Hi, Does anyone know the best settings in Illustrator to create small, but quality PDFs. Going crazy trying to create introductory portfolio sheets per employer requests for PDF sample sheets. Is Illustrator even the best program to do this with?
Thanks.
I would recommend using InDesign.
There used to be an export setting for PDFs called e-book and I found that it worked pretty well.
Just looked at this link talking about it:
http://www.designerstalk.com/forums/graphic-design/27981-download-indesign-pdf-presets.html
Here’s the crux of it:
“Considering the non-existent popularity of eBooks in general, it’s not really surprising that the preset has been dropped from the menu list. But don’t worry! You can make your own. Just set image downsampling to 72 dpi, text to 300 dpi and make sure the pdf includes the font(s), or a subset of them. Save the setting with a suitable name and there you have it!
I don’t know the settings for the Rich Content preset because I don’t know what it’s intended for - could be anything.”
Whenever we need to send out PDFs that will simply be viewed (does not need editable features), we just use the ‘smallest file size’ in Illustrator.
Thanks y’all. Do you think recruiters and employers are ok, with just screen resolution or would appreciate better printable res?
Hey guys,
I was just about to post a similar question as idguy88, so as not to create more similar posts I hope you don’t mind that I’m putting my question here…
I’m trying to create a small pdf file from InDesign, and have tried several things but can’t seem to get my pdf under 8Mb from the original 50Mb InDesign file having 75 pages (containing .ai .psd and jpgs).
→ Tried exporting the InDesign file through the Adobe PDF Presets options (“smallest file size”, and even tweaking these settings)
→ Directly printing to PrimoPDF from InDesign
→ Optimizing PDF outcomes from steps above in Acrobat Professional (1. “Document->Reduce File Size” and 2. “Advanced->PDF optimizer”)
So, the 8Mb versions is the smallest I could get without it all looking really horrible. My aim is to get to max. 5Mb, but I have no idea what options I can try more without losing quality. 8Mb is too much to send out, right?
Any help would be much appreciated!
for 75 pages, it’ll be tough to get it much smaller. I’m surprised you got it down to 8mb. To get the smallest size PDF, you basically need to export as screen res jpgs (max quality) so that they are flattened. (your text will also be rasterized) Use Acrobat to combine these into a single PDF, and you’ll be at the minimum possible. I’d trim some pages / reduce the page size if you need to make them smaller.
Thanks for sharing bennybtl, but unfortunately I couldn’t get it smaller than 8-9 Mb with your approach.
In the meantime I also tried printing it from InDesign through Adobe PDF (Distiller). Although it cut the file size in half, the quality was unacceptable. I will continue in my quest for optimal quality/file size…
What are your thoughts, 8-9Mb for a 75 page pdf is acceptable to get in your inbox or is it simply way too much? Or rather leave out some pages to reduce the file size a bit?
Thanks guys.
I got it! My 75 page pdf now is at 4Mb, with still relative good quality.
The secret lies within using Adobe Distiller in case you want a plain pdf (without any interactivity, imbedded stuff, etc.). I will explain:
- First save your InDesign file under a different name, which reduces the file size significantly.
- Then, choose File → Print, and choose Adobe PDF (or similar), which is basically Distiller.
- From the dialogue box, you can set the normal stuff (which pages, paper size, etc.). Note that under Advanced you can set the Transparency Flattener preset to High (which I would recommend). Under Graphics, Fonts, set Download to Complete!
- In order to set the quality/subsampling and that kind of stuff, choose SetUp (Windows). I believe it’s something like “Printer” for Mac.
- For Windows, choose Preferences for the Adobe PDF printer
- From the following dialogue box, you can either choose a Default Setting (High Quality Print, Smallest File Size, etc.), or customize one of these presets by clicking edit. I choose to edit the Smallest File Size option (General Tab: set paper size, Images Tab: I’ve set everything to 100 ppi, with compression for color images to jpg (image quality set to medium), and grayscale images to zip and Color set to RGB (if you want someone to view it onscreen)
- Done! In case your pdf size is still somewhat high, you can optimize it in Acrobat Professional through playing with Document → Reduce File Size, and Advanced → PDF Optimizer.
Hope this will help others as well.
Boy I’m relieved!
Thanks for the little write up there. I found it helpful.
So to get the smallest pdf files from your indesign file you need to start by making sure the files within your indesign document are the smallest they can be…(if you’re going for the smallest size possible). This means probably downsampling any high res jpegs/tifs/etc that you have placed within your document. Another trick is to arrange photos or objects that you have and turn them into one placed image instead of multiple ones. This is assuming of course that you already know the layout that you want.
Another trick is making sure you’re exporting to the most current Acrobat settings, meaning that if whoever is going to be reading it has Acrobat 8, you only need to make the pdf compatible with Acrobat 8 and not 5 and up. Sometimes this can save you a couple megabytes. Also you could try using post scripts and Adobe distiller. Theres a million and one ways to skin that cat it just depends which way is good for what you want to do.
Kind of an aside, but why are you sending 75 pages for the purposes of a PDF “teaser portfolio”. Your physical portfolio should not be that big. Part of a PDF portfolio is to show your ability to edit yourself and give the potential employer exactly what they need to evaluate you, based on your understanding of what they need.
It seems that designers have this belief that if they show everything that gives them their best chance to success. Show you can listen and target your information to your audience, just like you would do in an industrial design project. Getting a job is not a lottery.
Kind of an aside, but why are you sending 75 pages for the purposes of a PDF “teaser portfolio”. Your physical portfolio should not be that big. Part of a PDF portfolio is to show your ability to edit yourself and give the potential employer exactly what they need to evaluate you, based on your understanding of what they need. It seems that designers have this belief that if they show everything that gives them their best chance to success. Show you can listen and target your information to your audience, just like you would do in an industrial design project. Getting a job is not a lottery.
I never said I was going to use it as a portfolio teaser, I just wanted to find out how I could get it all in one pdf in the smallest possible way for my own sake and see what the maximum “size standards” for email attachments are. Nonetheless good advice though. Indeed, a 75 page portfolio is way too big and not targeted.
Sorry, I misunderstood. 
No worries mate 
It’s painful …to see pixlated images…little bit font distortion…in small sized PDF.
We need a good software to send them as it is… without reducing a size of quality PDF file…(like winzip,winrar)
If I was reviewing samples, I would not bother to unzip something. I’m clicking one button one time, it’s either view pdf, or delete.
It’s painful …to see pixlated images…little bit font distortion…in small sized PDF.
We need a good software to send them as it is… without reducing a size of quality PDF file…(like winzip,winrar)
Agreed. There are already options like WeTransfer that just provide a download link.
Yep, I use YouSendIt.com