Okay, i feel that i have exhausted all attempts on my part but i will put up the problem here.
We print a quarterly magazine here that is somewhere between 90 to 120 pages. 4 color and full of every transparency crap that the designer can throw at it.
Of course they need an online pdf to distribute, so i have to come up with something under 10MB for them. It's always a struggle but this one won't go down below 14MB. I have tried everything that i know how to do but no luck. Pitstop.. etc, even an ultra thin pdf which down samples to 36 dpi and screws up the fonts does not work. Its their problem for sending in the load of crap indd work but i really wish i could help them.
Anyone been in this (sinking) boat?
Did you try the Pitstop action to reduce file size? If not...give it a try.
Unfortunately yes.
The last time I ran into something like that. I think I had to go back to the indd and print out a PS then distill it to a regular PDF and modded it from there. Of course the PS flattened everything. Sometimes it good to go old school with things.
I would fear all the refrying and extra processing would take the file from a proof to a refried pdf.
Can you send it in halves to get under the size requirement?
Have you tried "Save as Other" ===> Optimized PDF. There are settings in there for images and other settings to Discard Objects, Discard User Objects, and Clean Up that can help reduce file size.
You can also export to postscript and re-distill that will usually reduce file size but it does flatten everything.
Thanks for all responses, but alas I have tried all of the above.
Regarding splitting the pdf into 2..... that's what they came up with (the persons responsible for setting up the link to download) in such a way that when it's downloaded, the 2 parts will recombine.
But thats proving to be problematic as well. I'm trying everything but the real problem is the volunteer designer who does not know the basics about layout but has somehow managed to learn every transparency trick in the book. It's just overkill on everything. It's ridiculous. With the preflight on in Indesign its showing 674 errors.
::)
Is the PDF in CMYK or RGB mode? Making it in RGB may offer some savings since there is one fewer channel.
good one and being an online pdf - perfect! hope it works
you could x1a to flatten, place in indy and then output RGB?
re-fry away!!
sheesh I don't even know how to make an RGB pdf on purpose
output destination?
Quote from: pspdfppdfxhd on August 30, 2023, 05:08:21 PMOf course they need an online pdf to distribute, so i have to come up with something under 10MB for them. It's always a struggle but this one won't go down below 14MB.
Let's get to the real problem. The above. With todays internet service there is literally no reason the file needs to be that small. They are just being ridiculous. There are many sites that offer up to 2 GB file uploads for free. They should learn how to use them.
I understand what you are saying but these are being distributed worldwide. Who knows how that effects the maximum size.
Quote from: DCurry on August 31, 2023, 07:00:07 AMIs the PDF in CMYK or RGB mode? Making it in RGB may offer some savings since there is one fewer channel.
it has rgb images, cmyk tints and backgrounds, index color, lotsa .png's. She's a beauty.
Have you tried opening in acrobat: Save as Other-> Reduced Size PDF and setting the "Make compatible with:" to Acrobat 5.0 and later?
thanks, just tried, no luck.
Quote from: pspdfppdfxhd on August 31, 2023, 08:16:06 AMI understand what you are saying but these are being distributed worldwide. Who knows how that effects the maximum size.
It isn't called the World Wide Web for nothing.
you might be at your limit
I did find an Adobe file reducer it's free
Get rid of any profiles, metadata, alternate images. Make sure fonts are subset. If all else fails, go super-low on the image res (like 36 psi instead of 72.)
When they complain, and they will, tell them that's what it took to get to their desired size.
(I do disagree with Tracy's suggestion to make an X1A, place in Indy, then export to PDF. Only because there is no reason to do the first step of making the X1A because you can apply flattening when you export from Indy.) Also, in my experience flattening often makes the file bigger.
I come across this problem all the time. My issue is they want to attach CLE Course materials in emails, not link. It's dumb bc they are provided a QR code to download the material during the course but then they want to follow up with it attached in an email after the course is over. If they wanted to keep it, they would have saved it. Or just use the QR code again.
Quote from: Tracy on August 31, 2023, 09:02:31 AMyou might be at your limit
I did find an Adobe file reducer it's free
Yes, there's a limit to everything. Trying to convince them to back off on the transparency somehow does not go over well.
There's one page with 3 pictures on top of each other. 1. The face of person with a clipping path for text runaround 2. The shadow of the person's head 3. The person's head with a faded background. Yup, 3 high res. photos stacked on top of each other.
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
I know it's a lot of pages but you could export as .jpgs
if you have a workflow to combine it might work
ugh! ;D
I have no idea what size it will end up but who knows?
please sign my disclaimer!
Quote from: pspdfppdfxhd on August 31, 2023, 11:35:12 AMQuote from: Tracy on August 31, 2023, 09:02:31 AMyou might be at your limit
I did find an Adobe file reducer it's free
Yes, there's a limit to everything. Trying to convince them to back off on the transparency somehow does not go over well.
There's one page with 3 pictures on top of each other. 1. The face of person with a clipping path for text runaround 2. The shadow of the person's head 3. The person's head with a faded background. Yup, 3 high res. photos stacked on top of each other.
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Try running the Pitstop action for "remove irrelevant objects". It does wonders for PDF's where the designer likes to cover things up on a page with a white box instead of removing them.
If it were me, since this if for the web, I would rasterize any pages with transparency, downsample and make them rgb. Keep all fonts as live, not outlined (a lot of vector objects will make the file larger, it's all about the nodes).
Nobody will be able to tell the difference between the original hi-res and the rasterized version on the internet.
YMMV
Wait...so they are for displaying on the internet? Crap that is easy. Convert to 72 dpi jpegs compressed to hell and back. You can get them under a megabyte that way.
Thanks, slight reduction but still overweight.
Too bad about the page count. Sometimes when I have a PDF that won't reduce enough, I screen-shot it then save as pdf. No one has ever called me on it yet 8)
Ooooh that gives me an idea, do you think you have just a few offending pages?
you could do a trick like that then combine them?
Quote from: pspdfppdfxhd on August 31, 2023, 12:31:55 PMThanks, slight reduction but still overweight.
Let's keep it to prepress. My weight gain is due to a change in medication, thank you.
hmm I wonder if the people demanding the small pdf can tell you how to do it? ;D
No.
:lmao:
Quote from: born2print on August 31, 2023, 12:36:41 PMOoooh that gives me an idea, do you think you have just a few offending pages?
you could do a trick like that then combine them?
I exported the 110 page pdf as single pages to see if any single pages stood out as overweight. Not really, at least half of them seem larger than you might think they should be.
I give up. I gave it my semi autistic best prepress shot but f**k it now!
If we can't fix it, we won't®
The prepress motto
;D ;D :drunk3: :drunk3:
:drunk3: :drunk3:
Quote from: born2print on August 31, 2023, 02:58:10 PMIf we can't fix it, we won't®
The prepress motto
If I can fix it but don't want to, I won't
®My motto
I can fix most things but my boss has complained because I've been taking too much time on jobs. So, I've stopped fixing things.
Problems solved. :blind:
Flatten Transparency
Convert to RGB
Subset Fonts
Downsample (not too low)
Lose any ICC Profiles/Output Intents
Crop images to their clip box (no rebate),
if it's online the probably only want the trim box
Remove metadata
Get rid of any objects outside the trim box
Change compression to squeeze it more, just watch for artifacts.
and always 'save as', never 'save'
Acrobat Audit usage tells you where the size is
Duh, make the physical size of the pages 20% of their original measurement. Problem - SOLVED!!
Quote from: Slappy on September 05, 2023, 02:45:59 PMDuh, make the physical size of the pages 20% of their original measurement. Problem - SOLVED!!
Brilliant! Would probably fit on a 5.25" floppy. WINNING!
Convert the pdf to metric, then put it on a 133.35mm floppy :winner:
Quote from: Slappy on September 05, 2023, 02:45:59 PMDuh, make the physical size of the pages 20% of their original measurement. Problem - SOLVED!!
The owner of our company actually suggested that. You know, make it a midget edition. Hmmm... was he on to something? :drunk: :drunk3:
No offence to midgets, just an expression. ;D
"Lightly edit" the file for brevity and clarity. Probably needs it anyway.
Quote from: abc on September 04, 2023, 09:58:38 PMFlatten Transparency
Convert to RGB
Subset Fonts
Downsample (not too low)
Lose any ICC Profiles/Output Intents
Crop images to their clip box (no rebate),
if it's online the probably only want the trim box
Remove metadata
Get rid of any objects outside the trim box
Change compression to squeeze it more, just watch for artifacts.
and always 'save as', never 'save'
Acrobat Audit usage tells you where the size is
I believe i had exhausted all of the above. What is Acrobat Audit?
Open the file in Acrobat
Go to 'Save as Other' > 'Optimized PDF'
then when that opens in the top right hand corner of the panel is a button 'Audit Usage'
that will analyze the file and tell you what is generating the size.
Share the results if you can, that will help find a solution (or not) ;D
Quote from: abc on September 07, 2023, 05:51:55 PMScare the results if you can, that will help find a solution (or not) ;D
Also after you scare the results also SHARE the results. :rotf:
;D
Qoppa PDF studio has a great file reduction feature.
We used to have a program called PDF Shrink and it did an incredible job, not sure if it is still available.