Making PDF File Sizes Smaller

Is there a way to make the size of pdf files to be a smaller file size. The file sizes that you get from the print menu are too big. I know about altering the image size with the Automator script in PDF services, but this doesn't get them small enough. Is there another way without having to get a third party app like Acrobat, PDF Compress, or PDF Shrink? Any help is appreciated.
Thanks,
Barry

It does work, but not all that well.
Sample file size (photo, lo rez) in Photoshop Elements 3: 124K
OSX created pdf: 484 K
OSX with "reduce file size": 156K
OS9 file from Acrobat: 40K
Anybody know how to cut more fat out of these files, or am I going to have to go back to OS9 every time I want a reasonable file size?

Similar Messages

How can I make the pdf file size smaller?

How can I make the pdf file size smaller?

Hi vickyb,
Reducing the file size of PDF requires Acrobat (one way is by choosing File > Save As > Reduced Size PDF). If you don't have Acrobat, you can try it free for 30 days. See www.adobe.com/products/acrobat.html for more information.
Best,
Sara

How to make PDF file size smaller from an Illustrator file without changing the quality or size (length and width) of the file?

Is there a way to make a 30x42 size (40 GB) Illustrator file as a PDF but make the file smaller in size (able to email to clients) with out compromising the quality of the file or the size of the file?

If you are working in RGB you can embed a colour profile. Embed ICC Profiles is one of the Acrobat save options. It will increase files size dramatically.
When you save your pdf you can choose the compression method for placed images. Default is ZIP which is really no compression at all for pixel images. Instead you should opt for JPG compression (of varying degree according to how sensitive the images are to compression).
You should also examine the other Acrobat save options. To minimize file size you should not have any of the options checked (Preserve Illustrator Editing Capability, Embed page Thumbnails etc. etc.).
40 gigabytes for a file like the one you show is ridiculous. Did you maybe embed the placed images? If so, don’t. Keep them linked unless you really need to embed them.

Why is my "Combined PDF" file size smaller than the original files?

Hello!
I am trying to combine two individual PDF files into a single PDF. Each file is 32mb, however when I use acrobat to combine them, the newly created "combined" file is only 19mb. I believe I've taken the necessary steps to ensure no degradation is happening (i.e. selecting Large File Size in the options panel), but I am still puzzled as to how two files can be put together as one and be smaller than the two separate files with out any compression. What am I missing?
Thanks in advance!

When you combine a file it does a "Save As" operation. This re-writes all of the PDF object in the single file and is supposed to clean up the file, whereas the single files may have had multiple saves which when you look at the internals of the PDF file simply add on to the end of the file. In other words you get a more cleanly written and optimized file that is also saved for Fast Web View.

Make PDF file size smaller for scans

I'm using a fairly high DPI setting on my scanner. Is there anyway to adjust the size of the PDF file after the scan??? Or do I have to adjust the scan settings to a lower DPI?? Thanks!

Yes, in Acrobat, run the PDF Optimizer and select: Images > Image settings
and select the downsample settings to suit your needs for the type of image the scan is (color, grayscale, monochrome).

Editing PDF and keeping file size small

We are having lot of difficulties in keeping the PDF file small after editing. Our PDFs have text and fields and are used in a browser. They need to be updated multiple times a year to reflect change in text.
PDF was created from MS Word 2010 using Acrobat X.
Word had only Arial and Verdana fonts.
When PDF was created from word, settings were set to "Never Embed" fonts. Till this point, all seems fine.
Now, the moment we try to edit text (even add a letter), PDF prompts that fonts may be embedded and file size increases by 20-30KB.
Checking File-Properties-Fonts show that font has changed to "Arial, Bold Type: True Type (CID), Encoding: Identity-H". Before editing, font type was not CID.
Under Optimization, there is no embedded font and we unchecked “subset all embedded fonts in optimization”. Save the file.
Still File size is higher by 10k-20K - though only one word was added.
Questions:
How to avoid font type CID getting added automatically by Acorbat? It seems it takes more space and we don't need it. We couldn't find a way to remove/replace it.
How to keep the file size not increasing much? Every time we edit with only few words added and do optimize, etc. still file size increases by 10-20 KBs.
thanks
apjs

As these PDFs are used as electronic agreement forms and have fields/Javascript, recreating them from word requires lot of work. We do understand if there are substantial changes then we should recreate from word as PDF is not designed for major editing. However, in most cases we are trying to edit few lines of text and still file size is increasing by 10-20K.
We have tried Save As but so far optimization option gives us better results in terms of reduction in file size.
We do use common fonts - like Arial, Verdana, Times New Roman. We understand that we should embed uncommon fonts but we avoid uncommon fonts as embedding increases PDF file size.
CID is coming up even when common font like Arial is being used.
Thanks for trying to help us.

PDF File Size - any way to compress further?

We have are using the Crystal for .NET export method to export a report to a .pdf file, and are having an issue with the pdf file size on a report that contains images. The images are stored in a SQL2005 database as blob or varbinary(max). The report executes a stored procedure that selects data (including images) to produce a quotation. There are input parms to decide which images to print (for example A, B or both A&B). Both types of images can appear at the line level on the quotation. Type A images print in the main report, Type B images are in a subreport. Both the main report & subreport execute a stored procedure to select an image type.
Our issue, when both Type A and B image is selected to print on a 293 line quote. The PDF file size is 44.23MB
When Type A only is selected, the PDF file size is 2.64MB
When Type B only is selected, the PFD file size is 43.95MB.
There are more Type B images that would print at the line level than Type A, but is there any way to compress this down further as it is too large to email.

You mention that you are using Crystal for .NET, but not what version; CR for .NET 2003, 2005, 2008. 2010?
Applying the latest fixes for the correct version of CR would be the first thing to do.
Next, I'd have a close look at image B as it appears to be the one adding the most "bulk". How is this image different from image A?
General tips re. images:
Save the files a BMPs.
When .jpg image is inserted into Crystal Reports it is converted into bitmap format and as the result of the conversion the report may loose some quality, scale and other issues may arise... E.g.; Crystal Reports is not so good a graphics management tool
When an image is saved as a .bmp, then there is no conversion required and thus the quality of the image should be preserved.
Best practice: save the image with high resolution and required size as a .bmp format then insert this image into Crystal Reports.
Resize the image to the smallest possible size and downgrade the DPI to 72. This will ensure your image is as small as possible and Crystal Reports will have to put in the least amount of work to display it.
Have a look ar KB [1241630 - Exporting a Crystal report (XI) to PDF generates a big PDF file|http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/servlet/prt/portal/prtroot/com.sap.km.cm.docs/oss_notes_boj/sdn_oss_boj_bi/sap(bD1lbiZjPTAwMQ==)/bc/bsp/spn/scn_bosap/notes%7B6163636573733d36393736354636443646363436353344333933393338323636393736354637333631373036453646373436353733354636453735364436323635373233443330333033303331333233343331333633333330%7D.do]. This KB, may apply to your version of CR, or not. In any case, you will have to use the KB as a guide and determine what the appropriate registry entry would be for your version of CR.
One more thing. Many people like to use jpg files as they are smaller than bmp files. However, as far as Crystal Reports is concerned, this is inconsequential. The report file will be the same size if a file is inserted as a jpg or a bmp. This is due to the jpg conversion to bmp Crystal Reports does internally.
Ludek
Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/SAPCRNetSup
Got Enhancement ideas? Try the [SAP Idea Place|https://ideas.sap.com/community/products_and_solutions/crystalreports]

PDF file size too large

Hi,
I have a report (6i and 9Ids) which contains an image (stored as a blob in the database (8i)). The size of the image in the database (and as a file) is just 750k. The image is sized to fit on to the A4 report page. If I set the desformat of this report to PDF the resulting PDF output file is 10mb in size. I need to make this report available over the web so this is too large. Has anyone got any ideas as to reducing the output file size?
I have tried the pdfcomp report parameter with no joy.
Cheers
Andy

Hi Andy,
The image you are using might be a JPEG image. In 6i and 9i, while generating the PDF file, Oracle Reports always converts the image to GIF and embed it. This image type conversion increases the file size of the outputimage and hence PDF file size increases. This is fixed in Oracle Reports 10g.
In Oracle Reports 10g, you can select the outputimageformat based on your need, using either:
1. commandline: OUTPUTIMAGEFORMAT
(or)
2. environment variable: REPORTS_OUTPUTIMAGEFORMAT
If your image in the database is a JPEG image, set the outputimageformat to JPEG. Hence, there will not be any image type conversion and the PDF file will be very small.
Please refer to the Publishing Reports manual to know more about the usage of these commandline/environment variable.
Links:
http://download-west.oracle.com/docs/cd/B10464_01/bi.904/b10314/pbr_cla.htm#644163
http://download-west.oracle.com/docs/cd/B10464_01/bi.904/b10314/pbr_rfap.htm#644448
Thanks,
Regards,
Siva B

Reduce PDF File Size - any ideas?

Hi all,
I have a C++/C# programs that generates PDF's in Adobe Reader using Infragistics. This is a recent change from using VS View as our old method of illustrating - we now use Infragistics. This has resulted in our PDF File sizes almost doubling due to us now using Bookmarks within the PDFs and also having to embed the fonts. There are some pictures used but these are already very small so they are not the issue. I was wondering does anyone have any ideas of how we could possibly reduce the size again or any possible work arounds.
Any help would be great.
Colly (Ireland)

Where do these EPS files come from Photoshop or Illustrator?
Illustrator
There may be nothing wrong with EPS files technically, they are considered archaic in a modern workflow. Best to save as a .ai with pdf compatible file - or to save them as PDF x4a with Illustrator Editing Capabilities enabled.
But I don't think there's any need to run out and convert all your files - perhaps keep it in mind going forward.
Photoshop
EPS is really not the best format. If it's pure raster then PSD or TIFF would be preferred format, if it's Raster + Vector Shapes, Vector Masks, Text Layers then PDF is preferred over EPS (with photoshop editing capabilities enabled).
File sizes react differently depending on the content on the choice of compression. Heavy Vector files from Illustrator can cause Huge file sizes in PDFs.
See this article (and more importantly the comments!)
http://indesignsecrets.com/creating-smaller-pdfs-from-a-vector-dense-book.php
If you can provide a bit more info on your workflow and what settings you are using to save it would be great.

Using Examine Document Remove increases pdf file size !

Hi,
I have Adobe Acrobat Pro v9.3.0
I've been editing a lot of scanned .pdfs - rotating and cropping pages.
All this has previously worked fine with v8 but now I find that Acrobat 9 is increasing the .pdf file size after using Examine Document and clicking Remove
For example:
original file: 16,861 Kbytes
file after cropping 74 pages (from A4 to A5): 16,879 Kbytes
file after running Examine Document > Remove cropped metadata : 79,914 Kbytes !!!
With Acrobat 8 this process would normally have halved the file size.
Am I now doing something wrong ??
Thanks in advance.

Hello - This problem is still here !
Acrobat 9 Pro version 9.4.2
I've got a .pdf created by an agency (so not a scanned image) which I want to make as small as possible for emailing to hundreds of people (I'll attach it if possible somehow ?)
I open it up when it's 331Kb
Click Document > Examine Document
Check the Metadata and Deleted/Cropped items
Click Remove
Click File > Save As and hey presto, the new file with all that stuff supposedly removed is 2,588 Kb
Surely I'm not the only one who's bothered about .pdf file size ?

PDF file size

I have an HP Officejet 6500 E710n-z (Network) that I use at home to scan into PDFs, and I know exactly how to move the slider from "Smallest size" to "Best quality"
However the size of the PDFs are unacceptably large when image quality is acceptable, and if I move the slider to reduce the size then the image becomes unacceptable. It is impossible to scan a legal document of more than a few legible pages without producing a file size too large to email . I am forced to break these scanned documents into 3-4 page bite-sized chunks.
A simple one page HOA Disclosure form, at 220 DPI and the slider in the middle for balance, produces a 699K PDF. I have used other printer scanners at work (different brands) at the same 200 DPI that results in very clear documents at less than 100K per page.
I believe there is something wrong with HP's scan-to-PDF algorithm. The problem must be due to some unskilled (or flawed) software design. What will it take to have HP or third party developer (and developer staff supervision) take this seriously -- compare HP vs other brand scanners PDF files -- and update the HP drivers to fix this?
This question was solved.
View Solution.

Just a follow up. I went into chat mode with some low-level tech named Nathan, giving him the link to this thread. After reading it, he suggested I can improve file size by using greyscale and 200 DPI. DUH!!!! I complained he was just humoring me, so he said I should call the tech support number.
I did that next and spoke with a very nice young lady who actually DID take me seriously. I could hear her typing away vigorously in the background, capturing every detail of my plea for this to be forwarded up the chain of command for serious consideration. It was clear she understood and captured from me that there are many forum complaints that can be found with a search term "PDF File Size" that are getting weak or unacceptable "solutions" to push the slider left or use lower DPI etc. She also captured my assurances that some competitor brands produce PDF file sizes 20 times smaller for the same image quality.
I believe that this might actually be opened up at a higher level for consideration of an improvement in the compression algorithm. My fingers are crossed. Since I have about 11 months left for warranty support, I plan to contact them once or twice again before it expires, using the same case number to see if there is any progress.
Bottom line: At my default of 200 DPI and 20% image quality, with an average file size for a single sample page producing a file size of 281KB, a 25-page document creates a PDF file that is 7MB! That will just barely make it past the file size limit for my email provider, but might be too large for the recipient. That is still unacceptable, and is forcing me to consider products other than HP for this business purpose.

Question about reducing PDF file size on export

I have a large file that is generates a PDF about 75MB when exported with the "[High Quality Print]" preset. However, I can reduce the size down to to under 5MG in Acrobat if I use the Tools>Flattener Preview>[Medium Resolution] setting (image attached). Is there a way to generate this smaller file directly from InDesign? I couldn't figure out how to do this with InDesign's Flattener Preview or Export options, but it is very likely that I missed something.

Eugene Tyson wrote:
When you choose Smallest File size, it is still using the PDF 1.6 setting.
Change this to Acrobat 4 (PDF 1.3) this will automagically flatten the PDF - which means you shouldn't have to do it in Acrobat.
That should get you a nice small file size, I believe.
Flattening transparency in InDesign will not necessarily yield a smaller PDF file size. Transparency flattening will not automatically convert placed vector artwork to raster images unless that vector artwork is actually involved with transparency. And even then, whether you end up with a smaller file depends on a number of factors.
If the reason for the very large file size is indeed very complex vector artwork and you are willing to sacrifice quality, conversion of such vector artwork to raster might yield a significantly smaller exported PDF file. To accomplish that conversion, I would personally suggest converting the most offensive (in terms of file size and complexity) of such files in Illustrator (assuming that they were .AI files) and exporting them as .TIF files (to avoid the potential imaging artifacts of JPEG compression).
- Dov

PS Elements 8 - "Save As" PDF File Sizes Huge

In Photoshop Elements 8.0, Photoshop PDF file sizes are huge when using the "save as" function, using JPEG compression.
No matter which "Image Quality" is used, the resultant PDF is huge. At "high" quality the file is 20 MB. At "medium" quality, the file is 15 MB. At "low" quality, the file is also 15 MB, much too large. This was not a problem in older versions of Elements. File sizes were typically just more than 3 MB.
If I save the image as JPEG files using "maximum" (10) quality, "medium" (5) quality, and "low" (3) quality, I can insert the image(s) into Word and use the Acrobat Pro PDF printer driver to get PDF file sizes of 1.8 MB, 1.3 MB, and 1.1 MB. These PDF files are perfect. Even the lowest quality is perfectly readable for my purposes. The older versions of Elements worked fine so I didn't need to take the step of saving in JPEG format, importing to Word and then printing.
Does anyone know if Photoshop Elements Version 8 is capable of saving PDF files in the smaller file sizes? Is there a plug-in I can purchase that would give better results?
Photoshop Elements Version 8.0 (20090905.r.605812) with all updates applied.
OS = Windows 7 Enterprise (6.1, Build 7600).
Thank you for any help or adevice.

I'm dealing with the same situation.
With Photoshop Elements I use to scan a picture at 300 dpi, save as PDF file, jpg compression medium low
quality and alway got files under 5 Mb, even lower than that. Colour or black and white pictures.
Now with Photoshop Elements 8.0 did the usual procedure but the pdf are huge, larger than 8 Mb, even more
than 10 Mb !
Am I missing any detail in settings program, perhaps ?
Thanks for any suggestions.

PDF file size in relation to number of pages of the exact same document

PDF file size of a document for one page is 28kb. PDF file size of a the same document for two pages (1st page and 2nd page are exact same document), also 28kb. Shouldn't it be 56kb??

First of all, you can't use Adobe Reader to add, delete or duplicate pages in a PDF file (unless you use a template object), so you're either using Adobe Acrobat, or some other application entirely.
The size of PDF files is not linear, ie if you have 1-page file and it's 1 MB, then duplicating it will results in a 2-page file of 2 MB, or a 10-page file of 10 MB. Many items in a PDF document only need to be saved once (such as font information, image information in some cases, etc.), so the change in size when adding additional pages is sometimes very small. At other times it can be very big, though. You can have a 100-page file that is 1 MB and then add a single page to it, with a new font perhaps, and the size will jump to 5 MB, just because that font is very large...

Large PDF file sizes when exporting from InDesign

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone knew why some PDF file sizes are so large when exporting from ID.
I create black and white user manuals with ID CS3. We post these online, so I try to get the file size down as much as possible.
There is only one .psd image in each manual. The content does not have any photographs, just Illustrator .eps diagrams and line drawings. I am trying to figure out why some PDF file sizes are so large.
Also, why the file sizes are so different.
For example, I have one ID document that is 3MB.
Exporting it at the smallest file size, the PDF file comes out at 2MB.
Then I have another ID document that is 10MB.
Exporting to PDF is 2MB (the same size as the smaller ID document)... this one has many more .eps's in it and a lot more pages.
Then I have another one that the ID size is 8MB and the PDF is 6MBwhy is this one so much larger than the 10MB ID document?
Any ideas on why this is happening and/or how I can reduce the file size.
I've tried adjusting the export compression and other settings but that didn't work.
I also tried to reduce them after the fact in Acrobat to see what would happen, but it doesn't reduce it all that much.
Thanks for any help,
Cathy

> Though, the sizes of the .eps's are only about 100K to 200K in size and they are linked, not embedded.
But they're embedded in the PDF.
> It's just strange though because our marketing department as an 80 page full color catalog that, when exported it is only 5MB. Their ID document uses many very large .tif files. So, I am leaning toward it being an .eps/.ai issue??
Issue implies there's something wrong, but I think this is just the way
it's supposed to work.
Line drawings, while usually fairly compact, cannot be lossy compressed.
The marketing department, though, may compress their very large TIFF
files as much as they like (with a corresponding loss of quality). It's
entirely possible to compress bitmaps to a smaller size than the
drawings those bitmaps were made from. You could test this yourself.
Just open a few of your EPS drawings in Photoshop, save as TIFF, place
in ID, and try various downsampling schemes. If you downsample enough,
you'll get the size of the PDF below a PDF that uses the same graphics
as line drawing EPS files. But you may have to downsample them beyond
recognition...
Kenneth Benson
Pegasus Type, Inc.
www.pegtype.com

Making PDF File Sizes Smaller

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