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1. Re: Exporting to PDF - file size too big
Eugene Tyson Jan 21, 2010 5:18 AM (in response to linziloop)In Acrobat Pro go to Tools>Print Production and PDF Optimiser (that's where it is in Acrobat 7 not sure about earlier or later versions)
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2. Re: Exporting to PDF - file size too big
Eugene Tyson Jan 21, 2010 5:19 AM (in response to Eugene Tyson)You could also export the book to a digital edition - that will give you a folder with all the images a jpg at 72 dpi - you can then tell InDesign CS4 to use the images from that menu throught the Links Panel fly out menu.
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3. Re: Exporting to PDF - file size too big
risottodirk-btOqLf Jan 21, 2010 5:20 AM (in response to linziloop)Did you check the dialog box "Compression" when exporting to PDF? You might be able to set the values lower than the default values, even after choosing "smallest file size".
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4. Re: Exporting to PDF - file size too big
linziloop Jan 21, 2010 5:28 AM (in response to risottodirk-btOqLf)"Did you check the dialog box "Compression" when exporting to PDF? You might be able to set the values lower than the default values, even after choosing "smallest file size".
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Yes this is what i meant when i said "and modified to be even lesser quality images"
I'll try using Acrobats "reduce file size" function also - no luck there.
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5. Re: Exporting to PDF - file size too big
linziloop Jan 21, 2010 5:28 AM (in response to Eugene Tyson)How do i export the book to a digital edition in CS3?
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6. Re: Exporting to PDF - file size too big
h3nque Jan 21, 2010 5:29 AM (in response to linziloop)Open in Acrobat Pro: Document > Reduce File Size
There's also some third party applications that'll help you reduce the size even more.
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7. Re: Exporting to PDF - file size too big
linziloop Jan 21, 2010 5:29 AM (in response to Eugene Tyson)I've also tried Tools - Print production with the lowest file size setting in Acrobat - no luck
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8. Re: Exporting to PDF - file size too big
Eugene Tyson Jan 21, 2010 5:31 AM (in response to linziloop)File>Cross Media Export
Although you'll have to manually link the files back in in CS3, which is tedious if you have lots of images.
I recommend you make a copy of your file first and call it lo-res version or something.
Then you can keep your original file in tact.
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9. Re: Exporting to PDF - file size too big
Eugene Tyson Jan 21, 2010 5:33 AM (in response to linziloop)In InDesign Preferences under File Handling - turning off the Always Save Preview images has resulted in smaller pdfs in the past for me, not much but some.
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10. Re: Exporting to PDF - file size too big
h3nque Jan 21, 2010 5:34 AM (in response to linziloop)You could try PDF Shrink, It have done some magic for me in the past.
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11. Re: Exporting to PDF - file size too big
linziloop Jan 21, 2010 5:36 AM (in response to Eugene Tyson)Eugene - yeah we're talking over 200 images so maybe that wouldn't be the best option.
Hmm, i just can't help but wonder what Quark did differently to InDesign to half the overall PDF size...no having to go into acrobat and squish it down or anything.
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12. Re: Exporting to PDF - file size too big
Eugene Tyson Jan 21, 2010 5:38 AM (in response to linziloop)Quark wrote to PS first and Distilled - as far as I remember - well when I worked in Quark 6 and before that's the way I made PDFs.
You could try Printing to PDF instead - although the preferred method is Exporting.
File>Print
choose PDF as your Printer - go through all the settings and as many options as you can access and set up it correctly.
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13. Re: Exporting to PDF - file size too big
rob day Jan 21, 2010 6:08 AM (in response to linziloop)The preset [Smallest File Size] in CS3 samples color and grayscale images over 150ppi to 100ppi. You'll get better file size reduction by lowering the sample thresholds. Something like this:
http://www.zenodesign.com/scripts/SmallPDFExport.png
You don't need to resample the linked files, exporting does it for you.
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14. Re: Exporting to PDF - file size too big
Eugene Tyson Jan 21, 2010 6:12 AM (in response to rob day)Not if they're vector images. If they're vector then downsampling won't have any effect on them.
But yes if they're raster then downsampling to 72 does work. However, the quality often looks poor in Acrobat as most people have a monitor with resolutions of around 90 ppi and above.
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15. Re: Exporting to PDF - file size too big
rob day Jan 21, 2010 6:37 AM (in response to Eugene Tyson)Not if they're vector images. If they're vector then downsampling won't have any effect on them.
In that case the quality setting would have no effect either. My point was you can control the resample on export you don't need to do it via PS. I've never made a PDF out of Quark but I'd bet the smaller file size is coming from sampling and not compression.
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16. Re: Exporting to PDF - file size too big
Eugene Tyson Jan 21, 2010 6:41 AM (in response to rob day)Possibly - hard to tell? Some good suggestions though.
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17. Re: Exporting to PDF - file size too big
P Spier Jan 21, 2010 7:15 AM (in response to linziloop)It would probably be really helpful to know what's actually taking up all that space instead of blinly shooting at a moving target.
Open the PDF Optimizer and click the Audit Space Usage button in the upper right corner. I would expect images to be the largest chunk, but fonts can be a big issue too. Perhaps you need to subset fonts that aren't already subset, or unembed common faces. There are quite a few things you can do in the optimizer besides resampling and compressing images.
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18. Re: Exporting to PDF - file size too big
linziloop Jan 21, 2010 7:44 AM (in response to P Spier)Hi Peter - I went into the Audit Space function, and below are the top 3 culprits - (i couldn't take a screenshot as for some reason that isn't working today, but thats another matter for i guess another forum!)
Images 12.5%
Content Streams 34.62%
Document overhead 49.28%
Unfortunately i have no idea what the last two mean!
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19. Re: Exporting to PDF - file size too big
Eugene Tyson Jan 21, 2010 7:52 AM (in response to linziloop)Here's a wild idea - not sure if it will work but worth a whirl imo
I wonder if you File>Export and choose .inx (Adobe Interchange Format)
Then open that (it opens untitled) and export that to PDF would it be smaller?
I just did a test on a two page document and the result was .01mb smaller.
This was a new document for me though, so perhaps the result would be much different with your current file?
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20. Re: Exporting to PDF - file size too big
P Spier Jan 21, 2010 8:00 AM (in response to linziloop)I'm not a PDF expert, so I don't know what content streams are, but the help file implies that you can reduce the size of those that use LZW compression by checking the box to use Flate in the optimizer. Document overhead is stuff that all PDFs require and probably can't be reduced much (the term doesn't appear in the Help file), so the implication here is that this file is getting pretty close to as small as it can be, other than the content streams.
Perhaps Rob or someone else can shed some more light.
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21. Re: Exporting to PDF - file size too big
linziloop Jan 21, 2010 8:10 AM (in response to P Spier)Pete - just checked and i have the tickbox for use flate checked. Hmmm, it would seem it may be be as low as it can go!
One thing i have noticed between the PDF Quark created and the one InDesign has created, is that the text in the Quark PDF is of lower quality visually than that in the InDesign PDF. We were happy enough with this as although it was lower quality, it was still legiable and we could send it via email...
Is there a way of making InDesign lower the quality of the text? It seems perfect compared to the ridicoilously low res images.
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22. Re: Exporting to PDF - file size too big
rob day Jan 21, 2010 8:11 AM (in response to linziloop)Do you have some complex transparency happening? The default smallest size preset also exports live transparency. What happens if you export with resampling set to 72 for all images above 72, and Compatibility set to Acrobat 4 (PDF 1.3)
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23. Re: Exporting to PDF - file size too big
linziloop Jan 22, 2010 1:37 AM (in response to rob day)Hi Rob,
I set all the resampling for images to 72dpi, and compatability to Acrobat 4 and i end up with 8.4mb - so 0,3 mb shaved off, but not quite the 3.7mb i was hoping for! Wow this is difficult hey!
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24. Re: Exporting to PDF - file size too big
linziloop Jan 22, 2010 2:58 AM (in response to linziloop)Well everyone, thanks for all the input, I've just managed to get it down to 3.2mb by painstakingly going through every eps file that didn't require a transparent background and turning it into a low res jpeg for this version. Phew!
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25. Re: Exporting to PDF - file size too big
rob day Jan 22, 2010 4:58 AM (in response to linziloop)every eps file that didn't require a transparent background and turning it into a low res jpeg for this version. Phew!
If the file has transparency try flattening on export via (Acrobat 4) as mentioned above, but look at your Transparency Flattener setting in the Advanced tab. Even the default Low Resolution setting flattens line art and text to 288 ppi. Try making a custom preset where text flattens to a lower res and use that on export.
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26. Re: Exporting to PDF - file size too big
jay fresno Jan 28, 2010 9:52 PM (in response to linziloop)What does Document > Reduce File SIze do to the PDF? Does it compress and therefore degrade images?
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27. Re: Exporting to PDF - file size too big
Fontessa Jan 28, 2010 10:20 PM (in response to jay fresno)linziloop,
I've run into the same problem. Some of my clients insist on the smallest possible PDFs, regardless of (poor) image quality. I've been able to reduce the PDF sizes dramatically by printing to PS and then distilling the PS file (someone else mentioned that this was the Quark method).
Don't know why it works, since I use the same settings (compression, etc.) as I use when printing directly to PDF or exporting to PDF. But it works for me.
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28. Re: Exporting to PDF - file size too big
P Spier Jan 29, 2010 8:40 AM (in response to Fontessa)The differences in size between exported and distilled PDF are sometimes due to features that are supported in export, but not distilled files, like bookmarks, tranparency and so forth. In other cases it isn't as clear, and CS3, if memory serves, has a problem in the export code that added a lot of unnecessary file bloat.




