PDF Reduction Issues _ Part 2 / Sheryl

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
August 14, 2020
3 replies
1589 views

Hi...thank you in advance for your continuing help with this issue. I asked my Supervisor to show me how he is converting PDF files to a smaller size. He is on a PC. I am on a Mac. When he sees my larger pdf files he "Prints to a PDF" and it automatically reduces the files down to a very small size, for example, from 17mgs to 451KB (See Attached). He couldn't find the option on my Mac, and I have never seen it before; I have Acrobat Pro DC 2020 on an iMac running Mojave. Is this option available on a Mac and I just don't know where to find it? Can it be added to Acrobat as a Plug-in or Driver? When I bring up the Print Dialog box and choose PDF in the bottom left corner, I get an error message that says this option is not supported (See Attached).

Thank you! Sheryl

How to

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Test Screen Name

Legend

By the way, your list of things doesn't see to include the PDF Optimizer - that's your #1 tool in this area.

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Sheryl ClayAuthor

Inspiring

Good morning...are you talking about the Optimizers you find online? Do you have a favorite? It makes me nervous to be running our customer's files through an online Optimizer. Do you think that is a privacy and security concern?

try67

Community Expert

For sure. Once you upload a file to a website there's no guarantee it will not be taken and used for other purposes. You should only do so with files that are public anyway and there's no danger of their contents leaking, or if you are 100% sure the entity you're uploading it to is legit.

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Test Screen Name

Legend

There is no win-win. To reduce size, you must throw something away. What you throw away is quality. However, you can fine tune the PDF Optimizer to try different resolutions and compressions for images. But ultimately, someone who tries to use a different PDF to show how small they can be does have a DIFFERENT PDF, and so it is different in every case. It's not possible to set a target size - except, of course, by compromising or simplifying the original design. Look at the area covered by graphics. An attractive wash over the page can multiply the file size.

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Sheryl ClayAuthor

Inspiring

Thank you! That validates what I was thinking...not sure how to convince someone else of that though. I like how you explained that..."you have to throw something away. What you throw away is quality." Now, I can stop beating my head against the wall and reduce them as best I can.

try67

Community Expert

Do NOT use Preview. It will seriously mess up your file.

Do you have Acrobat? If so, you can could use it to find out what kind of object is taking the largest part of the file-size and then remove or optimize it. If you only have Reader then you can't do anything about it, and I would recommend asking in the Illustrator forum.

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Sheryl ClayAuthor

Inspiring

Thank you!

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