PDF files are larger than original Word files

Michel Rouse

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Apr 14, 2003, 10:26:01 AM4/14/03

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I am trying to generate PDF files from Word documents, but the PDF file ends up being larger than the original Word doc. I have tried using both PDFMaker and Distiller. The Word documents contain little or no graphics, and I am using the "Screen" job option.

Software:
Windows 2000
Acrobat 5.0.5
Word 2000

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Aandi Inston

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Apr 14, 2003, 10:47:11 AM4/14/03

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I suggest you stop worrying! There is no direct connection between
Word document and PDF document size. No guarantee one will be larger,
or smaller.

Aandi Inston

Suzanne Cole

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Apr 14, 2003, 11:08:11 AM4/14/03

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Michel, you didn't say *how much* bigger your PDFs are. Is there an enormous difference?

If so... there are bunches of related topics in this forum and its archive. Some of them go into deep analysis of the problem, and some give quick tips for things to look at. Perhaps searching the forum will dig up something useful for you. (Search 'this forum only' -- that will find related topics in the forum archive as well.)

Aandi spent a lot of time with me on a similar problem -- analyzing with PDF Consultant and his "Quite a Box of Tricks" [www.quite.com] plugin. These can help at least identify how the bytes are being used.

The main thing to consider is that many different things can affect file size. Most of these have been discussed previously at some point, so, as mentioned, you might want to try out some of the previous threads and see if one of those will help. If not, come back and let us know what you tried.

de Siem

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Apr 14, 2003, 11:57:04 AM4/14/03

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Using transparent Gif files can lead to huge file sizes.

Also scaling images in the Office application may lead to a larger file size. Bring them in a 100% and keep them that way.

Also try to avoid Gif's and jpeg, try using Tif maybe eps where possible.

Michel Rouse

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Apr 14, 2003, 4:09:49 PM4/14/03

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Suzanne, the file sizes range from 2 to 3 times the size (ex: 300k to 800k).

I searched the forum and found only errors that people were having, and not size issues. I also read some articles in the knowledge base and help to ensure that I was choosing the best possible methods.

As mentioned, I am using "Screen" as my job option which, to my understanding, should generate the smallest file size without compromising the quality. The documents have barely any images in them either. I ran the Quite plug-in on one of the files (73 Kb in Word and 180 Kb in PDF) and noticed that the images, text and line art amount to 19 K (images are 2 K).

As this file is small, it is not a huge problem, but since these are documents that need to be distributed over the web, someone downloading an 800 Kb text document from a dial-up connection will not be very happy.

Any further suggestions would be of great help.

Michel

de Siem

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Apr 15, 2003, 8:01:28 AM4/15/03

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In word go to Acrobat>Pdf conversion settings
Select the office tab and deselect 'Create/Embed tags'.

Re-create the pdf.

Michel Rouse

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Apr 15, 2003, 10:07:44 AM4/15/03

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That's the secret :-) Thanks a lot for all your help.

Michel