File size is too big

[Mshustov]

Hello. I desperately need help. I did a pic heavy catalog(for printing, so most pics are in CMYK) in indesign which is arond 96 pages. I didnt embed any image or something, everything is linked.

So first problem is, that at some point  my indesign file  became 2 gigs of weight. It cant be possible.

Second problem is that, no matter how I scale down images in indesign export pdf process, exported pdf weights 2 gigs too. \

My collegue previously made similar catalog 100 pages, and it weights 100 megs. What could be wrong?

[Mshustov]

Most of time it is layer mask in photoshop for non destructive editing in future

[Mshustov]

My question was not answered, I don't know why people mark this answer as correct.

[mikmul75]

Hi Mshustov

I know, this discussion has ended two month before. But I wonder, if you've found a solution for your problem. At the moment, I do have exactly the same problem as you have described before. I also get a huge indesign file after placing different psd-files and really can't explain this.

I've tried all suggested tips, but nothing helped. So please let me know, if you could solve your problem meanwhile.

[mikhails15120142]

Hello! No, problem wasn’t solved..

[rob day]

Can you package and share an example?

[mikmul75]

Hi Rob

I've uploaded an example on dropbox

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xx0fgpmbdvaotpn/Rakete2018_Test_20x20.zip?dl=0

In this example, the psd-file has the size of 13 MB and if I placed in InDesign, the size of the InDesign-File is 15.8 MB. Its a really simple psd-file with one layer and no smart-layer or path, but the indesign-file is bigger than the psd.File. How could that be?

[mikmul75]

Maybe I should explain a bit more about my exactly problem... I have to design boards (size approx. 30 x 80 cm) with different food products and prices. I got a photoshop master file with the design and all product from a design agency. The master file is huge - a lot of smart layers and effects... so they saved it in a psb.file. To be as flexible as possible, I've decided to save every product as a single psd-file (smart layers, other layers and effects as reduced as possible) to place the single products later with InDesign-snippet-Files and Adobe Bridge in Indesign.

I'm doing this project the third year and never had problems the years before with the amount of data. The workflow works perfect like this. But this year, there must be something wrong by saving the pds-files in photoshop or placing the pictures in Indesign.

Could it be, there is something wrong with the metadata in photoshop? I have noticed a huge list of Raw-data. (Sorry, I work with creative cloud in german, so I don't no exactly the individual terms in english version. I hope you understand me.).

[rob day]

Could it be, there is something wrong with the metadata in photoshop?

I do think this problem is metadata related—incoming metadata from placed images can bloat the ID file. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a way to get at the extra data either from ID or PS, although I haven't tried scripting.

I was able to eliminate the bloat by creating a new 2362x2362px file in Photoshop and dragging your original layer group into the new PSD. Placing the new PSD in the new ID file followed by a Save As to IDML reduced the ID file to 426K. So the bloat is originating from your PSD maybe because it came from a .psb?

Dropbox - Rakete2018_Test_20x20Zeno.zip

It would be worth exploring whether the invisible metadata could be eliminated via a script

[mikmul75]

Hi Rob

Thanks for your comment and your effort. You're right with the metadata. Unfortunately the replacing of the layer group in a new blank photoshop file didn't work with all images... But I've found a very interesting blog:

http://prepression.blogspot.ch/2017/06/metadata-bloat-photoshopdocumentancestors.html

The blog describes exactly my problem and my discovery with the long list in raw-data. I have tried some of the scripts and it really works. The size of the pdf-file gets from 13 MB to 5 MB and the Indesign-File – after using save as – from 15 MB to around 1 MB. The list of raw-data in photoshop is enormously reduced, too.

I don't know much about scripting, but the quality of the images seems to stay the same. And this explanation will explain a lot of inexplicable things. I will start some tests on Monday, if the script also work for the other images.

But I'm happy to found an explanation for my troubles. After over 10 years, I almost started doubting on Indesign...

Thanks for your tips and help, rob.

[rob day]

I think when you place a PhotoShop file with bloated metadata, the metadata comes into the ID doc and even deleting the problem PS file(s) will leave the imported metadata in the ID file. So the Photoshop javascript looks promising, but I wonder if you will need to clean all of the PSD files via the script, update the links and finally export the ID file to IDML to remove the old metadata?

[rob day]

I can confirm that running the script on your PSD and updating the link didn't clean your ID file, but exporting an IDML after updating the cleaned link did work.

For others following, here's the linked Photoshop script:

// https://forums.adobe.com/message/8511978#8511978
function deleteDocumentAncestorsMetadata() { 
    whatApp = String(app.name);//String version of the app name 
    if(whatApp.search("Photoshop") > 0)  { //Check for photoshop specifically, or this will cause errors 
        //Function Scrubs Document Ancestors from Files 
        if(!documents.length) { 
        alert("There are no open documents. Please open a file to run this script.") 
        return; 
        } 
        if (ExternalObject.AdobeXMPScript == undefined) ExternalObject.AdobeXMPScript = new ExternalObject("lib:AdobeXMPScript"); 
        var xmp = new XMPMeta( activeDocument.xmpMetadata.rawData); 
        // Begone foul Document Ancestors! 
            xmp.deleteProperty(XMPConst.NS_PHOTOSHOP, "DocumentAncestors"); 
            app.activeDocument.xmpMetadata.rawData = xmp.serialize(); 
        } 
} 
//Now run the function to remove the document ancestors 
deleteDocumentAncestorsMetadata();

[mikmul75]

Thank you rob

I made an other test and it really seems to work. It seems to me, that the additional amount of data from the bloated metadata has cumulated with every linked image, even if I've linked the same image twice. This explain the huge size at the end, the more individual image I link.

My Indesign-file with 6 linked images, 77 MB before, shrinks to 3.7 MB after relink the «cleaned» images and using «save as». The export to IDML works, too – but after save back to INDD, the result is the same. So it seems that «save as» is enough to delete the previously imported metadata.

Anyway, I'm really happy with the new sizes of data. I guess, with this script my problem is solved.

[rob day]

It wouldn't be too hard to add a loop to the script so you could clean a folder of .PSDs (sounds like the problem is limited to Photoshop Format?). This would ask for a folder containing .PSD files you want to clean. Make sure you are backed up before testing as the script opens and saves all of the files with a .psd extension in the chosen folder:

var psdFolder = Folder.selectDialog("Select the folder containing PSDs", "");
var myFiles = psdFolder.getFiles(/\.(psd)$/i);
for (var a = 0; a < myFiles.length; a++){
    var docRef = open(myFiles);
    cleanMeta(docRef);
};
function cleanMeta(d){
    if (ExternalObject.AdobeXMPScript == undefined) ExternalObject.AdobeXMPScript = new ExternalObject("lib:AdobeXMPScript");
    var xmp = new XMPMeta( activeDocument.xmpMetadata.rawData);
    xmp.deleteProperty(XMPConst.NS_PHOTOSHOP, "DocumentAncestors");
    d.xmpMetadata.rawData = xmp.serialize();
    d.save();
    d.close();
};

[Stephen_A_Marsh]

Hi Rob,

This metadata can be retained in many different file formats, bloating the files – not just PSD.

My blogpost that was listed in post #58 offers many options.

Prepression: Metadata Bloat – photoshop:DocumentAncestors

The script mentioned earlier can be triggered by the Script Events Manager when opening/saving/exporting files. This seems a logical place to automate the script (Solution #1).

There is also a Bridge script (Solution #2), which works for batches of images.

An ExifTool command is also offered (Solution #3), which can process multiple files.

Solution #4 works with PDF files, which do not work with the other four solutions.

Solution #5 is a Photoshop script which will clear this specific metadata from all files in an input folder.

When I have time I’ll test your script and add it to the collection, it sounds like it is similar to the one listed in #5, thanks!

[Stephen_A_Marsh]

Just a note, save as is also used by PageMaker and Acrobat to clear out redundant data.

[Mshustov]

Finally solved this issue!! So happy!!

My INDD file was almost 3 gigs, and no didn't embed any files. People said that it could be metadata bloat issues. BUT I coulnt solve this issue because I have different foormats: PSD, AI, EPS, JPEG,PNG. And because no one gave any useful advice exept paid scripts (maybe I missed something).

So I used software called Exif Tag Remover. I chose my folder there and everything else was automatic. So my LINKS folder shrinked from 25 to 19 gigs and my file from 3 gigs to 200 megs!

[swisskud]

Hi Mshustov,

Can you provide a link of the Exif Tag remover software you used? Is it on Mac or PC?