When I convert my PowerPoint presentations to PDF, why do they become so huge? How can I get around this?
A coworker has many PowerPoint presentations that he
needs to convert to PDF and post on the Web. His first attempt was with a 49Kb
PowerPoint presentation which, when he printed to Distiller, created a 35Mb PDF!
Why did this happen and how do we get around it? –Julian
Rickards
Sounds like the Distiller job option is set for
press-optimized, which creates the largest file sizes of the default settings.
You may want to try selecting a different job option in Distiller, such as
screen-optimized or print-optimized. --Gregory
Onder
Check if the presentations are using hi-res graphics
and whether or not they are being distilled using a down-sampling distiller
setting (Standard, Screen, Smallest File Size, etc.). These are Distiller 6
settings, but in 5, you can still go in and change (down-sample) the image
resolution to 150 or 72 dpi, if the images will not lose all their quality at
that resolution. –James Miller
This can happen if there are any GIF images that have
transparency information. –George
You could try Bluebeam Lite. It’s easy and simple to configure, especially the
down-sampling of the raster files within the PowerPoint file. –Chris
Wilcox
In addition to the comments provided by others, there
are two things that can be used in PowerPoint that can cause bloat when creating
PDFs. 1) Gradiants, especially as the slide background, and 2) Transparency,
either from images or drop shadows. –Leonard
Rosenthol
Another thought -- PowerPoint presentations can seem
quite small if you only look at the .ppt file. This file doesn't have the OLE
graphic files embedded. Try using the PowerPoint "Pack and Go" function (in the
File menu) to get a truer estimate of the presentation's file size. "Pack and
Go" will create a bundle that includes ALL of the files used in the .ppt file.
--Simon
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