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Export PDF settings - reduce output PDF size

Explorer ,
Jun 16, 2021 Jun 16, 2021

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I have an InDesign file with 222 pages and contains tags, alt text and other accessibility settings, which I have exported to a PDF. The original InDesign file is 54MB.


Within the export Adobe PDF (Print) settings, under 'General', I have selected the smallest file size and included to embed page thumbnails, create a tagged PDF, optimize for Fast Web View, include bookmarks and include hyperlinks (see screenshot).


The resulting PDF is 24mb which we feel is too large to upload to a website.  Therefore, we are trying to reduce the PDF file. 

 

I have tried to optimize the PDF within Adobe Acrobat and under the "Discard Objects" settings, unticked "discard all alternative images", "discard document tags", "discard bookmarks" and "discard embedded search index". However, when I open the PDF, all tags and alt text has disappeared. 

 

Is there a way to reduce the PDF file from InDesign? Are there settings I am missing within InDesign that will allow a smaller PDF size?


Note: the compression for images has been reduced to 92px per inch.

 

InDesign Export Settings - General.jpg

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Community Expert ,
Jun 16, 2021 Jun 16, 2021

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Are any images layered PSD files? Layered images take up more space than flattened images.

You said images are resampled to 92 ppi. What is the page size in inches? The ppi of the images is not as important as the number of pixels in a full screen image. If your page size is very large then you still have a lot of pixels in your images beause they have a lot of inches in them. If you don’t expect the PDF to be viewed enlarged you might be able to get away with more compression or more downsampling.

And finally, there is only so much you can do. 222 pages is a lot. You got your file size down to about 100 KB per page. THat might be the best you can manage.

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Explorer ,
Jun 17, 2021 Jun 17, 2021

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Thank you Scott.  The images are vector images (created in Illustrator) and the page size is 8.3 x 11.7 inches (A4).  There are about 300 small icon-type images and about 20 larger type images.  The rest of the document is text with about 40 large tables containing financial information.  

 

An example of the document can be found here, which is our previous version but this one is very similar.  With this example, we were able to get the PDF to 9mb but we can't work out why the new one is different in file size. 

https://www.wdc.govt.nz/files/assets/public/documents/council/plans/long-term-plan/long-term-plan-20... 

 

I didn't design the InDesign file as it was our Graphic Designer but we just can't get the file any smaller. 

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LEGEND ,
Jun 17, 2021 Jun 17, 2021

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Why are you using the Export "Print" selection when you are making it for the web?

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LEGEND ,
Jun 17, 2021 Jun 17, 2021

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Also -- what does "Audit space usage" say (under Save as ... optimized PDF)?

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Explorer ,
Jun 17, 2021 Jun 17, 2021

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This is the PDF audit space usage.  I have no clue what all this means but any help would be useful.  Thank you 🙂

 

PDF-Audit-Space-Usage.jpg

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Explorer ,
Jun 17, 2021 Jun 17, 2021

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What else are we meant to use?  We are not putting the large document online as HTML therefore the only option is PDF.  These are the export options and I don't see any other option to use.

InDesign export options.jpg

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