New Participant

Question

Large file size when exporting as a PDF - InDesign 2026

Forum|Forum|2 months ago
November 6, 2025
10 replies
1191 views

InDesign 2026, exporting to a small PDF file doesn't work!!!! The PDF is way too large.

New Participant

Hello everyone,

I believe the problem is the last page of the PDF. If you edit the PDF and delete the last page, the file size will be greatly reduced.

I have an InDesign file with several images. The last artboard is identical to the first (design, text, etc.) and the size difference between them is enormous.

A

Anubhav M

Community Manager

Hello everyone,

Please try the suggestions shared by our experts:

Uncheck the option “Preserve InDesign editing capabilities.”
Avoid embedding any images in your InDesign document.

Let us know if this resolves the issue.

Anubhav

R

reagan_0580

New Participant

Also having this issue with both my preset and the default "smallest file size". PDFs of the exact same file exported on 2025 were 5-7MB and are now 48-50MB ex[orting with 2026 Indesign.... not ideal going to have to remove 2026 and redownload 2025 if possible to meet deadlines.....

S

sunetn23296824

New Participant

Hi,

Quick fix that I discovered but not a solution is you have to unceck : "Perserve Indesign editing capabilities" then the files are the normal size.

BobLevine

Community Expert

That is actually the solution. By maintaining InDesign edition capabilities, you are adding a tremendous amount of data to the file.

J

jamesb25822464

Participating Frequently

You also can't copy and paste from 2025 to 2026 without it making it in to some sort of eps? WHY?

J

jamesb25822464

Participating Frequently

Sorry, that's either way (2025-2026 & 2026-2025)

Mike Witherell

Community Expert

Hi James,

Your comment appears to be a different matter relative to this post. May I suggest you start a new post and describe your challenge with more detail?

Mike Witherell

J

jamesb25822464

Participating Frequently

I’m experiencing the same issue and have reverted back to the 2025 version until it’s resolved. It’s impossible to run a professional business on software that isn’t consistent. This problem seems to be happening more frequently, likely because the Adobe suite is being updated almost daily. I miss the days when we had properly tested disc or download releases that were updated annually, rather than rushed updates pushed out for the smallest changes.

J

jamesb25822464

Participating Frequently

Looks like the problem could be embeded images in the document.

Any chance this will be fixed?

leo.r

Community Expert

Other users have also reported this issue, here's one of the threads:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/pdf-export-create-very-large-file-since-2026-upgrade/m-p/15584174#M641214

My own tests mentioned in that thread indicate that this indeed might be a valid concern.

B

balpaugh32458

New Participant

I create newsletters for a local car club and on October 31st, i exported it to a Adobe PDF (Interactive) file and the result was a 1.5 MB file. today, I attempted the same export but the output is now 131.9 MB and the only change i noticed was Indesign was updated to 2026 version.

The newsletter is 7 pages, but it doesn't matter if i attempt to export all 7 or just 1, the output is always 131.9 MB. If I select to create seperate PDF files, each of the files is about 200KB (which is probably normal) but i need them as a single file in order to upload them to the website.

How can i get this resolved?

TIA

Frans v.d. Geest

Community Expert

Did you try UNchecking 'Preserve InDesign Editing Capabilities'?

BobLevine

Community Expert

No, most users will not see that option as something to uncheck it seems... me included;-)

Me, too.

N

nathanm10081180

New Participant

I am also having this same issue. I am creating files with a bleed FOR PRINT. I am not converting to RGB, as these are CMYK, at a high res for large format printing. This exact file in 2025 was around 18MB. I've updated with small changes to the text, with the same EXACT settings and no changes to the images; the file is now 543MB. This is insanity; what can we do to fix this?

N

nathanm10081180

New Participant

*while exporting to "High Quality Print" PDFs. ("Press Quality" is still obnoxiously large that my print vendors reject the PDF.)

S

sunetn23296824

New Participant

I too am having the exact same problem. All the files I export in Ver 2026 are too big compared to the last Indesign version 😞

A

Anubhav M

Community Manager

Hello @Linda274776202tig,

Thanks for reaching out. Could you share more details, such as whether this issue occurs with all InDesign documents, and provide screenshots of the export settings used, so we can better assist you? Also, try the suggestions shared here (https://adobe.ly/4qMfGHF) and let us know if they help.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav

L

Linda274776202tigAuthor

New Participant

Hello, thank you for trying to help me.

InDesign 2025,
my file is 348,288 KB in size.
Through File - Export - to PDF, my file is still 806 KB and easy to send
via email.

InDesign 2026
This is the same file, which is 348,288 KB in size.
Via File - Export - to PDF, my file is still 328,828 KB in size and
cannot be sent by email.

I have been working like this for years and have never had any problems,
but as soon as I do the same operation in 2026, I have problems.

Met vriendelijke groeten

Linda Deruyter

__________________________________
Verzonden met eM Client | www.emclient.com <>

leo.r

Community Expert

Hello, thank you for trying to help me.InDesign 2025,my file is 348,288 KB in size.Through File - Export - to PDF, my file is still 806 KB and easy to sendvia email.InDesign 2026This is the same file, which is 348,288 KB in size.Via File - Export - to PDF, my file is still 328,828 KB in size andcannot be sent by email.
By @Linda274776202tig

Are you sure you're using exactly the same PDF export settings in both versions of InDesign? If so, then can you post screenshots of the settings. I wonder if you can also share the InDesign file. In addition, what's your operating system version?

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