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Known Participant
April 19, 2017
Question

How can I create a high quality multi page pdf for download from a web site

  • April 19, 2017
  • 1 reply
  • 1224 views

My client wishes me to include a pdf on a web site that is over 70MB, when I reduce it to a more manageable 7MB the quality is very poor. When I asked how they were creating the pdf this is the answer they gave: "The text pages are made in Word and then saved as PDFs, but anything with photographs on is made in Photoshop, merged, and then saved as a PDF.  I later combine them in Adobe." I am sure there is a more efficient way to create a pdf from a document designed for print. Should they start again and design it specifically for the web and if so what is the best method?

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1 reply

try67
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 19, 2017

First step is to find out what's taking the most space in the original file. To do that open the Content panel in Acrobat (on the left-hand side), right-click the top most item and select Audit Space Usage. You will see something like this:

Now, if Images take up 98% of the total file size, then you know that's the issue and you should ask the graphics people to generate images at a lower resolution/size, so they are more fitting for use on the web.

If it's something else, like fonts, then you need to ask the layout people to switch to more "normal" fonts and maybe embed them only partially, etc.

Mary_8Author
Known Participant
April 19, 2017

Thank you. Images are using:73.69% Fonts 2.42% Piece Information (?) 23.35% I also wonder if they are using too many different applications to create the document before they save it as, a pdf? Would it be better to use just one application, if so which one?

try67
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 19, 2017

Well, that gives you a good starting point. I must say I don't know what "piece information" is referring to, though... It's pretty vague.

You can't do everything in one application. Word is not a good image editor and PS is a terrible text editor.

But you do need to know how to combine the various applications you're using to get the best result... I think the first step would be sorting those huge image files.

You can try using the various optimization commands in Acrobat. Look under File - Save As Other - Optimized PDF.