How to Stop InDesign from Reducing File Size When Exporting to PDF

[jayjay_2398]

Hi is there a way to stop indesign reducing file size when exporting to pdf?

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[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

You can change the image resolution and the compression method--this depends on your PDF export settings. Is the problem that the PDFs are not good enough quality?

[jayjay_2398]

Yes, they are about 2000kb before exporting and end up about 50-70kb 

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

Yes, they are about 2000kb before exporting and end up about 50-70kb 

By @jayjay_2398

What are your PDF Export settings? 

Please post some screenshots. 

[leo.r]

Yes, they are about 2000kb before exporting and end up about 50-70kb 

By @jayjay_2398

The size of the InDesign file before exporting isn't directly correlated to the file size of the resulting PDF. In many cases, the PDF will be much smaller.

Can you explain why the PDF file size concerns you? Do you observe any actual problems in the PDF file?

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Again, you can't go by how much space the file takes up on a hard drive.

WHAT is the problem with the quality? 

What settings are you using to make the PDF?

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

Yes, they are about 2000kb before exporting and end up about 50-70kb 

By @jayjay_2398

Are you referring to the INDD file itself - or also all the linked files combined? 

If just INDD file - either do Save As with a new name or do IDMLing - export as IDML, open, save with a new name. 

If you mean combined - as others said - such comparison is pointless. 

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

Hi is there a way to stop indesign reducing file size when exporting to pdf?

By @jayjay_2398

Do you mean in kB / MB or page size? 

[jayjay_2398]

kb/mb

[rob day]

Hi @jayjay_2398 , in the Export>Compession tab turn off Downsampling and Compression for both RGB and Grayscale images

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Just to clarify —

• There is no particular relationship between an InDesign file size and an exported PDF's size. It is not at all uncommon for a multi-megabyte ID file to produce "perfect" 100k PDFs. (For one thing, ID files are prone to file bloat, so a lot of those megs could be just junk.)
• You have extensive control over the PDF's resolution, color depth/model and other technical aspects in the export menu. It'w worth learning at least the basics of what all these standards and settings do.
• It's usual to let the PDF export set resolution and so forth for all elements, to make everything consistent and fully 'processed' according to the export settings. This is especially true for print — printers are unamused by 2MB author photos in one color model, 10MB logos in another and the like and doing such a raw, passthrough export means all further processing is in someone else's hands. It's best, 9 times out of 10, to set your own export values and let ID/Acrobat process everything to a consistent (and often much more compact, without losing any resolution or quality) result.