Why does export from indesign to pdf shrinks pages

[Ryanbelo]

Hello,

I am trying to export a document from ID to PDF and every time I do the PDF seems to convert the size from 8 x 10 original to 1.38 x 1.71 have searched and searched and can't find a solution!

[Test Screen Name]

How do you measure the PDF size? Where do you see 1.38 X 1.71, and what are your units?

[Ryanbelo]

In pdf under properties, its in inches.

[rob day]

Make sure the dimension of the page is 8x10. It's possible to have a page size that is different than the document size. Something like this where I have the page selected with the Page tool and it has a different size than the document:

[Frans v.d. Geest]

The one thing that you can NOT do is... scale when exporting to PDF. So we need some more information on where you see the information: in Acrobat?

[Ryanbelo]

Yes in Acrobat

[Barb Binder]

Will you give us your exact steps in InDesign?

[Ryanbelo]

File

Export

Save as PDF (Print)

Preset - High quality print

[Barb Binder]

Ok, thanks...and can you show a screen shot of File > Doc Setup in InDesign and then File > Properties > General in Acrobat?

[Ryanbelo]

My Print screen key unfortunately isn't co-operating at the moment.

But here's what I see:

Intent: Print

Number of pages: 25

Start page: 1

Page size: Custom

Width: 8p0

Height: 10p0

Bleed: 0p1.5

[Barb Binder]

And there you go: 8p0 means 8 picas 0 points, and there are 6 picas to an inch. You want 8 in. by 10 in.

[Ryanbelo]

Where do I correct that?

[Barb Binder]

You can correct it in the file. Go to File > Document Setup and type in:

8 in

10 in

Note that you will need to resize everything on the page(s), because it is tiny.

[Test Screen Name]

Also, don't use PDF properties in Acrobat to find page size. This is a dangerous and unreliable tool, a terrible idea of Adobe's because it doesn't know what to do with mixed sizes. Instead, hover the mouse in the bottom left of the page in Acrobat and see what it says (the size should appear).

[Barb Binder · Accepted solution]

Once you take care of this document, consider setting the defaults to inches to avoid this confusion in the future.

Close all open files, then: