PDF question

Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
Why are the pdf's generated by print->save as pdf... so big? A pdf of a relatively simple page is over 100k. What's that about? Are there any settings or anything I can modify to fix that? TIA.



ps - why is this site SO SLOW?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    [quote]Originally posted by torifile:

    <strong>Why are the pdf's generated by print-&gt;save as pdf... so big? A pdf of a relatively simple page is over 100k. What's that about? Are there any settings or anything I can modify to fix that? TIA.</strong><hr></blockquote>PDFs by nature are large because they store so much formatting data. Beyond that, I can only speculate. There is an app, though, that can make compressed PDFs on VersionTracker, but I don't recall the name of it. [quote]<strong>ps - why is this site SO SLOW?</strong><hr></blockquote>UBB is on its last leg. AppleInsider is dying. <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />



    [ 10-11-2002: Message edited by: Brad ]</p>
  • Reply 2 of 10
    groveratgroverat Posts: 10,872member
    UBB is pulling a HAL on us.



    "Switch to vB? I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Dave."
  • Reply 3 of 10
    buonrottobuonrotto Posts: 6,368member
    The .pdf files that the print dialog creates includes the entire font library(ies) used in the file rather than the subset of those fonts (i.e., just the characters you use). Also, the rasters in the file are not compressed by any means.



    PStill from Stone and a bunch of other shareware will let you do re-distill the .pdf files so they're smaller by filtering out the font subsets and controlling compression of any raster images.
  • Reply 4 of 10
    hobbeshobbes Posts: 1,252member
    OK I have a PDF question to throw in here as well.



    PDF files created by InDesign that use transparency require Acrobat Reader 5 or above. Reader 4 or Preview (any version) can't quite understand what's going on.



    Is this part of the latest PDF spec to which Apple hasn't yet updated Preview, or something unusual/advanced/quirky that Adobe is doing?



    Just curious...



    p.s. I'm sure there are many examples of Preview falling behind Acrobat Reader, but this is the one that pops up the most for me.



    [ 10-11-2002: Message edited by: Hobbes ]</p>
  • Reply 5 of 10
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    [quote]Originally posted by BuonRotto:

    <strong>The .pdf files that the print dialog creates includes the entire font library(ies) used in the file rather than the subset of those fonts (i.e., just the characters you use). Also, the rasters in the file are not compressed by any means.



    PStill from Stone and a bunch of other shareware will let you do re-distill the .pdf files so they're smaller by filtering out the font subsets and controlling compression of any raster images.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    That explains it. Thanks. Now off to find a good distiller...
  • Reply 6 of 10
    if the file has a jpg or like file the resulting PDF can be huge eg 10x what might have been created in acrobat. In these instances a PDF compressor will be of great benefit.
  • Reply 7 of 10
    frawgzfrawgz Posts: 547member
    [quote]Originally posted by torifile:

    <strong>That explains it. Thanks. Now off to find a good distiller...</strong><hr></blockquote>



    <a href="http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=15836&db=mac"; target="_blank">http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=15836&db=mac</a>;



    This might help.
  • Reply 8 of 10
    buonrottobuonrotto Posts: 6,368member
    <a href="http://www.stone.com/PStill/PStill.html"; target="_blank">PStill</a>
  • Reply 9 of 10
    buonrottobuonrotto Posts: 6,368member
    Whoops, double post. Oh well, it's a full distillery anyway, and has a CLI interface.



    [ 10-15-2002: Message edited by: BuonRotto ]</p>
  • Reply 10 of 10
    Screw the third party apps! When will Adobe Acrobat Distiller, Pit Stop and CrackerJack ship for OS X?



    I need Adobe-certified REAL PDF files for publishing workflows, not the "Bill needs to make a PDF from Word X for his Windows pal at the insurance company" kind of document. I need powerful, flexible, professional solutions for PDF.



    Some people think "A PDF is a PDF is a PDF", and that burns me everytime: A client calls me and says "Here's my PDF". I say "how did you make it?" and they ALWAYS say: " I dunno, some guy made it for me". Ouch. That means the file is crap. Wont RIP. Ain't gonna go to press for a magazine or a book without being rebuilt properly.



    Thank god for Adobe's Distiller Job Options files. Too bad I can't run Distiller in X! I need it! I use hot folders, etc. I gotta hve it soon!



    <a href="http://bantapublications.com/"; target="_blank">http://bantapublications.com/</a>;

    <a href="http://www.enfocus.com"; target="_blank">http://www.enfocus.com</a>;



    [ 10-16-2002: Message edited by: dstranathan ]</p>
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