Problems attaching a pdf file

[lorainea66014934]

I'm trying to attach a PDF file for an online submission to a writing contest and the file must be under 2mb. I saved the relvant document in pdf format and it was 1.2mb

However, when I went to attach it, the site says it exceeds the allowed size.

I'm using Adobe Reader XI. Document is in M/soft Word 2011, and created on a Mac computer.

Not sure what the problem is but would sure appreciate some help.

Discussion moved by moderator from Adobe Creative Cloud to Acrobat Reader

[Test Screen Name]

If you are quite sure of the file size, checked it in Finder, you'll need to ask the people running the writing contest what is wrong. Maybe the info on their site is wrong, or there is a problem with their checker.

Still, that's pretty big for a text file unless it's a long novel.

[lorainea66014934]

Yes, I thought I'd ring the competition people on Monday and see if the problem is at their end. They have limited the word count to 100,000 words and I've got 95,000, not really that long for the type of novel it is.

[jane-e]

How are you creating the PDF from Word 2011?

[lorainea66014934]

I go into Save As and select save as a PDF. I then placed it on the desktop so it's easy to drag down and attach. When I checked the info box, it said the doc was 1.2mb.

As Word 2011 is no longer being supported, I'm wondering if I should update to the latest version.

[Test Screen Name]

I wonder if it’s actually the word count. There are lots of ways of counting and answers can vary a lot. do you add headers and footers for example?

[jane-e]

For reference: Word for Windows has always had a PDF Maker where you can set options for how you want to make the PDF. Word 2016 (Office 365) has an Acrobat tab on the Ribbon if you have the full version of Acrobat. I'm not sure about just the Reader. Word 2011 does not have this tab.

The full version of Acrobat has a Reduce file size command, and even doing a simple Save As in the full version of Acrobat will sometimes reduce the file size.

When you go into File > Properties in Acrobat or the Reader, it will tell you how the document was created and also the file size.

When you are in File > Properties, go to the Fonts tab. How many fonts are listed? This can make your document large. Make sure your Word document only has one font, and that it is common.

Try this: in Word 2011, choose File > Print. There should be one or more ways to create the PDF from the Print menu. See if any of them change the file size. Creating a PDF from Mac will say in Properties that it was created with Quartz.

If that doesn't work to make it small enough, try this: down a free trial of Acrobat Pro for 7 days. Then go to File > Print > Adobe Acrobat and choose Smallest File Size as the option.

I think Smallest File does not embed the fonts. But during your 7-day trial, you can go to File > Optimize and unembed the fonts to make the document smaller. You can also analyze that document to see where its file size come from and removed other things making it large, such as bookmarks, links, metadata.

[lorainea66014934]

Thanks to everyone who offered advice on my PDF file problem.

One of my tech minded friends suggested using Shrink PDF – Reduce PDF Documents Online.​ It reduced down to 955kb. He also posted this info on the publisher's website in case other people were having trouble. I'll contact them Monday to see whether it went through and explain the problem.