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essama52467539
essama52467539
Participating Frequently
August 5, 2018
Question

Convert&compress .ai file to a small .pdf

  • August 5, 2018
  • 2 replies
  • 3058 views

Hello,

I need help converting 'scietific' figure created via adobe illustrator to a .pdf file.

the file is loaded with images and currently its size is about 400MB, I need to convert to .PDF with at least 600 dpi resolution, but maximum size of 30 MB.

How can I do this?

Thanks

Essam

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    2 replies

    Ray Yorkshire
    Ray Yorkshire
    Participating Frequently
    August 6, 2018

    Save Adobe PDF > General >

    Options

    □ Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities

    If you deselect that  (assuming the submission isn't  going to be further edited on Adobe Illustrator by the journal staff ) you will reduce the file size a lot.

    Can you show their full requirements, as you cannot  have high quality and very low file size.

      essama52467539
      essama52467539Author
      Participating Frequently
      August 8, 2018

      Hey Ray, that was immensely helpful. this option reduced the size to 200MB.

      They just say they want 600 dpi image with total size of 30 MB. If I need to contact them what I should I tell them? due to the size of the figure it's impossible to compress it more ?

      Thanks!

      Monika Gause
      Community Expert
      Monika GauseCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      August 8, 2018

      Why do you send a PDF at all? For a journal send them a Word doc and the compressed JPEGs. How large would that be if you zip it?

      Monika Gause
      Community Expert
      Monika GauseCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      August 5, 2018

      Is resolution important? Are there raster elements/effects in the file?

      Apart form that: why is the file so large?

      How many paths and points are there?

      Exactly how did you save it (which options)?

      essama52467539
      essama52467539Author
      Participating Frequently
      August 5, 2018

      Hey Monica

      Yeah resolution is very important as it has microscopy images (and this is why the file is large).

      with regards to the paths and points i'm not really sure, but I did "save as.." and selected PDF. under 'Compression' I selected downsample to 600 dpi. and it's still huge...

      Monika Gause
      Community Expert
      Monika GauseCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      August 5, 2018

      Did you save with "Illustrator editability"?

      Also: many images will make your file huge.

      How many images are there?

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