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• • January 23, 2016 at 8:50 am #81034
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    An old problem. I produce a magazine for a non-profit organization, published 4 times a year, each issue being about 84 pages plus covers. The mag is printed in grayscale with all 4 covers in color; a web version is offered in color, with its numerous links active. The problem is that their site will not allow any downloadable document above 10MB. A medium color PDF (150dpi) is around 25 MB, and a web one (85dpi) is around 16MB. I have tried all kinds of tricks (I think I’ve read all the forum threads on the subject), and after a few hours of (mild) swearing, I can squeeze it enough, usually around 9,8MB from within Acrobat, and the result is quite awful (text OK, images not so much). After 3 issues, I haven’t worked out yet a proper workflow for consistent results.

    I use ID CC (2015) and Acrobat DC, OSX 10.10.5.

    Other than hoping my client switches to a better site provider, is there a solution (or two) to my problem?

  • January 23, 2016 at 12:03 pm #81036
    Frances Simons

    Member

    Hi Linda. I feel your pain! How many fonts have you got on the go? Also, are the inside contents image heavy? 84 pages will be hard to get down to <10. I do everything to cut down file size prior to exporting. What are you doing from within Indd? If you have lots of images, process them in PS before bringing them in. So make them actual size you need for the PDF and 72 ppi and place at 100% effective res. Uhm, get ride of unused colours. Whittle away.

  • January 23, 2016 at 2:10 pm #81043
    Colleen Shannon

    Member

    It’s hard to say without seeing your file, but here are a few things:
    You may need a web version of your InDesign file.

    -convert all swatches to RGB process
    -Flatten everything: If you have any complicated vector images, transparencies, effects and clipping paths, save them as JPG/PNG if possible.
    -Save any TIFs or PSDs as JPG/PNG (process to 100% as effleess said)
    -in your PDF export, Compatibility Acrobat 8/9 and No Color Conversion, Optimize for Fast Web View
    -Export your INDD to IDML, open and save. If that lowers the INDD file size, you may get a lower PDF size.

    You may have to tell you client that something’s gotta give, like using fewer photos or breaking it up into two magazines.

  • January 23, 2016 at 2:31 pm #81044
    Colleen Shannon

    Member

    And – make sure you’re using Master Pages if you have images repeating on your pages. (I have seen an image copy and pasted onto 50 pages instead of using one on the master page – that will increase the size a lot)

  • January 25, 2016 at 5:09 am #81053
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    Hi,

    Thanks of the tips. I have been using most of the steps you describe already but not in a coherent manner. I’m going to create a precise workflow that include modifying a copy of the final ID file with RGB colors and jpegs. The number of images cannot be decreased (the mag is about history and genealogy, with relatively few visuals per article), and the compatibility cannot be too limited as the average age of the readers is around 68 and many of them are using older PCs. As for fonts, i use only two families: Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk and Weidemann, with two or three various single fonts as needed.

    I’ll let you know wich workflow worked best.

  • January 31, 2016 at 11:51 am #81265
    Ken Kostedt

    Member

    Hello. I have recently started to use Indesign. So much better than when I tried to use Indesign 2.0. I look forward to learning more.

    Just my two cents worth. Can you break it down to monthly updates?

  • February 1, 2016 at 3:33 pm #81307
    Colleen Shannon

    Member

    artmaverick, looks like you have a separate comment from this thread.

    Feature request for Adobe:
    https://www.adobe.com/products/wishform.html

    Otherwise, you can start a new thread here:

    General InDesign Topics (CLOSED)

  • February 1, 2016 at 4:25 pm #81335
    Ken Kostedt

    Member

    How so Colleen? My comment was asking if the quarterly publication could be monthly instead to cut down size.

  • February 2, 2016 at 4:46 am #81363
    Tim Hughes

    Member

    Is outputting to interactive pdf not an option? This does alot of what your different workflow will do and can dramatically cut the size

  • February 2, 2016 at 6:44 am #81366
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    Thanks for all your suggestions. I still haven’t found a reliable way to bring down the size of the PDF under 10MB; I get it after much fumbling and hit & miss. The interactive option is interesting but gave me a 19,5MB PDF, better than the 25MB from the Print option but not good enough. The closest I came to my target was with a copy for the web (RGB colors, jpeg images, replacing any drow shadow effect with a gray box, etc.), but that PDF was still around 13MB. I optimized that last one in Acrobat and after a few tries brought it down to 9,8MB, with quite pitiful results on the images, but that’s what the client wants… and offering the mag in two parts will be the very last resort (quite sure that option will be refused).

    By the way, I had to uninstall Acrobat DC and go back to my old Acrobat X; all the links in any file I tested stopped working, and after a full day trying to get that feature going again I gave up. Anybody else encountered a similar problem? It used to work correctly; hovering above a link still shows the address, right-clicking on the link give me the usual menu, but no amount of cllcking or choosing to open the link from the contextual menu has any effect. Looks like the latest update of OS X (Yosemite 10.10.5) or, more likely, Acrobat DC, is interfering with the activation of the links. Security feature?

  • February 3, 2016 at 7:23 am #81487
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    Well, my current problem has been solved: the Internet provider has moved the limit of downloadable documents up to 25MB for my client, so no need to squeeze the life out of my PDFs for this project any more. I’m archiving all your suggestions in case I’m asked to limit the size of a PDF again.

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