Pagemaker files get MASSIVE ???

[matmac]

What is it that makes a seemingly straight forward file in Pagemaker into a Behemoth ??

I client phones and says that they can't burn CDs of the job that is about to be submitted because it is too big (3GB). I query the client to discover that it is the job folder (ie. all the linked files) that tally 3GB. I request that the job is supplied on multiple CDs. The client then states that the Pagemaker file is 900MB. I ask whether the images were embedded or linked, "I clicked No when placing files states the client" Ie. do not embedded.

Struggling to come to terms with the size of the file the client brings in a laptop and I download the 3GB of files to our server. Yup, the pagemaker file is 900MB AND YES THE IMAGES ARE LINKED.

The images are a combination of tifs and jpegs. What is it that the pagemaker file is sooooo bloated, when the images for the pub are linked??? I feel like I've forgotten to tell the client to click the "optimise" button when saving. Is there a way to shrink this sucker? Any ideas??

Pagemaker : 7.0.2
Windows : XP Pro
A4 ~ 80 pages All B&W except 4pages & Cover!!!

[tigger]

I've seen this before, I guess that Pagemaker makes rahter big low-res samples of the linked files within his own file. The result is that if you have lot's of images, you end up with a big file at the end anyway.

Since you specified that some are in JPeG, make sure they are greyscale and not RGB !!! - I see this mistake by our clients all the time !

[detric_1]

I know this used to work with 6.0-6.5 versions...I've seen that happen when people would do constant saves after every correx. What we used to do is just do a "save as" and re-name the document. I killed alot of the bloat.

Dave

[pspdfppd]

Well in Pagemaker....as apposed to QuarkXpress.....you can Imbed the file....much like Illustrator .

If you choose to imbed the file on import you could effectively make GB of file space in ADDITION to the links. So suppose the links take up 2 GB of data and the Pagemaker file has 2 GB 2worth of data and they send the pagemaker file plus the links too and there you go...2 plus 2 gig is 4 gig!

I think all files should be linked in Pagemaker.

[pspdfppd]

whoops, sorry, didn't read your whole post before I replied.

I bet that the "high res" preview option was working at the time and that their images were grossly scaled down. I mean stuff like a 300dip clipped eps scaled to 10 percent or something like that.

I apologize if STILL I have missed something somebody else has stated.

This is the only thing I can think of. I recently ran into this on Quark 6.........

[PrepressRabbit]

I think the save as function should work. Apparently if you use the document as a template for a newsletter or magazine etc. and just keep making changes to it the document will balloon to insane proportions and be flakey to boot! We see quite a bit of this to the point where for certain customers we automatically do a save as and see document sizes be reduced by as much as 90 mb.

[matmac]

OK. I have part of this worked out .. the other part is still a mystery.

The part I worked out ..
There is a "Global" setting in Pagemaker to embed files.

Go to Utilities > Plugins > Global Link Options This window allows you to set text and images to be embedded on import.



This is what is causing the document to grow. NB. The 1GB file had 000's of images that were not linked. Linking the images caused the file to continue to grow. When the linking was finished the file was 1.4GB.

Maybe Pagemaker or the workstation needed a reboot??


The part that's unsolved ..
I have tried resaving the 1GB file that was submitted after changing this Global setting but it is still just as large.

[DCurry]

Just changing that Global Setting won't affect images that are already present. Use the Links Manager and for each image click on "Link Options" to change it so it is not storing a copy in the publication.

[Sparky]

I see this problem a lot from my customers. What I do to fix it is this
First (keeping in mind that the PageMaker default setting is to embed files) I set the preferences (File>Links Manager>uncheck embed files) to not embed files to anything over 64 kb (thats the minimum PageMaker excepts). Do a standard flightcheck and if I have to select each and every file in the links manager to make sure they are not embedded. Then go to Style sheets and delete every one, then make sure ALL the preferences are set to my standards, THEN do a SAVE AS this will strip the document of all its erroneous information and reduce the document size extremely. I have seen 96 mb files reduced to 2.5 mg using this method. Remember that even though you "un-embed" the linked files, until you save as the file will still retain the information for embedding hence the file size will not reduce. Once you do a Save as you will see a drastic difference in mbs.

[Glars]

With the document open go to

File/Preferences/General

Change Save option from 'Faster' to 'Smaller'.

Note that this will only change that option for that particular document.

Now tell your client to start Pagemaker and with no document open make the Preference change. That will set the default for any subsequent new document. For any document already created they need to open document then make the preference change.

HTH