I picked up the pot that it was substantially lighter.
Now we’ll let spring do its work and maybe by late summer I can do another another trim.
Gardendaze 
Outside, they can be cut back very aggressively. For distressed houseplants such as this, it is likely much better to do this in phases, while allowing it to generate denser growth within before pruning all of the lanky growth away.
“Outside” is a foreign concept to these plants here in the frozen north. Even in the summer, they only go on a protected sun porch because of the crazy weather–in fact, I was thinking about that as I pruned it. The 3 tropical storms we had last year would have reduced this thing to nothing but a trunk! But I love thinking warm thoughts–and I know what you mean about plants responding much better outside. In the 3 months that my plants take a “summer” vacation, they grow better than the other 9 months of the year!
Karla