Expert: Laith Ibrahim - 11/20/2007

Question
I am currently converting a Japanese user guide into an English user guide, and I am having some difficulty with the file size.

I am importing a 1.5 mb PDF document into Illustrator CS3 and once I do all the translations (only the text is being changed, no image alteration), and I save the file back into the PDF format, the file size increases to ~35mb. A tad too big for the internet users to download for just a couple pages of info...

I am unsure of whether the pictures in the manual are just being saved as a larger file format than they actually are (ie. 100 dpi picture being saved as 250 dpi etc.)

Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you very much

Answer
Hi Kengo,
My first guess is that the Source PDF file was created in Illustrator and that the 1.5 MB is only of the file itself without the linked images which are saved in a separate file usually. Check the images and see if they're linked or embedded. The file size will be much bigger if they're embedded in the file.
There are various ways to make your PDF file smaller. The first one that comes to mind is that when you save us PDF and you get the options, under "General", uncheck the "Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities". If you get it selected, Illustrator will save more data to make the file editable later.
You can also downsample the images under "Compression" to 72 dpi (you don't need a higher resolution for the web).
If while working on your file you kept on saving after every step or so, the file size will get bigger and bigger. This is a good practice but once you're done, save your file under a different name so that you get rid of all the extra data that you don't need.

If none of the above worked for you, you can send me the files so that I can better understand the issue.
Best regards,

Laith