Setting up PDF filing system - file size woes

We are using Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro to scan our hard copy filing into the system. I have sussed out how we are going to do it, and build an index etc. What I am a little confused about is how big I should expect these documents to be. If I scan a single letter in, using Grey Scale (which I think looks better than black and white), the document comes out at about 450Kb. If I then optomise it, it almost halfs in size. However, if I adjust the settings on the grey scall preset to get it to scan at about 200Kb, the quality is quite bad.
Can anyone advise me on the best way, to scan documents that we want to have soft copy, and be able to print off if required. We don't need them to look like they are originals, but dont want them to look like they have been copied in a fax machine.
Any help is appreciated.
Gordon Robb

450 KB per page or hallf that size you got with optimization is not bad. You are not going to get good greyscale documents that look like the original by cutting the size any further. If you want it to look the best and be good for OCR if you need that later, I'd recommend you make sure that you scan to TIFF and import the tiff or get your scanning software to do the equivalent.

Similar Messages

Why is that saving as PDF increase the file sizes?

Hola
I've been notice that when I save a file as PDF, in CS5 it increase the file size to double that before.
Even saving it with the same setting than before.
For example, most of my Business Card file that I sent to print, use to be 1.5 or so megabytes
Now if I open the same file, --or a new file-- and save it, it will increase it to double that size
Any ideas?
Thanks

Hola and Thanks for your help
Ok, I've been using Photoshop since version 6 or so (around year 2000)
Just upgrade to CS5
Before, for example, I'll make a file in PS, merge the layers, open a new file whit the same dimensions, resolution etc,
and save this file as PDF to send to printers.
Tthe file(s) that I have or were create them in CS4, than saved as PDFs have a file sizes of 1 to 2 megabytes as average.
The NEW files (in the same sequence) that I create now, have an average of 3 Mbytes
Even do, I save them with the same --I believe-- setting in PDF
There's may be a new feature in PDF save dialogue box that I'm not getting?
or, it just more information that it is put into?
Thanks

Why Does Save As-PDF/A reduce file size when I don't want it to?

I scanned a 4-paged printed card with my Epson Perfection 4490 scanner in order to digitally archive it. Each page is about 5x7 inches, and I scanned at 100 percent. I scanned each page as an individual TIFF image file, at 600 samples per inch.
I brought each TIFF image file into Photoshop one at a time. I saved each TIFF as a JPEG, at Quality: 8, Baseline ("Standard").
Then, I brought the JPEG's into Adobe Acrobat Pro to create a 4-paged PDF. Initially, the file size of the saved 4-paged PDF was 5 MB. (Later, I determined the individual JPEG's add up to 5.2 MB.) When saving as PDF/A, the final format that I want to use, the file size was unexpectedly reduced from 5 MB to 2.5 MB.
What is the reason for the file size being reduced to 2.5 MB? I had already done the compression that I wanted in Photoshop. The PDF was not downsampled. I purposely did not use Optimizer.
I did a test. This time, in Photoshop, I compressed each TIFF to JPEG, at Quality: 5, Baseline ("Standard"), the Medium setting instead of the High setting. After bringing these JPEG's into Adobe Acrobat Pro, the saved 4-paged PDF was 2.8 MB in size, an expected smaller size. Saving as PDF/A produced a file of 2.6 MB in size, very close to the same size this time, possibly indicating it accepting the Medium quality level.
Apparently, saving as PDF/A reduces the quality level of JPEG's to Medium quality, when they are of higher quality to begin with. It seems to be designed to optimize even when I don't want it to.

Here's the Audit Space Usage for the original 5 MB file. It shows the images taking up the majority of the space, as expected:

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.

Can you change X Pro default settings to save all PDFs using "smallest file size" job option?

Is there a way to change Acrobat X Pro's default PDF Save settings to use the settings in Distiller's "smallest file size" job options, or adjust Acrobat's default save settings to a close match?

In Windows you select the printer in the Start>Printers menu and right click to get the properites. You can then go to the settings tab and select the smallest file size job options. When you do it in the printer settings, you have set the default. Be very careful with this choice. It typically reduces the image resolution and embeds no fonts. If you are not distributing the file, then probably not an issue. However, with distribution you risk many folks not being able to read the PDF because of strange characters and low-res image.

No option to "save as" PDF to reduce file size in Preview

There is no Save As option. I have tried exporting my pdf, there is no file size option when I do this. I have tried to duplicate the pdf as suggested in another topic on this forum, which also then didn't have the Save As option and also didn't have any file size options when trying to save in all the many ways which I had already tried. I also tried to print and save from there, which was another option suggested on this forum. That also didn't offer me any options to reduce the file size despite it being a "save as" window. I'm lost. Send Help.

The screen capture won't let me snag the dropdown selection (attached) but the only options available to me are...
Photoshop (*.PSD;*.PDD)
Large Document Format (*.PSB)
OpenEXR (*.EXR)
Photoshop Raw (*.RAW)
Portable Bit Map (*.PBM;*.PGM;*.PPM;*.PNM;*.PFM;*.PAM)
Radiance (*.HDR;*.RGBE;*.XYZE)
TIFF (*.TIF;*.TIFF)

PDF signing signature file size increase in increment 3mb

Hello,
Have anyone seen Adobe Reader digital signature insert and file increase from 85kb over over 3mb? The current Adobe Reader use is 9.x and every time inserting PDF signature it changing the size largely. The signature file less than 95kb. Please let me know if you seen this and a fix for it.
Thanks
JT

Hi Ankit,
Thanks for following up and the issue has been resolved since I found tips from the forum below. The OS is WinXP Pro and current version Adobe Reader 9.4.6. It work after de-select the option under preference so I’m good to go. Maybe you can posted this on your site as “fixed” for those experience same issue as I’m.
Re: ACROBAT DIGITAL SIGNATURE ADDS 700KB TO .PDF FILE SIZE"
go to edit>preferences>security.
click on advanced preferences then select the 'creation' tab.
De-select 'Include signature's revocation status when signing'
the extra data is the CRL list that gets embedded with the signature if the above preference has been selected.
Thanks
John Ta

Setting in itunes for sync file size/format

I heard there was a setting in itunes the would allow you to pick a smaller files size/format at the time of syncing to ypour ipod so during the sync the files would be compressed. Is this true. My cd collection is ripped and saved in lossless and i was thinking of syncing at 320kbps to see if i noticed a difference. It would be nice if this was ture so i can save all my cds at lossless and just compress when i sync if i want.
Thanks!!!

So that will compress all the larger files on the ipod to 128kbps ACC....then i can load more lossless till memory is full again and, do that again, and it will compress those new larger files to 128kbps AAC????
Also, can you pick another file size. I already know i loath the sound quality of 128. I was hoping to do something like this but choose 320

Lookout causing system file size growth in W2000

When running Lookout 4.5 my WINNT/system32/config/system file is growing. The file should be around 2 to 3 MB but has grown to over 6 MB in just 4 days. Previously when this file got to 20 mb the system fried and had I to redo the above mentioned system file to original and also reinstall Lookout 4.5. I am afraid I am headed back to the same place. What is the problem?
Thanks for your input.
Dave

Dave,
I do not know why should Lookout increase the system hive when Lookout is running regularly with a process application.
The only part Lookout is somehow related to the system hive is during installation. Lookout installer register its services (LKAds, LKCitadel, LKTime, and in Lookout 5 probably Lookout used as NT Service). This installation would increase the system hive a little bit. However, I've installed Lookout 5 and 4.5.1b18 and my system hive is as you said around 2-3 MB and I have not seen it growing when I was using Lookout.
If you could reproduce and see that this system file is growing it might be interessting to know if you do something special in your process application. (E.g. DDE Exchange, OPC Servers...).
Let me know if you attache an exampl
e that reproduces the system hive grow.
Regards
Roland
PS: More about this growing file: e.g.: http://scilnet.fortlewis.edu/tech/NT-Server/registry.htm#Hives
PPS: If you encounter this problem - for sure it would be good to know why - but maybe you could increase the registry max file setting thus the system would not freeze - or what do you mean by "fried", a crash (Would you have a stack dump?)

Reduce File Size and Optimise PDF both increase file size

Hi All
I have exported a pdf (our college mag) at smallest file size from Indesign CS4 for online use. The problem is the resultant file size is a little under 19Mb. Using both or either Reduce File Size or Optimise functions simply result in an increase to 22Mb. The document is packed with images however I would have thought one or both of these processes would have helped reduce the file size to a more manageable download file size.
A pdf is also produced to go to print so simply compressing all images prior to imcuding them in Indesign is not a preferable option - this would mean creating two separate Indesign documents, something which I would rather avoid if possible.
Any help would be greatly appreciated as always.
The file reside here if anyone cares to take a look http://www.ayrcoll.ac.uk/index.php?name=UpDownload&req=viewdownload&cid=11&orderby=dateD It's the latest release (September 09)
Thanks
Colin

You might want to do an audit of the PDF (button in PDF Optimizer) and try to figure out what the various parts are. It shows 58% is content streams (sorry, but I am not sure what that is), 26% is overhead, and only 12.7% is graphics. Since you are not storing bookmarks and such, you might want to try going back to ID and printing to the Adobe PDF printer for a comparison. It may be one technique is more efficient than the other.
When I used the optimizer, the file did get larger. When I used Reduce File Size, it got slightly smaller. The key may be in figuring out what the various parts are from the audit. You might try copying one page of ID to a new document and play with various versions - different fonts (all were embedded and that is probably best), variations on graphics, etc. That is all I can suggest since I would simply be playing with different ways to produce the document and looking at what is causing the bloat. When the Images are only 12.7% and the fonts less than 1%, there is something going on to produce the size, and those 2 are typically the killers. I would mention tags that tend to bloat, but you do not have any (normally used for assessibility).
You might want to try some of the preflight checks to find issues. I did the transparency check and got 170 instances in 22 pages. Flattening the page may help. There were some pages that seemed to be very bad. However, I did not get a big file size reduction. I did not get a lot of improvement by printing to a new PDF either. Certain pages seem to be part of the bloat problem. The print took a long time around pages 11 and 22.
One troubleshooting technique would be extract pages to separate files and look at the details of each page to see what is causing the issue.
Need to go. Good luck.

How can I convert a Microsoft Publisher doc to PDF when the file size is LARGE?

I have a Microsoft Publisher document that I need converted to PDF. Typically I have no issues converting from Publisher to PDF (and usually can just do it through the "save as" feature in Publisher.) However, this particular file is laden with graphics and therefore very large. I was able to convert it once, but it made some of the graphics as blank boxes. When I try again to convert, it gives me an error message.
Is there a way to conver a LARGE Publisher file to PDF without losing any of the images contained within the document? Please help!

Try emptying the Temp folder. Are you using PDF Maker (not sure that is available for Publisher) or the MS plugin? If PDF Maker, try turning off the tags and reducing the amount of bookmarks needed to a minimum. As an alternative, simply print to the Adobe PDF printer -- will typically give a smaller file and not run into these creation problems for large document, but you will not get bookmarks or such in the conversion process.

File Size of PDFs in Preview

I scan a lot of documents for record keeping purposes. I set the scanner to 300 dpi, black and white. This keeps the file size down and the document is readable and printable (close to the original), and the scanning is quick. I scanned three sets of documents (about 15 pages each) this way and saved them as PDFs. The file sizes were 3.1 MB, 3.2 MB, and 1.8 MB. I used Preview to combine the three documents into one PDF. The resulting file was 19.3 MB. Why so large? 3.1 + 3.2 + 1.8 = 8.1 What is going on here? How do I keep the file size down when using Preview? I don't want to buy PDF Studio (or some tool like it) if I can avoid it (they all seem so mediocre).

Try Combine PDFs
<http://www.monkeybreadsoftware.info/Freeware/CombinePDFs.shtml>
I scan at 600 bpi into TIFF, then use Graphics Converter to save with the CCITT 4 compression. I get about 12:1 compression, with no loss of quality. The result is still TIFF, so you don't have to uncompress to use them.

How can I reduce the file size when PDF Optimizer does not do much?

I have a PDF form that exists of 48 pages. 44 pages are forms / have form fields, the other 4 are just informative. Each form-page has approx. 80 fields (checkboxes, text fields).
When I started setting up the PDF form the file size was 12 MB and I had placed fields on 21 pages. Then with 34 pages the file size was 19 MB. And with 40 pages it was 35 MB big! Finally with 44 pages the file size is 34 MB.
So I searched with Google and found some tips. Using the "PDF Optimizer" option inside Acrobat for example. So I did, and the file was reduced only with 3 MB... 31 MB was the file. Also used the option "Save as.... Optimized".... no difference. I also found a suggestion about removing embedded fonts. Using the "Audit Space Usage" option I noticed the fonts taking many MegaBytes:
* Content Streams: 5.287.000     15,09 %
* Fonts:                24.556.810     70,08 % !!
* Acrobat forms:      3.349.164    12,05 %
In the older PDF version (I saved and kept this one too) with just 21 pages with form-fields, the "Audit Space Usage" shows:
* Content Streams: 5.292.000     40,14 %
* Fonts:                 1.290.224     9,79 %
* Acrobat forms:      1.588.758    12,05 %
So I could save many many MegaBytes by -UnEmbedding- fonts. But if I do this (unembed ALL fonts), the file size stays almost the same!?!?!? Why? What can I do to reduce the file size? I would like it to be 8 MB if possible (32 MB - 24 MB = 8 MB)?
Thank you for your help!

If you have authored the form, reduce the number of different fonts for the content and form fields.
Any font used in a form field will cause that font to be embedded into the PDF.
If you are going to Optimize the PDF be very careful with forms. Optimization does a lot of removal of items and rearranging of items which can really mess up forms.

Delete Pages, file size, PDF Optimizer Clean Up

Using Acrobat 9 Pro (for Windows, if that makes any difference).
I have a 148 page PDF of a magazine, about 58 MB in size.
I Deleted 40 pages of ads, leaving just the useful content.
The file size is still about 58 MB.
When I run Advanced -> PDF Optimizer,
the file size goes down to about 47 MB.
The Optimizer settings don't seem to matter.
Even with just "Clean Up" checked, all its options UNchecked,
and Compression set to "Leave Compression Unchanged"
the file size is still reduced.
I have tried several other PDF editors and tools,
and none of them reduce the file size after deleting the 40 pages,
even using their "optimize" or "compress" functions.
Can someone explain why deleting pages does not reduce the file size,
and what the Optimizer is doing (that the other tools don't do)
to reduce the file size ?
Thanks,
-- Glenn

this may be helpful
http://forums.adobe.com/message/4568414#4568414
in Adobe 9 Pro Windows, I found the best was:
Document -> Optimize Scanned PDF (defaults)... tho you could play w the slider bar for even smaller.

Save As PDF file size issues

I am currently using Word 2008 to produce a club newsletter for email distribution. The Word (.docx) file can be up to 2.4MB in size. When I use Print > Save to PDF the resulting file can be as large as 12MB! I tried using the CUPS-PDF virtual printer option and got a file 26MB is size!!
A friend used his Windoze machine to print to PDF and got the file size I was after at just over 1MB. I also tried the Adobe Online "convert to PDF service" and got file sizes lower than 1MB.
What is going on with the Mac OSX conversion? How can I get smaller PDF's without having to shell out for Adobe Acrobat Pro?

Peter Ongley wrote:
How can I get smaller PDF's without having to shell out for Adobe Acrobat Pro?
This may not help or may degrade any images in your document, but try this: Open the PDF file in the Preview application. Invoke File -> Save As, then set "Quartz Filter" to "Reduce File Size", give the file a different name, and save the file.

Setting up PDF filing system - file size woes

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for