Indesign File SIZE

Why is Indesign File size so big

The size of an InDesign document file depends on what you are putting into it plus a certain threshold for the file itself which is effectively a small database.
Note that every time you "save" an existing InDesign file with changes, it will grow larger until you do "save as" which minimizes size at the expense of disallowing you to do any "undos" on what you have done so far.
- Dov

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InDesign File Sizes

I'm experiencing some strange things with document file sizes in InDesign (CS3 and CS4)
I have a document that's 2.6 Mb. When I delete all the content, it stays as 2.6 Mb.
When I copy the content to another file, the new file is 1.6 Mb.
When I delete the content from this document it becomes 1.7 Mb.
I also had a document that was 260 Mb, deleted half of the content and it remained at 260 Mb.
Has anyone else experienced such problems?
Gordon

Thanks Scott.
Sorry, I should have stated that it's a RAID that's connected to our server.
We update approx 300 files per week from the RAID on our client machines before copying our files back to it.
I've just dropped the first file I tried from 50Mb to 5Mb by doing a "Save As".
45Mb x 300 Adverts x 52 Weeks = 702 Gb in 1 year.
Ouch!
I guess we'll have to start saving over some old files.

How to export an interactive pdf from InDesign at a smaller file size.

I have a single page InDesign doc with a side navigation panel to the right of each page. This panel has interactive buttons created in InDesign.
When I export as an interactive pdf, the file size is over 27MB and I need it to be much lower.
I should mention that this doc was made from an original PRINT InDesign doc of facing pages, which was about 55MB.
When making it single pages for the interactive doc, the InDesign file size increased to 105MB.
Can anyone explain this and have any useful tips for saving the pdf down WITH interactivity working?
Many thanks.

Okay - With the 15MB pdf, when I go into the PDF Optimizer dialog box, it's telling me that the Fonts are using 40% and the Acrobat Forms are using 29%.
Anyone know of a way I can reduce either of these???
Many thanks in advance!

Problems with file size

There are a few discussions on this subject but I've been unable to resolve my problem.
I created a 24 page catalogue in InDesign, file size c30Mb. When I export to Acrobat the resulting file is about 11.5Mb. I need to get this down to 5Mb for online publishing.
As a last resort, I stripped out all the hi-res EPS image files and replaced them with smaller jpegs.....all to no avail. In fact the source InDesign file has not changed at all. To that end:
1. Is there a way to identify the file size of the various elements of the InDesign file to see where the big bits are?
2. What else can I do to get the pdf file below 5Mb?
Thanks for any advice.
totallockout (Novice CS user)

One very important thing to understand is that you can't simply legislate the resultant PDF file size when creating PDF from original content.
Image size and resolution certainly can have a major effect on the resultant PDF file size, but there are other possiblities including large amounts of vector artwork for which the only way to bring down the file size is to turn it into raster image (often making it unreadable) or by simplying it.
When you refer to your EPS images (we strongly recommend against using EPS for images in the 21st century), we assume you mean raster images that were saved as EPS in Photoshop. It is possible that those high resolution images were already compressed quite a bit and thus, smaller JPEG versions of the EPS files would not have any appreciable effect on the output PDF file size.
Quite frankly, if much of your 24 page catalog is imagery, 11.5MB of PDF is not bad at all. Maybe if you can post a copy of the file, we can give you some further advise. But in the end, you might have to dramatically simplify your design to reach a target output file size.
- Dov

Small File Size

I have a 124 page indesign file w/ 17 photos, 24 pdf's & 3 AI links, the Indesign file size is @ 25mb. The designer sent me a 5mb pdf but when I tried to export the indesign file as a PDF (smallest file) the PDF is 25mb. How is the desiger doing?
Working with CS6

The size of the ID file has very little relationship to the size of a PDF exported from it. For one thing, the PDF contains image and vector data that are merely referenced by links inthe .indd file. If the 24 PDFs are primarily vector data, and I'd presume the .ai files are as well, they won't compress (and the PDFs may not compress much even if they are raster).

File size of .swf files exported from Indesign CS5

I have made a basic file (728 x 90 px) in Indesign, which is the size of banner ads we produce. I have not put on any effect or animation yet. When I export it as a swf file, the file size is 139kb. This is way too large for any banner advertising on websites where the highest is normally 100px and the smallest is 30kb.
I have tried exporting at a lower resolution, but it has no effect on the file size, rendering this useless as a flash export option for me.
Is there something I'm missing or is Indesign just not the right tool for flash banner ads.
Thanks

Mr Met
{swf file that's 13MB. What are your images, 200MB each?}
As I said, I resampled the images to be 500px wide so each PShop image is about 1.4mb (single layer). There are 12 images used.
Here it is if you care to see i t- 11mb so it will take time to load
http://wgdesigngroup.com/10/elaine/elaine.html
Jongware
{The Right Tool for the Right Job ...}
No doubt you are a 100% right here.
But I think it is a bit disingenious to blame the InDesign user for the feature. It would be like Abobe putting Drop Shadows and transparences into ID and then saying you should use PhotoShop to for that feature!
Brian

How to create a smallest file size pdf from indesign CS4 document

How to create a smallest file size pdf (suitable for upload to a website) from indesign CS4 document which contains multiple illustrator CS4 illustrations.
I have chosen the "smallest file size option" but the pdf file is over 30MB, can anyone help please.
Thank you

One trick is to
Set the placed graphics to have a transparency of 99.9% (you can do this with Find/Change and select Objects)
This is enough to force the graphics throught the Transparency Flattener
Next set the Transparency Blend Space to RGB (Edit>Transparency Blend Space)
Next set a custom Transparency Flattner Preset Edit>Transparency Flattner
Next
Use File>Export and choose
Smallest file size
PDF Compatibility Acrobat 4 (PDF 1.3)
In Advanced Section - go to transparency and selec the new Flattener Preset you created.
*this will convert your vectors to raster, but it should reduce your file size

File size comparisons, InDesign CS3, CS4 and CS5?

Hi, all.
It seems there was a trend for several major releases where each time Adobe released a new version of InDesign and InCopy, average file sizes grew by 20% or so from the old release to the new release, at least back in the older CS days. Has this trend continued, such that file sizes in CS4 are substantially larger than file sizes from CS3, and CS5 files are substantially larger than those from CS4?
Adobe, of course, wants to keep writing functionality that will keep the user community coming back to buy in to upgrades. The added functionality sometimes comes at a cost beyond the price tag. If file sizes are larger in a newer version, then page saves over a network or to a database are likely to be slower, and user productivity takes a hit while users are waiting for files to be saved.
Has anyone done any testing to build the "same" page in multiple versions of InDesign to understand what the effect is on the file sizes? I'm specifically interested in the file sizes between InDesign CS3, CS4 and CS5. To be meaningful, the test page would have to be at least moderately complex, with a couple of photos, multiple text elements and so forth. By "same," the page wouldn't take advantage of new functionality in newer versions but would be saved as a native page of the current version, though the file sizes may be bloated by the new functionality like it or not.
If you've done any testing along these lines, I'd like to hear more about it.
Thanks.
Mark

The overall structure of ID's files have been exactly the same for -- as far as I can see back -- CS. No change at all, in there.
There have been significant additions to the 'global' spaces; stuff like InCopy user data, table styles, object styles, and cross references. Each of these add a major chunk of data to each file, whether you use it or not, plus a few bytes per object (again, whether you use them or not -- ID also needs to know where you did not use them, that's why). I think these might be the main source of 'global' file size increase (a single object style in one of my files, for example, eats up a healthy chunk of 11,482 bytes).
For the rest, all new stuff like 'span columns' is a handful of bytes per paragraph style. Tracking changes may very well double the size of text runs -- but 1 character takes up 1 byte of storage (plus perhaps some overhead of indicating its 'tracking' status). Any single measurement unit always uses 8 bytes at least (for example, the left inset for a column span -- even if it's not used, or set to 0pt).
I think we're talking about a couple of K's here (oh -- perhaps a max of a hundred or so), in a file format that has been designed around the concept of "disk pages", each 4K big, meaning that sometimes adding one single character to a text box increases the file size by 4 K.
Your idea of comparing the size of a file created in CS3 against the same saved as CS4 and as CS5 is certainly feasible -- I might try it some time, just to confirm it's purely the extra 'new objects' data that accounts for the size increase and to confirm my guesstimates of the number of Ks involved.

InDesign Transparency Effect vs. pdf file size

I have an Interactive pdf that was created from InDesign. There is "inner glow" is an effect style created box style. This box style is used a number of times in the 30 page document. The glow is a gradient from black to transparent which looks like an inner shadow for the boxes (sample attached). When I generate the pdf file, size is about 12 Mgb, too large for the target audience.
When I alter the style in InDesign to say something simple like a 10% black solid fill, the pdf file size decreases to about 1 Mgb.
Looked into "flattening transparency" options but this creates pdf that has none of the interactive buttons and links that are required.
Really would like to avoid creating these boxes in photoshop since there are about 40 different sizes of the box.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

For some reason I can't find reply on Forums site, so replying to this
email
Exporting an Interactive pdf using the attached (15.8) jpegs settings
creates a file that is 15.8 Mgb.
Exporting an Interactive pdf using the attached (14.5) jpegs settings
creates a file that is 15.8 Mgb.
Any ideas??? Thanks.

Making a interactive PDF from indesign, but it's too big. Tried to reduce file size in Acrobat, but

Making a interactive PDF from indesign, but it's too big. Tried to reduce file size in Acrobat, but it does not reduce file size.

Use the Optimize PDF command in Acrobat, it gives you more control. I think it's under the Advanced menu in Acrobat 9 Pro and File > Save As > Optimized PDF in Acrobat X Pro.
You might try playing around with different settings. You can also click the Audit Space button at the upper right to see if its from images or other things causing the file size problem.
Unfortunately, InDesign doesn't write interactivity in a very optimized way. You get better results with buttons, for example, creating them in Acrobat Pro and using the Duplicate command to duplicate them across multiple pages.

InDesign Transparency Effects - Problems with Image Quality and File Size

Hello,
We are experiencing new problems exporting InDesign files to PDF.
To summarize, though our largest workflow is to create files for offset printing, we also deliver our work to PDF for mounting on a website so our clients can download directly from the web. Our new problem is Transparency Effects, and creating a PDF that will both have a high quality (or resolution), and be a small file size.
We are working with multiple page documents (24 to 48 pages), and would very much like to work with InDesign Transparency Effects. However, after spending much time testing a variety of PDF types, we are finding there is a radical difference between quality and file size. I was curious if anyone has had these problems, and if there is a simple answer. InDesign is an incredible program that allows us to design on the fly with Transparency Effects, but, if we are going to experience these problems, we will have to eliminate these wonderful tools.
Can you help me or lead me to information online that will help.
Thank you,
Lain

Please don't post in multiple forums. Your question has nothing to do with the PDF language and specifications, but rather PDF workflow or InDesign. I've responded to your other posting and am closing this thread.
- Dov

I need to compress an InDesign file to web-quality pdf but file size is still too big. Help!

I need to compress an InDesign file to web-quality pdf but file size is still too big. Help!

Hi Bill,
It sounds like your document has a lot of pages and/or images in it.
Instead of using the normal InDesign > Export command to create a PDF, you may be able to reduce the file size by printing to a PostScript file, then distilling it to PDF using Acrobat Distiller.

InDesign - Export PDF file size

Hey everyone. I use InDesign to create my resume for job apps and whatnot. I've found that many corporate sites only accept file sizes under a certain limit (usually 500kb or smaller). My resume is usually around 590-610kb. Is there any way that I can reduce the file size without losing significant quality, or even any?
Cheers.

rayzha wrote:
So I need to d/l adobe acrobat?
OK, so this sounds like you don't have a Creative Suite package, or perhaps you are using Creative Cloud and didn't install Acrobat Pro.
The free Adobe Reader will not help you to optimize a PDF, you need the full, paid, Acrobat application. Uwe's suggestion to distill might get you a smaller PDF, but again, without Acrobat you won't have Distiller. There are a few freeware Distiller clones that would probably work for plain text, but I doubt there's much that can be done to bring the size down on a file that has nothing but text in it without removing the non-graphic disposables like metadata, and the embedded page thumbnails, which requires the optimizer.
It occurs to me that one reason your exported PDF might be large is that ID always embeds fonts unless they are restricted. If you are using common system fonts that you know your viewer will have, you can distill PDF without embedding fonts and save a couple of bytes. I just pulled up a random page from a student paper, which has about seven fonts in use. The usage audit says they total a bit over 2mb.

If I'm copying text and/or vector elements from Indesign to Photoshop how come their pixel sizes change even though I opened the same sized document and my indesign file is a web file?

If I'm copying text and/or vector elements from Indesign to Photoshop how come their pixel sizes change even though I opened the same sized document and my indesign file is a web file?

>my indesign file is a web file
Pardon?
Or do you mean that, when you created a new document, you choose Web as intent maybe?

CS3 Indesign library is causing file sizes to be insane... anyone else have this problem?

A large corporation that I contract for has asked me to figure out their file size issue.
They have hundreds of library items - almost all of which are simple illustrations created in InDesign. (Line art, minimal fills, no gradients, roughly 20-50 segments on average.) They have created all of their art using InDesign (or in Illustrator and then pasting into InDesign before placing in the library) so they could pull things out of the library, ungroup, and make quick alterations. Their other logic in this workflow was to keep from having a trail of links.
Unfortunately, the file sizes seem to be skyrocketing. I created 2 test documents using identical illustrations. The document with the InDesign native art was nearly 4 times the size of the one that had the Illustrator native files (placed as images - then put in the library before placing in the test doc).
The company wants to remedy their file size issue but really needs to here the logic behind this library behavior... Does anyone have any experience with this issue or knowledge of why this line art is creating such a problem? I have my theories, but I need some facts to effect change.

I'm not sure, but I think the difference is that the native illustration contains the vector information, while the linked illustration contains just the link information, i.e. the path to the location where the vector is stored and possibly the preview. I bet if you move one of the linked files the library item will break.
Just tried that, and it seems to be the case.

Indesign File SIZE

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