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Converted PDFs in InDesign are too BIG!

Apr 19, 2012 9:25 AM

Tags: #pdf #indesign #print #magazine

I am a recently employed designer for a magazine and have been at the company for 4 months. At the end of creating an issue, I convert it to a PDF using the settings sent by the printers. Typically the end file size is around 300mb (before I joined, the previous designer had a typical file size of 1gb), but this issue was just over 1gb! I have done nothing different to how I have converted the mag before. At the end of converting the mag to PDF, I extract the PDFs as single files. I compared the file size for the 'editors page' (which doesn't really change, same content, different text), last month the file was 1.4mb, this months was 9.8mb! I have no idea why the overall PDF (and individual PDFs) is so much bigger than the previous month(s).... PLEASE HELP!

 

Regards

 

 

Paul

651 Views   6 Replies   Latest reply: LyceumPublishingPJ, Apr 20, 2012 6:00 AM
 
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  • lilia@
    196 posts
    Jan 31, 2012
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    1. lilia@,
    Apr 19, 2012 11:00 AM   in reply to LyceumPublishingPJ
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    Sounds like an Acrobat question... perhaps the last designer tweaked the settings last year... have u made a pdf of that document to see if the settings you have create the same file size? If it doesn't then clearly something is different.

     
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  • Tom Usrey
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    2. Tom Usrey,
    Apr 19, 2012 12:24 PM   in reply to LyceumPublishingPJ
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    Are you sure that you aren't using a different PDF preset than before?

     
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  • John Hawkinson
    5,513 posts
    Jun 25, 2009
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    3. John Hawkinson,
    Apr 19, 2012 10:51 PM   in reply to LyceumPublishingPJ
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    The usual answer relates to PDF metadata, but you can try Audit Space Usage in Acrobat as a tool to try to help narrow it down.

    Does the size really matter?

     
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  • LyceumPublishingPJ
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    4. LyceumPublishingPJ,
    Apr 20, 2012 2:45 AM   in reply to John Hawkinson
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    Size does matter as when we upload the mag, normally on a finished folder size of around 300mb, it takes around an hour (not very good internet singal here), but on a finished folder size of around 1gb, it can take around 5 hours! How would I audit space in Acrobat and what would it do?

     
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  • John Hawkinson
    5,513 posts
    Jun 25, 2009
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    5. John Hawkinson,
    Apr 20, 2012 5:35 AM   in reply to LyceumPublishingPJ
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    How would I audit space in Acrobat and what would it do?

    Assuming you're using Acrobat X Pro, it is hidden in the FIle > Save As > Optimized PDF... dialog box, in the upper-right corner, "Audit space usage...".

    It will tell you what objects in the PDF are using the space, by type of object. This should especially be useful if you have two PDFs to compare, as it sounds like you do.

     
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  • LyceumPublishingPJ
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    6. LyceumPublishingPJ,
    Apr 20, 2012 6:00 AM   in reply to John Hawkinson
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    That is very helpful, I will check it out. We now have a technician coming in at the end of next week to fix the issue.

     

    Many thanks for your advice.

     

     

    Paul

     
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