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gifted_power3418
January 9, 2026
Question

Editing pdfs

  • January 9, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 166 views

I posted a query about a bloated pdf, which was explained by the fact that I had edited it heavily. I've seen a number of  posts about the same matter, to which the reply has been that pdfs must not be heavily edited. It has occurred to me that pdf-users ought to be informed of this fact. So far as I know Adobe never warns or informs pdf users or potential pdf users of any limitation on the capabiliity of pdfs to be edited. 

Stoothoff

1 reply

creative explorer
Community Expert
creative explorerCommunity Expert
Community Expert
January 9, 2026

@gifted_power3418 I don't see any other posts or comments made by 'you' — where did you say you posted a 'query?' Were you using a different user name? 

What do you mean by bloated PDF? If you are the one creating the PDF say from InDesign, and you need a high-resolution for web, you wouldn't need to create a high-res PDF and instead, a small web quality would do. Using 300ppi for images would be an over-kill. And if vector artwork weren't being used but images were (in some cases, vector artwork can be complex that an image would be suggested) when it's simple artwork, then yes, the PDF could be bloated. But, if you as the creator who is creating it, you could make it not bloated. 

Downloading a PDF from someone else, that's a different story. 

So, can you clarify about how you get bloated? A PDF that is! 

m
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gifted_power3418Author
January 9, 2026
If you check my post and replies to it, you’ll see that it got bloated because I edited a lot of text by putting it in different fonts. These fonts or subsets of them were all added to the pdf, together with other fonts that I didn’t use, some embedded and some not embedded. I’m using an ancient version of Acrobat Pro and so lacked the tools which might have enabled me to sort the problem out. That’s how the file got bloated. I was told that this is bound to happen if you edit pdfs heavily. I wish I had known this sooner.

RHS
Bernd Alheit
Community Expert
Bernd AlheitCommunity Expert
Community Expert
January 9, 2026

What replies do you mean?

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