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Pages-export to pdf creates massive file size

Spritey

Spritey

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 22, 2006
174
0
Canada/Norway/USA
I'm a complete noob when it comes to Pages (iWork'05), and I'm editing my first newsletter which is supposed to go out to 300 people by e-mail. However, when I export it to pdf, the file size is 22.8mb! For 6 pages!

I've chosen the Extreme newsletter template (red one), and I have 6 pages in total. The only reason I can think of why it's so big is that when i drag and drop photos into the photo-boxes, the image isn't scaled down at all, not even when I export it to pdf. Is that right? It's only about 1 or 2 photos per page, and I have two pages with three small photos and a larger photo at the bottom.

Anyone got some insights?

Thanks!
 
The photos are the problem. Your best bet is to export them from iPhoto in a smaller size before dragging them into your Pages layout. You can also produce more efficient PDF files by creating a ColorSync filter, and using it to print to a PDF, but that's a higher level of difficulty.
 
IJ Reilly said:
The photos are the problem. Your best bet is to export them from iPhoto in a smaller size before dragging them into your Pages layout. You can also produce more efficient PDF files by creating a ColorSync filter, and using it to print to a PDF, but that's a higher level of difficulty.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply! Had a feeling I had to do that. Seemed a liiiittle bit too easy to just drag and drop
 
In addition to pre-processing the pictures to close to the final size, there are a couple of other ways to get a smaller PDF.

First, from within Pages, choose Good or Better from the Image Quality drop-down menu when exporting to PDF.

You can also try the "Reduce File Size" filter in ColorSync in the Print dialog. Click "Copies & Pages" > ColorSync & then Reduce File Size under Filters, Then click the PDF button in the lower left of the Print dialog. I don't find that the Compress PDF choice in the PDF menu saves much, if any.
 
PeggyD said:
In addition to pre-processing the pictures to close to the final size, there are a couple of other ways to get a smaller PDF.

First, from within Pages, choose Good or Better from the Image Quality drop-down menu when exporting to PDF.

You can also try the "Reduce File Size" filter in ColorSync in the Print dialog. Click "Copies & Pages" > ColorSync & then Reduce File Size under Filters, Then click the PDF button in the lower left of the Print dialog. I don't find that the Compress PDF choice in the PDF menu saves much, if any.
Click to expand...

Great tip -- I'd never noticed that option before, since I always print to PDF instead of export. I'll be giving that a try myself.

The included ColorSync filter is pretty ineffective in my experience, so I built a filter of my own, which does the job very nicely, but it did take some tricking around to get it to work the way I wanted.
 
IJ Reilly said:
The included ColorSync filter is pretty ineffective in my experience, so I built a filter of my own, which does the job very nicely, but it did take some tricking around to get it to work the way I wanted.
Click to expand...

I end up using it on a PDF I get of our church newsletter to post on the web site. The newsletter is made in Publisher :eek: & printed to a PDF with a Windows freeware driver. Lately the ColorSync reduce file size filter is less effective than it used to be. Still, it reduces the file some. I'm sure the file could be smaller before I get it, but I'll take what I can get from Windows-using inexperienced users.
 
Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I just spent a ridiculous number of hours worrying about how I was going to email my first newsletter out, too. Just FYI, I started with a 17MB file and reduced the photo sizes to get it down to 10.3MB.

I followed the tip from PeggyD. That was my solution! I was previously "printing" to PDF when I should have been "exporting" to PDF. I got my 10.3MB file down to 1MB.

All I can say is I should have hit up the experts sooner and I shouldn't have waited so long to go back to Mac. It's blowing my mind how fantastic it is!

I wonder if the pictures in the newsletter would come out more clear if I put back in the original sizes and then reduced by exporting... But 1MB is good for email and the newsletter looks pretty darn good.
 
better late than never - reducing filesize for Pages '09

  • Create Pages document as you wish
  • Pull pix from “media” vs iPhoto and right click to reduce file size of each photo (yes, quality will be a bit compromised) - nice but not necessary step
  • Once complete, save a PDF copy: File/Export/PDF/choose “good” vs best for smaller file size... you just saved a PDF copy
  • Go to Finder and open the PDF file you just created
  • Make sure Auto Resize is checked
  • Within the PDF document (probably seen through Preview) Go to File/Save as…. And make sure format: PDF and Quartz Filter: reduce file size
  • Filesize should be much, much smaller
  • This reduced a newsletter created from 748mg to 12mg, considering pix sizes weren't reduced individually for this project
 
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