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LA Hardesty
Participant
February 27, 2017
Answered

Export artboards to PDF file size PS CC 2017

  • February 27, 2017
  • 3 replies
  • 11345 views

I'm using Photoshop CC 2017 artboards to create multiple sizes of artwork. I need to export to PDF as separate flattened files, but that function does not have the options to flatten. If I flatten each artboard, the resulting PDF file sizes are still much larger than when I used to use Save As with a single file.

Am I missing something?

Thanks

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Barb Binder

Here is the explanation from Adobe I was looking for:

Using Alt + Delete to fill a layer on second Artboard makes that layer larger. Why?

The second to last response in that thread was very helpful to me:

Whats not clear to most users is that every layer in every artboard is really the same size as the overall image size. We trick Photoshop into treating artboards like separate docs but it is important to know that they aren't. This is why artboard files may seem disproportionately large, what appears to be many small layers can add up to a very large file.

I read this four months ago so I'm not sure I did a great job with my earlier answer—I hope that the combination of both will fill in that you were missing about artboards in Photoshop, and explain the larger that expected file sizes associated with them.

3 replies

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corrie uys
Participant
September 1, 2018

I just tried to export the same artboards document I did a few months ago. Back then, the file was properly flattened and resized and the resulting pdf was 1.5mb big. After the photoshop update, the file is 70mb+.

What on earth is going on? Ive noticed that as Adobe tries to offer as much software as possible, the basic foundation features that Ive come to rely on are starting to get buggy and unreliable.

Is this PDF thing a new bug? How on earth do you ad a bug to an existing, working feature?

    Barb Binder
    Community Expert
    Barb BinderCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    February 27, 2017

    Here is the explanation from Adobe I was looking for:

    Using Alt + Delete to fill a layer on second Artboard makes that layer larger. Why?

    The second to last response in that thread was very helpful to me:

    Whats not clear to most users is that every layer in every artboard is really the same size as the overall image size. We trick Photoshop into treating artboards like separate docs but it is important to know that they aren't. This is why artboard files may seem disproportionately large, what appears to be many small layers can add up to a very large file.

    I read this four months ago so I'm not sure I did a great job with my earlier answer—I hope that the combination of both will fill in that you were missing about artboards in Photoshop, and explain the larger that expected file sizes associated with them.

    ~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
    L
    LA HardestyAuthor
    Participant
    February 27, 2017

    Barb,

    That explains everything for me. Thank you! The forums here are really very helpful.

      Barb Binder
      Community Expert
      Barb BinderCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      February 28, 2017

      So glad I could help.  

      ~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
      A
      ahmad al haj qasem
      Participating Frequently
      February 27, 2017

      hey

      after you you make your artboards go to file>export >artbord to pdf then do as same as the photo

      L
      LA HardestyAuthor
      Participant
      February 27, 2017

      Thanks so much for you reply and screenshot. Actually, I've got that part. What I'm looking for is a way to export the artboards as flattened PDFs in a smaller file size. I opened one of the PDFs exported in this manner and it was an editable layered file that was very large.

      Barb Binder
      Community Expert
      Barb BinderCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      February 27, 2017

      If I flatten each artboard, the resulting PDF file sizes are still much larger than when I used to use Save As with a single file.

      Am I missing something?

      I learned on this forum is that artboards aren't what we think they are! They are actually windows into a background. Think one large background, divided into 3 smaller views (if you have 3 artboards).

      For example, 3 artboards:

      Then select and ungroup them to see that it is one wide document large document.

      I suspect that this is having an impact on the file size. You could save a copy and play with this theory (keep the original safe): Delete two of the artboards, ungroup the remaining artboard, crop to size and then make the PDF. What happens to the file size after that?

      ~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
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