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cec-prepress · #1 (**permalink**) 08-01-2007, 05:49 AM

I'm trying to resave a PDF we printed from to a screen resolution file the client can post to their website - but when printed will look choppy. Usually, I can just "Reduce File Size" save, "PDF Optimizer" resave, or print to the Adobe PDF driver on "Smallest File Size" setting. I've tried all of those and the quality occasionally does drop to where it looks bad when printed, but the file size never drops much. I'd like to get it down below 500k. The original file is around 1.6MB and the smallest I've been able to get it is 1.45MB.

I did try rasterizing it in Photoshop, and that did reduce the file size - but it also made the on screen version almost illegible. In the past I've been able to keep it looking crisp on screen but the prints look ugly.

Any ideas?

mattbeals · #2 (**permalink**) 08-01-2007, 06:53 AM

You can always try PDF Enhancer from Apago. There's a lot of information in a PDF that can be stripped, compressed or optimized that PDF Enhancer can get to.

In PDF Optimizer look at the "audit space usage". If there are images in there then there really isn't much that you can do other than downsample heavily and use JPEG compression. Short of that you're dealing with fonts, ICC profiles, private application data, etc. that may or may not get removed.

Try PDF Enhancer though, it's really worth it. As far as making them low res so that they can't be used there are two ways to deal with that. One, in PitStop Pro you can add a watermark to a page that is visible.

Two, with PDF Enhancer you can add a watermark that is visible, printable or both.

cec-prepress · #3 (**permalink**) 08-01-2007, 07:20 AM

I'll give PDF Enhancer a spin.

Unfortunately, Pitstop/Stamp PDFwatermarks aren't an option. It is a real estate company, they're wanting it to be the exact same thing as the printed piece, but basically saved down to screen resolution. That way, the agents pay them for the printed piece and have access to a screen version to put on their websites/email. But if they decide they want more later, they have to go through the company to get more or deal with a low quality printed version. Hence - the rasterized/compressed version through Photoshop wouldn't work.

Sounds like PDF Enhancer might work - even if it means using the printable only watermark.

Thanks.