I’m observing strange behavior in Adobes Creative Suite (I’m on CS6 right now) when it comes to file size of PDFs. I export PDFs from InDesign with various options and sometimes need to make smaller versions to post on the web or send by email.
- Acrobats options to save PDFs in reduced size are
- File > Save As Other > Optimized PDF
- File > Save As Other > Reduced Size PDF
in both cases it seems to me that the reductions in size are not as big as with older versions of Acrobat.
- When I import one of my Acrobat-reduced PDFs into Illustrator and save it as PDF there—without preserving Illustrator Editing Capabilities, but no other fancy options—the PDF gets much smaller.
Specific file size examples:
InDesign CS6 PDF
(one page, one small pic in a corner, two fonts, three styles for each, export --> Adobe PDF (print) --> PDF/X-3:2002 but: compatibility Acrobat 6 and bookmarks/hyperlinks are activated) 692 KB
Adobe Acrobat X:
- Save as reduced size, leave Acrobat 6 compatibility --> change file name --> file doesn’t get saved at all.
- Save as reduced size, leave Acrobat 6 compatibility --> change file name --> change folder 565 KB
- Save as optimized --> Standard (images 150 ppi) --> change file name --> file gets saved as: 565 KB
(fiddling with the settings it is possible to shave some some additional KB)
Illustrator CS6:
- Open PDF as exported from InDesign: Illustrator claims to convert some text to path --> color mode: RGB --> use embedded profile --> save as --> Illustrator PDF --> no editing capabilities 1,5 MB
- Open PDF as exported from Acrobat in step 3 (optimized, standard 565 KB): Illustrator claims to convert some text to path --> color mode: RGB --> use embedded profile --> save as --> Illustrator PDF --> no editing capabilities 307 KB
307 KB this is what I was lloking for.
The small picture looks as good as before, it seems to still be 150 ppi. Text is sharp and selectable.
What happened to the remaining 258 KB?