Indesign export to pdf. How to reduce page size to 80%?

[Hans_Bos]

When i export from indesign to pdf i have no option to reduce the page size. The pdf i get is then far too big. The thing is that i can not make the indesign document itself smaller since i need it to export it to jpeg too. Is there a way that i oversee? Thanx, Hans

[Jongware]

If you're lucky, you can set a reduction factor in your Print setup dialog -- then you could use Print To File instead, and use the Distiller.

That would not include any bookmarks or hyperlinks, though.

Another option could be to create a new document of 80% size, then place your old doc as images into this. A placed ID page can be reduced in size just like a placed PDF.

[Hans_Bos]

Thanks Jongware, yes these ideas are okay. (i used them over the last year and a half:)

... So i understand there is simply no page size option available under the normal Export to pdf?

Such a shame

[BobLevine]

No, there's not...and under normal circumstances I don't see a need for it.

Acrobat can scale pages on output so what's the difference when it happens?

Bob

[Hans_Bos]

Hi Bob,

I am designing newsletters in indesign for our clients. I make them a certain size

when, in the end i export it to jpeg the are perfectly fantastic to work with.

Now, the point is that during the proces of designing i have to quickly show them

differnces in design. That goes easiest with an pdf....

Aha then the real point comes here: when i export my design to the pdf the size is

far too big, no -even too huge...  ... how nice would it then be to have an option

to export the pdf in a smaller size.

Hans

ps. I have already tried it through : page set up > print not on printer but as pdf, but

this often won't work and is far more complex than via the export menu.

[Hans_Bos]

ps 2 thanks for replying of course!

[Hans_Bos]

Hi Peter, thanks a lot. No i am not looking for that. I am just amazed - for a long time now-

that this (supposively) simple option of resizing your page for print or pdf  is not always

available in every print/export menu.

It is not only an (missing) item for this indesign export menu, but a returning thing in many

many 'normal' printmenu's - that is very bothering, as far as i believe of course:)

for example there is always an option for a 'cover page' - that is in all the 15 years that i work

with computers an option that i have never never used! But it's there! Or what about a sceduler

did you ever use that one?

Anyways, no problem

All the best!

Hans

[BobLevine]

I think you should be designing your newsletter at the correct size. Export the PDF and open that in Photoshop if you need JPGs.

The result is far superior to InDesign JPG export.

Bob

[Hans_Bos]

Hi Bob, thanks, not to sound as a wise ass but  that is also what i do

and you're right that looks bright and perfect.

It's true that when i throw the pdf icon on photoshop it opens in 72 dpi

in a fabulous way.

I understand from your answers that you don't see the necessity for me

to get the pdf's i send to the clients smaller when i export the design to

a pdf...

But please try it once and you will understand the big difference from an

export to jpeg and next to pdf.

Also, i don't know if you are familiar with Filemaker? Well the same thing..

I create my own invoices with a self written Filemaker app. To view the

text and numbers in a normal way i had to create the pages to a 'normal'

viewable size. But when i want to print them to a raedable same normal

size i have to put the pagesize to 90%.

So there is too a difference from what you see on screen and what you get

after printing.

Well so far:)

Hans

[BobLevine]

I'm not telling you what to do and it's certainly your time to spend or waste as you see fit.

But based on how you're describing all this I see no sense at all in what you're doing.

There is simply no reason to scale the output to send the client a PDF. There is no "normal" viewing size of a PDF.

You can set the initial view yourself by opening the PDF and choosing file>properties and selecting the initial view tab.

Bob

[Hans_Bos]

Hey Bob, thanks for taking the trouble to answer:)

Thanks for the 'initial view tab' tip . This is what i need for now.

Best

Hans

You can set  the initial view yourself by opening the PDF and choosing  file>properties and selecting the initial view tab.

[BobLevine]

Bob Levine's workflow rule number 1: If you think there should be an easier way, there almost always is.

Bob

[riott_girl]

Amen to that, Bob.

[Hans_Bos]

....

[Hans_Bos]

there must be an easier way;)

case closed though, time has ended.

[Joel Cherney]

Bob Levine's workflow rule number 1: If you think there should be an easier way, there almost always is.

Eagerly awaiting Bob Levine's workflow rules numbered 2 through n.

[Jonathan Wills]

I would like the same -- a simple way to export to PDF at a smaller percentage.

Here's why:

I do a number of newsletters for a large company. Used to be they all were only printed (offset), but now a they want them posted on the 'net for desktop printing. But they want them to lose nothing in the translation -- so they want the content of the PDF reduced to fit the gripper edges of any desktop printer, and a keyline at the edges of the page.

So I have to design at 100% because that's how it prints. But I would love to export the PDF at 95 percent or so without the hassle of selecting all the content, page by page, and reducing it. That's really ugly as a workaround.

Thanks,

J Wills

[Peter Spier]

This is basically an impossible task. Different printers have different non-printing margins, so there is no "correct" size for you to export. The reader has total control over page scaling at print time, so there shouldn't be a problem anyway.

[Jonathan Wills]

Yes, printers have different gripper margins, but I've been asked to aim for a happy medium. That's certainly do-able.

The people in charge do not want to leave it up to the individual who is printing to reduce to fit, which would eliminate large portions of the bleeding elements on the page. I'm accommodating. They are trying to maintain their investment in the original newsletter design, which was substantial. They want to be sure -- as much as they can -- that it is not unevenly cropped when printed.

[Peter Spier]

Well, aside from my feeling that your bosses are foolish and probably have no understanding of what they are asking, I'd say you should print to PDF. You can scale that way, but you'll lose any interactivity that you might have wanted to build in, and any transparency will be flattened and your readers will be pretty much guaranteed to see white "stitching" artifacts, so that's really a lousy choice.

Ultimately as designers, if we intend to multi-purpose our dcuments, it's our responsibility to create layouts that will not be seriously damaged if someone uses a printer that can't bleed (and that we can't control). Your other choice is to do a separate layout for the web (which is much more likely to make your bosses happy).

[Michael_Gianino]

I have skimmed this thread and not read every word, so please excuse my laziness if I ask whether placing the original-sized PDF into a smaller InDesign document that is set up for the scaling needed and exporting that doc at 100% would work for you. If you make master frames that are set to do the reduction automatically, it would just be a matter of placing each page of the PDF and exporting.

[Peter Spier]

Why do I always forget that option?

A good way to do it owuld be using theis script: InDesignSecrets » Blog Archive » Zanelli Releases MultiPageImporter for Importing both PDF and INDD ...

[Jonathan Wills]

Wow -- that is a great idea. Thanks.

[susanc94205368]

Hi Bob:

I'm replying to your post of 2010, but you seem to be the person to ask. I typeset books at either 6.125 x 9.25 or 7 x 10, and the person who currently supervises me is kind of stuck in the last decade as far as outputting PDFs go. She insists that the PDFs display on an 8.5 x 11 page with crop marks at the appropriate size.

On my Mac, the only way I can produce a PDF of a smaller document on an 8.5 x 11 page is by Printing, then setting Printer as Postscript file and PPD as my desktop printer, which allows me to center the document pages (with their crop marks) on the letter-size page, then setting the Distiller option to Press Quality. This is a royal pain in the butt.

So my question is, is there any way for me to export using the Press Quality joboptions yet ask the output file to display on an 8.5 x 11 "canvas" if you will, with the page centered with its appropriate crop marks.

I truly appreciate your help. I'm simultaneously trying to get a .joboptions file from the production department, but this is dicey as it kind of means going around my supervisor and that would freak her out.

Susan

[Willi Adelberger]

You can specify in the PDF properties, later in Acrobat Pro, how it will scale on print, to never, fit to printable area and scale if smaller.