Skip to main content
K
Kristine_Lee2
Participant
November 9, 2009
Question

How to reduce/compress PDF file size?

  • November 9, 2009
  • 1 reply
  • 32720 views

I am trying to PDF a very large excel document (multiple sheets) with graphs etc.

When i PDF the document and merge the sheets into one file, the file size is 8MB, however when my colleague who is also using the same program (Adobe Acrobat) PDF's the document it is only 234KB. I have changed all my Adobe Acrobat settings to match my colleague's however when i PDF the same file the size is still 8MB.

Any guidance on settings etc. would be much appreciated.

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    1 reply

    G
    Gola Raj
    Participant
    November 10, 2009

    Which Acrobat version you are using?

    A
    Anonymous
    November 13, 2009

    Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro Extended, however my colleague who is able to PDF the documents into the smaller size is using Adobe Acrobat Professional version 7.1.0.

    A
    Anonymous
    December 1, 2009

    You sure did what was asked. Thanks. Let me see if I can address some of the issues.

    a. If the create PDF (or PDF Maker) is available it will show up on the menu bar. For the purposes you asked, it is best to just do the print. PDF Maker adds links and often bloats the file if you are not careful.

    b. The Standard settings file will not embed all fonts, but if you are both using the same settings then that should not be the difference.

    c. The "do not send fonts" just means that they are not embedded in the PS file that the Adobe PDF printer makes before going to Distiller (you see none of this) and grabs the fonts from the system when making the PDF from the PS file.

    d. You have the same resolution and compatibility, which is good for the check.

    e. You can check font embedding from Acrobat using ctrl-D and selecting the font tab. If the fonts are embedded, it will say so for each font that is embedded. If they are also subset it will say that. Embedded subset is preferred for size except in a few cases where files will be combined and such.

    f. If need be, you could create a sample file for us to look at. It may not be needed, but it might be what is needed down the road.

    g. Your last comment is likely the problem. I might ask if you are both working with XLS or XLSX files? I have gotten different results from these two file types. OFFICE 2007 (at least in WORD) does some strange things to graphics in DOCX files. When I create a PDF, the graphic fonts are sometimes changed to bitmaps and a pretty graphic has been split into strips and pasted together poorly. I suspect MS to have put hooks in OFFICE 2007 to cause problems. In both cases of OFFICE and Acrobat, be sure you have updated them.

    I suggest you try different combinations of XLS and XLSX, or DOC and DOCX, to see how the results come out. I suspect that you may be looking at a MS OFFICE issue, particularly since you both apparently have the same version of Acrobat -- I think I remember that -- and basically the same settings. When I was playing around with WORD 2007 and conversion to PDF, I found some strange results that I could not replicate with OFFICE 2003. I was using AA8 and AA7 respectively, but one of my students also tried AA7 with WORD 2007.

    My guess is you may have to provide a sample XLS file and the various results of PDFs for us to go much further -- that is if my comments above do not help. Bill


    I've tried using different combinations of xls and xlsx files however still have the same problem.

    e.g. both computers i'm trying are Office 2007, i'm using the exact same excel file (4.97MB - macro enabled workbook) to begin with and using the same PDF settings, however one PDF's to 3MB and the other one PDF's to 8MB. Does that mean it has to do with different setup computer settings?

    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
    Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices