Reduce in size and optimize no longer working

[brodie_0468]

Hi,

I have two clients who have been utilizing Adobe Acrobat for years and require their PDF proposals to be optimised and reduced in size, as they are font and image heavy. Despite updating Adobe as necessary in the last few months, their files haven't changed in size during either optimization or reduction. This is a growing concern as they will require the files to be reduced as necessary. Please assist. 

[creative explorer · Accepted solution]

@brodie_0468 A potential workable soluton is to review the specific optimization settings being applied. After opening the PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro (as the standard Reader has limited optimization features), navigate to "File" > "Save As Other" > "Optimized PDF." In the "PDF Optimizer" dialog box, carefully examine each panel, particularly "Images," "Fonts," and "Transparency." For images, ensure that downsampling is enabled to an appropriate resolution for their intended use (e.g., 150 dpi for web, 300 dpi for print) and that lossy compression (like JPEG) is applied judiciously. Under "Fonts," verify that only necessary fonts are embedded; if a font is not crucial for viewing or printing, consider unembedding it. Also, check the "Transparency Flattening" settings if the documents contain transparent elements, as improper flattening can inflate file size. Experiment with different settings in each panel, saving a new version each time to compare file sizes, until you achieve the desired reduction without compromising the visual quality of the proposals.

[gayle_7458]

I have paid subscriptions to both Adobe Acrobat Pro and Outlook 365.  Both are up to date as of today (9/24/2025).  I am trying to use the optimization feature in Adobe Acrobat Pro as explained in the answer below, after creating a portfolio of emails in Outlook (with new Outlook toggled to Off).  "Optimized PDF" is grayed out regardless of whether I try to use it for the portfolio of PDFs, some of which have attachments, or for an individual PDF that has an attachment.  However, when a PDF does not have an attachment, "Optimized PDF" is not grayed out.  Does an attachment prevent optimization?  If not, how do I fix this so that "Optimized PDF" is not grayed out and I can use that feature with a portfolio containing PDFs with attachments?  Thanks!

[AnandSri · Accepted solution]

Hello @gayle_7458

I hope you are doing well, and thank you for reaching out.

The “Optimized PDF” option is not available for PDF Portfolios or PDFs with embedded attachments. This is by design.

• PDF Portfolios are container files that hold multiple PDFs and other file types. They are not treated as a single flat PDF document, which is required for optimization.
• Attachments inside PDFs (e.g., embedded files) prevent optimization because the optimizer cannot modify or compress embedded objects without risking data loss or corruption.

Suggestions:

Option 1: Extract and Flatten

Open the PDF Portfolio.
Extract each individual PDF from the portfolio.
Remove any embedded attachments from the PDFs.
Use Menu > Save As Other > Optimized PDF on each file.

Option 2: Convert Portfolio to Flat PDF
If the portfolio is mostly email content:

Use PDFMaker in Outlook with the “Create PDF” option instead of “Create Portfolio.”
This creates a flat PDF that can be optimized.

If you're using the new Outlook, toggling it off is correct—PDFMaker only works with classic Outlook. Ensure that the PDFs are not password-protected, as that can also disable optimization features.

I hope this helps.

Thanks,

Anand Sri.

[ruben_5631]

HI Anand,

Would it be possible to design the optimization option back to the Save as function?  this was an incredibly useful option for creatives!  

@brodie_0468  if you have an account/ subsciption you can compress PDFs on the cloud version of the Acrobat app.  but not the desktop version - by design lol 

[AnandSri]

Hello @ruben_5631

I hope you are doing well.

I will forward this as a feature request to the product team. You can also raise a feature request directly using the Adobe Wish form.

Thank you,

Anand Sri.