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File size too big (41gb) suddenly

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
July 12, 2023
6 replies
2260 views

URGENT!!! Good afternoon.

I made a catalog in InDesign, it has 590 pages and several photos.

I could open the editable without problems never noticed the gbs of the file. Until after probably a week of not touching the file, changes were requested and, to my surprise, now it does not open and has 41gb of file size.

At that time, a new license was requested in the company I work and all the programs were installed again, I don't know if it may have something to do with it.

When I try to open the file, a progress bar appears and just keeps loading forever. However, after a couple hours, it did finish loading but then I got a error message saying: “InDesign is unable to open the file because you do not have sufficient disk space. Free up some space and try to open the file again”.

My question is, since I didn’t check the file size before, it had to abruptly go to 41gb, right? I never worked with a file so big, how would it even open with, let’s say, 30gb in this computer, even less with 41gb.

I would like to know if there is a solution to decrease the gbs without opening it or if I can open it how can I do to decrease the gbs of the file.

I really need help because making the whole catalog again is unthinkable for me. Thank you!!!

Correct answer Willi Adelberger

Do you save or save as…? Do the second one.

Do you embed or link images? Link them, do not embed them.

Did you save as IDML? Do it from time to time, open the IDML, save it as INDD again.

What is the original resolution of the images? Place them with 300ppi. Huger or smaller images causes higher INDD file sizes.

Robert at ID-Tasker

Legend

Any chance you still have this big file?

https://creativepro.com/accessing-document-history/

Just for fun - can you let us know how many saves have you done?

rob day

Community Expert

Here’s an example where history metadata came in with a linked .psd file and a Save As from ID doesn’t have a significant affect the file size. The InDesign file cotains a single, linked .psd file (1920 x 1080 px), step and repeated 4 times and has a file size of 580MB. After running the ClearImageLinkMetadata.jsx script, the ID file is reduced to 1.1MB.

https://shared-assets.adobe.com/link/9da08cd8-3bbe-4ba2-6631-79dd8b5e46c0

D

Dirk Becker

Legend

As I understand things, it's the PSDs that are carrying the Metadata bloat — and Rob's script strips those files of it before they're processed by InDesign to build the final magazine PDF, resulting in a much lighter file weight with zero cost to PDF quality — right?

However, if Adobe were to add a "Exclude image link metadata" checkbox in the InDesign PDF export dialog, then the same result could be achieved non-destructively — ie, without stripping the PSDs of anything. This solution would require neither Acrobat or ClearImageLinkMetadata.jsx, and would leave all files untampered with.

Personally — as someone who likes ALL his files to be as light as possible (not just PDFs) — I don't mind the destructive option on those PSDs; but some people might.

InDesign copies the metadata of placed images to the document.

That copy is used for the PDF export.

With a plug-in it is possible to modify the in-document XMP copy pre export, and revert when done. As you say, non-destructive to the linked images. I use that approach for an image accounting plug-in that rebuilds missing / corrupt XMP from IPTC info, adds own data such as tracking info from the DAM and so forth.

S

Sandra23318665am2mAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thank you so much for all those who tried to help me!

I saved the file as idml and helped me! It decreased from 41gb to 300mb 😱

I had to Open and saved in another computador because on the One i was working it hadnt enough space on the disk to do it.

Just a tip for biginners like me on InDesign. Always link your images dont drag it from Photoshop or some other program and do save as from time to time.

Robert at ID-Tasker

Legend

Others said what you shouldn't do next time.

Don't worry about opening such a big file - you don't need as much memory as InDesign will take what he wants from the part of the file he needs - but with small amount of RAM - it will be extremely slow.

Someone lately posted a link to a simple script that opens document as hidden and then saves it with a new name.

If you are unable to open this document - you can ZIP or RAR it and upload it somewhere - just in case you should split it into smaller chunks like 1GB - and give me a link - I have 512gb of RAM so it won't be a problem. And if you've embedded all the links - I can unembed them for you.

Or if you success in opening your file yourself - and you work on a PC - you can use my ID-Tasker to unembed all the links.

rob day

Community Expert

it has 590 pages and several photos

Hi @Sandra23318665am2m , Do you mean several photos in the entire book or several photos per page? Even if you were embedding, 42GB sounds exceptionally large. It could be related to this bug:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/file-size-is-too-big/td-p/9370587#10084949

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/is-there-a-script-to-clear-indesign-metadata-redundancy-or-the-clipboard-just-like-photoshop/m-p/12638735#M460299

BobLevine

Community Expert

That did not happen suddenly and like Willi, I suspect you've been embedding, rather than linking your graphics. I hope you were keeping back ups because I strongly suspect the file is toast.

However, if you can move that to computer with lots of file space you may stand a chance of opening it. InDesign requires a good bit of extra space on top of itself and the files it's opening.