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1

File size too big (41gb) suddenly

Community Beginner ,
Jul 12, 2023 Jul 12, 2023

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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!!!

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Bug , How to , Performance

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Community Expert , Jul 12, 2023 Jul 12, 2023

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.

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Community Expert ,
Jul 12, 2023 Jul 12, 2023

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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.

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Community Beginner ,
Jul 13, 2023 Jul 13, 2023

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THANK YOU SO MUCH ! when I saved the file to IDML it went from 41gb to 300 MB.

 

If you could also explain to me why such a heavy file decrease so much just by exporting to idml it would be great for me to understand better.

 

Could you also give me tips so it doesn't get heavy again? 

 

Thank you so much again! 

 

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Community Expert ,
Jul 13, 2023 Jul 13, 2023

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It's because you were doing only Save - which preserves Undo history - that is unavailable after you close your file - but still remains in the file. 

 

You need to do Save As - with a new name, so you won't overwrite your original file - at least once a day - at the end of the day. 

 

It will do "housekeeping" and you'll have extra backup in case it crashes. 

 

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Community Beginner ,
Jul 13, 2023 Jul 13, 2023

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Thank you so much for all the help ! I Will do that. Didnt know a Simple things as save would do so much 😅

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Community Expert ,
Jul 12, 2023 Jul 12, 2023

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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.

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Community Expert ,
Jul 12, 2023 Jul 12, 2023

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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-red...

 

 

 

 

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Community Expert ,
Jul 12, 2023 Jul 12, 2023

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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.

 

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Community Beginner ,
Jul 13, 2023 Jul 13, 2023

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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. 

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Community Expert ,
Jul 15, 2023 Jul 15, 2023

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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?

 

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Community Beginner ,
Jul 18, 2023 Jul 18, 2023

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No, Im sorry i delete it already. 

To be honest i didnt know I had to do "save as" and that was such an important  thing to do so i was probably just doing "save" for like a month. I did save as 2-3 Times maybe 🤔 well we learn with our mistakes 🤷🏻‍:female_sign: thank you so much 

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Community Expert ,
Jul 18, 2023 Jul 18, 2023

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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

 

 

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Engaged ,
Jan 18, 2025 Jan 18, 2025

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@rob dayThis script had a similarly drastic effect on my prototype magazine's filesize a couple of years ago, when someone (possibly even you) recommended it. Could you remind me how to use it? It was my first time using a script like this and I cannot for the life of me recall what I did with it (Googling ClearImageLinkMetadata returns surprisingly few hits.. does that mean most designers just live with the bloat?).

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Community Expert ,
Jan 19, 2025 Jan 19, 2025

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Engaged ,
Jan 19, 2025 Jan 19, 2025

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Thank you, I'm sure that will help when I have to run this later. Would you also happen to have a link to something a bit more ClearImageLinkMetadata-specific; that might also perhaps include a word about its origins (who wrote it, what exacty it does on a more technical front, the downsides of using it, etc.)? Search engines aren't being much help.

 

In other words, does this script have a home page of any kind out there?

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Community Expert ,
Jan 19, 2025 Jan 19, 2025

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@Under S.

 

@rob day posted links earlier in this thread - the one we are in right now:

 

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/file-size-too-big-41gb-suddenly/m-p/13931610#M53...

 

And he is the author. 

 

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Engaged ,
Jan 19, 2025 Jan 19, 2025

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Thank you! I'm embarrassed to admit that I missed the earlier part of the thread (Google pointed me straight to the end of it, apparently). If Rob wrote this and is spreading awareness via word-of-mouth alone, that explains the dearth of info about it out there.

 

@RobBig fan of your script, wish InDesign had a "exclude image metadata" checkbox in that export PDF dialog that would just filter it out in the PDF building process. Not only would it remove the bloat, but it would do so non-destructively.

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Community Expert ,
Jan 19, 2025 Jan 19, 2025

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@Under S.

 

What do you mean by "destructively"?

 

I think, you're saying that again? 

 

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Engaged ,
Jan 20, 2025 Jan 20, 2025

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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.

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Community Expert ,
Jan 20, 2025 Jan 20, 2025

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@Under S.

 

I thought you meant that the quality of the image is affected. 

 

Can you share a sample of a bloated PSD file? Privately of course. 

 

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Engaged ,
Jan 20, 2025 Jan 20, 2025

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The only time I ever used Rob's script was 2-3 years back when I used InDesign for the first time and realized I couldn't get my PDF file down to the size I wanted (ie, the same size as those other digital magazines of equal page count). It worked wonders and I haven't really had a need to use it since.

 

What brings me back to this subject in 2025 is that I now have to edit a couple of pages from that old magazine and re-export the thing to PDF. I plan to put the new PSDs through the same process, so I am pre-emptively refamiliarizing myself with the script and how to use it before I do.

 

PS: Unfortunately, I'm not comfortable sharing my PSDs and even if I was, all those PSDs have already been stripped and the new ones haven't been created. 

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Community Expert ,
Jan 20, 2025 Jan 20, 2025

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@Under S.

 

You can always just clear contents or blur it significantly or resize and resample.

 

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Community Expert ,
Jan 20, 2025 Jan 20, 2025

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Here is link to the post with an example file:

 

Enyone ever tried to check what is inside? @rob day - have you?

 

RobertatIDTasker_0-1737406324564.png

 

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Engaged ,
Jan 20, 2025 Jan 20, 2025

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LATEST

I wish I could be more directly helpful to you, as people who have taken interest in this issue have been few and far between; but for too many reasons to list here, I just can't share these PSDs (they're not entirely mine to share).

 

My Acrobat was acting wonky at the time and this script made it possible for me to produce the same quality and filesize as the average digital magazine, using PS+ID alone. This may be why this "Exclude linked image metadata" checkbox doesn't exist : to keep Acrobat in the production chain.

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Guide ,
Jan 20, 2025 Jan 20, 2025

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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.

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