Illustrator Does Not Save Proper File Size

[williamp39038283]

Hi,

I am trying to produce an 8.5 x 11 coloring book with .125 bleed, however, when I save it as a high-quality print file it compresses the resolution to 61 x 79. I have tried EVERYTHING and it always just produces a tiny file. 

When I save it as a PDF ,and I uncheck all the boxes, I lose my bleed and i have to make each page bigger manually. 

Why cant it just save properly the first time? 

My Artboards are 8.5  x  11 inches, but this is the resolution it shoots out. Super tiny file. 

[_scott__]

Are you exporting to PDF or Saving As PDF??

[williamp39038283]

yes and yes but still does not work. 

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

First of all, creating a 200 page book in Illustrator isn't a good workflow.

Putting that aside, in order for this to even happen, your canvas had to be converted to Large Canvas. This in itself isn't the issue, but how you save the PDF is. Large Canvas REQUIRES PDF v1.6 or later to view properly. Since you selected the High Quality Print preset, that by default is v1.4 Compatibility (quite old). It should have warned you that doing so would result in a file 1/10 the dimensions. If you must use that preset, make sure you select a new compatibility setting of at least v1.6.

[williamp39038283]

I use the current updated version 1.7, and it still doesn't work. I am open to using any setting that doesn't compress my work to 1/10 

[Monika Gause]

When you export a Large Canvas document to PDF, the resulting PDF can only be opened properly by Acrobat. Only it can read the scaling factor properly.

[williamp39038283]

So do i need to open it in Acrobat and save it from there? 

What is my solution to this problem? 

[Monika Gause]

What is your current workflow with the file?

What are you doing with it? Which application does not open it correctly? I do not know whether you can export it without a scaling factor. 

Remark: you should have been prepared for this. It's known that Large Canvas docs work like this.

[Monika Gause]

What you could probably do:

Create a new document in InDesign in the size you need. 

Create image frames on the Parent pages that force their content to fill the frame proportionally

Import the PDF. You would probably need to search for a script that can import 200 pages and create the InDesign pages automatically.

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

Unfortunately, you should not have made this file using Large Canvas, and there is no way to revert it back to Regular Canvas (as far as I know as of this date). You could make new Regular Canvas files and copy and paste as many page sthat would fit, but fpr 200+ pages that's going to be a lot of work.

That being said, when you saved your fiile as v1.7, check what it says at the bottom left corner when viewing in Acrobat. As you can see, the v1.7 file I made at right shows the proper dimension for a letter size page + bleed, as opposed to the left one which is under v1.5, even though the file may still say it's 61 x 79.

If you are creating PDFs for a printer, they should be okay with this, but you would need to explain it to them.

 

If you are printing this file yourself, you will also see that the page size will be correct in Acrobat's Print preview when set to Actual Size. However, if you are creating this for other purposes, you will be stuck with people using programs other than Acrobat seeing it at 1/10 size.