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Fighting file size bloat
By PDFZone

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Workarounds and advice for getting a PDF file down to size.

My PDF is 4,041KB. When I added the word "DRAFT' on every page (800 pages total) using Document -> Add Headers & Footers, the file size became HUGE, 160,041KB. I tried to do a "save as." No help, same big file size. How can I get it back down to size? – Brian Chan

 

You might try re-postscripting the .pdf file and then distilling it again. –Dino Hoke

 

I suspect two things. 1) The Acrobat header/footer code isn't very smart about reuse across pages, and 2) you chose a font that is large and header/footer doesn't subset. As for re-postscripting, the process of re-frying a PDF (conversion back to Postscript and then running that PS through Distiller) is no longer approved by Adobe due to the wide variety of PDF features that can NOT be represented in Postscript. You should use native PDF tools to correct any issues with PDFs. – Leonard Rosenthol

 

OK, so you turn around and tell your client that his job won't run in the next 30 minutes and he's going to miss his plane because Adobe doesn't approve. If it works -- who care's? –Dino Hoke

 

Ah, but it doesn't work in many cases - and in fact, you may end up making things WORSE by refrying the document....hence the words from Adobe. But hey - if you want to keep hammering in that nail with a screwdriver - be my guest. –Leonard Rosenthol

 

I changed the font from Arial to Helvetica, and the file size came down quite a bit, from 160,000 KB to 60,000 KB. However, 60,000 KB is still unacceptable. My workaround is I used Acrobat 4 to add the word "DRAFT" in my document. The file size stays the same using Acrobat 4. –Brian Chan

 

You could also do it using the other stamping features of Acrobat or a 3rd party tool. –Leonard Rosenthol

 

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