Exporting files from InDesign with imported images from Illustrator too large.

[joyh66757552]

Does anyone know a better way to compress exported PDFs from InDesign with imported images from illustrator?

Background example; we create label sheets in InDesign with imported images from Photoshop and/or Illustrator.  When we export PDFs of the finished products the ones with imports from Photoshop are 10mb or less, but when we use Illustrator files they can be 100mb and up. We have tried many different ways to compress them between the way we save them in Illustrator or in Acrobat for the exporting. Does anyone have a suggestions we can try to lessen the exports PDFs size?

Thanks you!

[rob day]

When you export final PDF from InDesign are you downsampling as well as compressing? When you place an embedded image in Illustrator, and place that file in Indesign, the embedded Illustrator image cold have a very high Effective resolution depending on how everything is scaled.

[Gusgsm]

Aside from the need of resampling to the best resolution/quality balance, there's one little rub when placing in InDesign Illustrator files with pictures inside. And it is that some very nice features of InDesign does not seem to reach / work with the pictures inside the placed files. At least in some versions (right now using CS6 of Illustrator and InDesign).

In this case it could be that the "Image Data to Frames" is not cropping the pictures and you have not cropped them in Photoshop to fit the frames the best possible way. Hence the difference if weight.

I've just tested this (so as to check that mey memory was not AWOL) and the difference between both ways of working was 2 Mb to 7'9 Mb in a very simple PDF.

Sometimes "packcage" options does not grab the pictures of the placed Illustrator files either.

Best regards

[joyh66757552]

Thanks, yes we are downsampling along with compressing.

[rob day]

Does it also happen if you Save As PDF/x4 from Illustrator and place the PDF in InDesign?

[joyh66757552]

We usually place .ai files for production reasons, but I just tried to save them as the PDF/X-4 and was it the same thing.  Exporting a low res PDF from InDesign and the file becomes too large.

We have also tried to optimize and reduce the size of the PDF through Acrobat with not much of a difference in size.

[rob day]

but I just tried to save them as the PDF/X-4 and was it the same thing

What's the size of the PDF/X file you save out of Illustrator? As a test, what happens if you place the images in the Illustrator file directly in InDesign and export from InDesign? Are you still getting 100MB+ PDFs?

[Willi Adelberger]

Place the AI file directly as AI or as PDF/X-4 into InDesign. Link it, don't embed.

[Gusgsm]

Crop the images inside the Illustrator files (Illustrator -> Object -> Crop). Your version has to be CC something (CS and downwards has not this feature included).