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davidl72327298
Known Participant
March 3, 2021
Answered

Huge PDF size after Indesign export, after extracting pages in Acrobat file size normal

  • March 3, 2021
  • 3 replies
  • 3487 views

Hey there,

I've got a weird problem. When exporting a PDF from one special Indesign file (or rather an array, because it's a monthly magazine) the file size is illogically huge, like 30mb for a spread, no matter the export-settings. When I open the PDF in Acrobat an extract the pages the file size shrinks to normal levels, e.g. when exported with minimal settings (settings from the Indesign export) from 30mb to 200kb. What is the overhead and where does it come from?
I just can't think of anything causing this and it's driving me crazy.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer rob day

Yes, there are references to files from issue #13, which goes 31(!) issues back, we are at issue 44 now and none of those files are used in the present file.
I can't provide the respected files, because I have no access to them at the moment and because of copyright issues (funny to use this word in two meanings in a single post).

To me it seems like the whole issue #13 is somehow embedded into the metadata of the indd-file?
The question remains, how do I strip the indesign file from the backdating metadata?


Sorry, just realized the blank XMP file I’m showing in my last capture is a default XMP file I made. You can do the same by creating a new InDesign file, File>File Info>Raw Data, copy the Raw Data XMP, paste it into a plain text editor and save with an .XMP extension to:

⁨username ▸ ⁨Library⁩ ▸ ⁨Application Support⁩ ▸ ⁨Adobe⁩ ▸ ⁨XMP⁩ ▸ ⁨Metadata Templates⁩. Your saved XMP file will then show in the File Info dropdown

3 replies

Luke Jennings3
Community Expert
Luke Jennings3Community Expert
Community Expert
March 8, 2021

Have you tried saving as an optimized PDF from Acrobat? While this won't prevent the file bloat, it might fix it. Try selecting Discard document information and metadata first, and if that doesn't help, select all of the discard objects, discard user data and clean up options, unless there is something you specifically need to keep.

Perhaps InDesign needs an option to discard metadata in the export dialog.

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davidl72327298Author
Known Participant
March 8, 2021

Hey Luke,

I tried exactly that, like 20 min ago. And it worked, but still I would love to get rid of the metadata overhead in the indd-file itself, so that the exported pdf-files don't have to be processed in the first place. 🙂

Thanks!

rob day
Community Expert
rob dayCommunity Expert
Community Expert
March 8, 2021

But here is the point, I am still not sure how to remove this overhead? 

 

Did the file you shared ever have placed links? The known problem with accumulated ancestor metadata hapens when metadata comes in with placed files—the image metadata gets embedded into the ID file.

rob day
Community Expert
rob dayCommunity Expert
Community Expert
March 4, 2021

What is the overhead and where does it come from?

 

It could be metadata from a placed file, see this thread:

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

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davidl72327298Author
Known Participant
March 4, 2021

But the problem remains, even after all images are deleted from the file – as you can see in my example?

rob day
Community Expert
rob dayCommunity Expert
Community Expert
March 4, 2021

as you can see in my example?

 

Can you share the file?

rob day
Community Expert
rob dayCommunity Expert
Community Expert
March 3, 2021

Can you package the problem InDesign spread along with any links and share it via Dropbox or your CC account?

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