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Large file size when exporting as a PDF - InDesign 2026

Forum|Forum|9 months ago
November 6, 2025
58 replies
2791 views

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

Correct answer Anubhav M

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

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balpaugh32458

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

leo.r

Community Expert

Several other users reported the same issue on the forum recently.

I've just run a brief test exporting a small text-only document to PDF from both InDesign 2025 and 2026 using the same settings ([Press Quality] as is), macOS 13.7.

The results:

PDF from InDesign 2025: 14 KB

PDF from InDesign 2026: 192 KB

Additional tests are still required to reach any definite conclusions, but it's quite possible that the concerns regarding PDF sizes produced from InDesign 2026 are valid.

leo.r

Community Expert

I have now exported a heavier multi-page file with multiple hi-res links. The PDF file size from InDesign 2026 remains consistently higher than from 2025 (although not as much as in the previous test):

PDF from InDesign 2025: 6.8 MB

PDF from InDesign 2026: 8.7 MB

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nathanm10081180

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?

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nathanm10081180

Participant

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

S

sunetn23296824

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 😞

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

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Linda274776202tigAuthor

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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