Jerome Colas

Q: Reduce PDF file size : free Acrobat replacement for Leopard

*Well, at least this fits my need*, which to be able to email PDFs of my iWork or Office presentations with both :
*+ acceptable quality*
*+ acceptable file size*



It uses the poorly documented Quartz filtering ability for PDFs in Preview. There are a couple of articles I found here or elsewhere on the web, but they still don't make things simple.

You can manually edit those same settings (using Colorsync Utility) but can also benefit from my trial-and-error process and directly download from my iDisk.
After download and decompressions, *simply drag the downloaded "Filters" folder to your Library folder* (inside your user folder to install it just for this user, or at the root level of your hard disk in order to install it for all users) - And if you already have such a folder, simply copy the contents of the downloaded folder into it.

*Here are the filters :*
*http://idisk.mac.com/jcolas-Public*

Feel free to use, download, copy, use the idea ... in any way you like.

*Then, in order to create a compressed PDF with decent quality :*
+ Open your existing PDF in preview, or Print any document using "Open PDF in Preview" from the PDF pop-up menu in the Print dialog
+ Choose Save As in the File Menu (pretty easy I guess), then choose PDF as format, and one of the "Reduce to XXX dpi ..." Quartz filters, and click Save.

I included 8 settings which produce increasingly large files, with increasingly better quality.
I find the 150 dpi / average JPEG compression to be quite suitable for most purposes.

I have tried (before Leopard) PDF compression software like PDFshrink but was not satisifed with the results and interface.

These filters produce much better (better being in terms of consistency, file size and quality) than the filter Apple includes with Leopard (and maybe Tiger ?).
The Apple "Reduce file size filter" scales images by 50%, with target dimensions between 128 and 512 pixels, which can give very unusable results.

The filters I use 2 two things :
+ resample images to 75, 150, 300 or 600 dpi (I do not not if there is upsampling)
+ compress the images using Jpeg compression at average or low quality
Once installed, you can visualize, edit or copy them using Colorsync Utility (in the Applications/ Utilities folder)

As an example, using a 73 MB PDF from a 55 page Powerpoint presentation, the compressed files have the following sizes :
+ 75 dpi low quality : 2.7 MB
+ 75 dpi average quality : 3.2 MB
+ 150 dpi low quality : 4.2 MB
+ 150 dpi average quality : 5.3 MB
+ 300 dpi low quality : 7.6 MB
+ 300 dpi average quality : 10.2 MB
+ 600 dpi low quality : 16.0 MB
+ 600 dpi average quality : 20.3 MB

Voilà.
I don't think I'll be using Adobe Acrobat anytime soon.

"Thanks" a lot to Adobe for not being able to have a working version of Acrobat on Leopard until next January.
I hope many people (with needs similar to mine) will discover that they don't realy need it.

And I just wonder why Apple does not include these filters in Leopard.
Is this just in order to be nice with Adobe ?

Feedback or comments greatly appreciated.

Jérôme.

MBP 17" 2.4Ghz/4GB, Mac OS X (10.5), and other Macs too

Posted on Dec 15, 2007 4:08 AM

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Q: Reduce PDF file size : free Acrobat replacement for Leopard

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  • by Jerome Colas,

    Jerome Colas Jerome Colas Oct 6, 2012 9:08 AM in response to David.Woolford
    Level 2 (229 points)
    Oct 6, 2012 9:08 AM in response to David.Woolford

    Thanks David.

     

    /Library/PDF Services/ as a location for the filters seems to also work on Mountain Lion

     

    (I never moved anyrthing and the "old" location in /Library/Filters still works.

    And good if ~/Library/PDF Services/ also works (~/Library/Filters does not work on Lion on Mountain Lion).


    So, also the "old" location still works, /Library/PDF Services/ looks like what the correct location should be.

  • by iampaulriney,

    iampaulriney iampaulriney Oct 11, 2012 8:47 AM in response to Jerome Colas
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 11, 2012 8:47 AM in response to Jerome Colas

    Hey Jerome

     

    I have tried to install your qfilters to my Library in 10.8 (Mountain Lion) and it doesn't work. My boss has 10.6 on her home office computer and swears by your filters. I have tried add new folders to my Library folder but nothing seems to be working. Two folders I have added are Library/Filters and Library/PDF Services. I even tried adding them inside the Application Support folder and nothing.

     

    Any help would be much obliged.

  • by stefanradev,

    stefanradev stefanradev Oct 11, 2012 8:54 AM in response to iampaulriney
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 11, 2012 8:54 AM in response to iampaulriney

    Hi,

     

    It is working and without any problem. Unzip the filters after downloading and the already sreates a directory named filters. Move this directory to your HD/Library and that is it. It should work.

     

    Best regards,


    Stefan

  • by iampaulriney,

    iampaulriney iampaulriney Oct 11, 2012 9:14 AM in response to stefanradev
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 11, 2012 9:14 AM in response to stefanradev

    This is what my Library looks like:

    Screen Shot 2012-10-11 at 12.12.27 PM.png

     

     

    This is what I got after installing the filters.
    Screen Shot 2012-10-11 at 12.12.14 PM.png

    Do I need to restart the computer?

  • by stefanradev,

    stefanradev stefanradev Oct 11, 2012 9:33 AM in response to iampaulriney
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 11, 2012 9:33 AM in response to iampaulriney

    Not correct. I see, you installed in User (your name)/Library/Filters - NO HERE!

     

    Install the filters ONLY in Macintosh HD/Libray/Filters and it should work . I am working with Mountain Lion and no problem.

     

    Screen Shot 2012-10-11 at 19.27.24.png

  • by iampaulriney,

    iampaulriney iampaulriney Oct 11, 2012 9:38 AM in response to stefanradev
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 11, 2012 9:38 AM in response to stefanradev

    perfect! Thank you!!!

  • by stefanradev,

    stefanradev stefanradev Oct 11, 2012 9:40 AM in response to iampaulriney
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 11, 2012 9:40 AM in response to iampaulriney

    My pleasure!

     

     

  • by Efejota,

    Efejota Efejota Oct 18, 2012 10:26 AM in response to Jerome Colas
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 18, 2012 10:26 AM in response to Jerome Colas

    Jerome,

     

    Thanks a lot. For the second time (I think) your solution was a big help for me.

     

    Javier

  • by Bob Lyons,

    Bob Lyons Bob Lyons Oct 27, 2012 9:19 PM in response to stefanradev
    Level 1 (86 points)
    Oct 27, 2012 9:19 PM in response to stefanradev

    Thanks for the filters. They work great! I'm just using the 'standard' choice, and the results are as good or better than the Acrobat Pro 'Reduce file size' function. That's the main thing I've been using Acrobat for. (I hate giving money to Adobe!)

     

    Cheers :-)

  • by th0mas_l,

    th0mas_l th0mas_l Nov 4, 2012 6:15 AM in response to stefanradev
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 4, 2012 6:15 AM in response to stefanradev

    I'm glad I found this thread. Also thanks Jerome for the link to the filters - those are awesome.

     

    I am replying to add a little discovery from troubleshooting missing custom filters in the save-as dialog in PDFpen. Their support suggested to check /System/Library/Filters. Earlier I had looked in /Library/Filters and the folder was just missing.The one in System was where the default filters had gone.

     

    By then I had re-created that folder and dropped in the custom filters. That fixed my problem. I suppose they could also go in the /System/Library/Filters folder instead, but I am lazy and done making changes for now.

     

    FWIW, I am running OSX 10.7.5 on a MacPro and a Macbook Air and they both had the same problem and got the same successful fix.

     

    I'm guessing an OSX update scripted a move of the old /Library/Filters to the new /System/Library/Filters, and only moved the default filters and lost the custom ones.

  • by ---KJ---,

    ---KJ--- ---KJ--- Jan 2, 2013 9:54 AM in response to th0mas_l
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 2, 2013 9:54 AM in response to th0mas_l

    Hello, all.

     

    New 2012 MBP, 10.8.2.

     

    I have added Filters to the following locations to no avail:

    /Library/

    /System/Library/

    /Library/PDF Services/

     

    Nothing but defaults show up in the Quartz Filter dropdown box when I attempt to export.

     

    I'm running a cobbled "fusion drive," in that once I got the laptop, an Apple-cert tech took out the optical drive and replaced with with an SSD, which is where all my applications are loaded and where they boot from.

     

    The /Library/ folder appears on this drive and not the regular spinning hard drive...should this have any effect? It's the only anolomy I can think of.

     

    Thanks; I have a 150-page color PDF document I'd like to have printed and bound, but it's over 700MB, which is more than a mite ridiculous. (How does a 20MB Pages document balloon into a 344MB PDF?) This is text and photos which don't have to be gorgeous, but the default "Reduce File Size" option looks like you're peering through cloudy, scratched Plexiglass. Yiiich.)

  • by Jerome Colas,

    Jerome Colas Jerome Colas Jan 2, 2013 10:19 AM in response to ---KJ---
    Level 2 (229 points)
    Jan 2, 2013 10:19 AM in response to ---KJ---

    Hi KJ.

    I also have 10.8.2, and the filters located in /Library/PDF Services

     

    As an example, the full path to one of the iflters is:

    "Macintosh HD/Library/PDF Services/Reduce to 600 dpi average quality.qfilter"

     

    If you have the filters (not a folder containing the filters, not the zip :-) in this exact place, they should work.

     

    They appear when you choose "Export" in the File menu, then choose PDF as a format in Apple's Preview app.

     

    Hope I could help.

     

    Jérôme.

  • by ---KJ---,

    ---KJ--- ---KJ--- Jan 2, 2013 11:57 AM in response to Jerome Colas
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 2, 2013 11:57 AM in response to Jerome Colas

    Worked!!!!

     

    The phrase "Macintosh HD" did it; as referenced before, I have two drives. I was confusing one for the other since 10 doesn't put your HD on your desktop anymore. (You can change this in Finder Preferences: http://macs.about.com/od/faq1/f/Drive-Icons-Missing-From-Your-Macs-Desktop.htm )

     

    Once I put the Filters folder into the /Library on the SSD drive where the applications are kept, it worked great. (I WAS placing them in the /Library folder where the data resides, a whole different drive.)

     

    Hope this helps someone else.

     

    Thanks, Jerome! The smaller files look a million times better than the default; like a PDF should look!

  • by Dannymac22,

    Dannymac22 Dannymac22 Jan 8, 2013 4:21 PM in response to lightbulbaz
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 8, 2013 4:21 PM in response to lightbulbaz

    Let me add my own experience here. These filters are great, and they work well ... sometimes. But I have regular pdf files (not scanned images of text, but real text) that none of the standard built-in quartz filters reduce in size. In fact, some of these filters make the files larger! I have seen a number of files for which NONE of the built-in filters does any size reduction at all. So these filters are by no means a reliable way to reduce file size. Cross your fingers.

     

    Several people here have noted this. It's for real. But I haven't heard any explanation.

     

    I'm using an iMac with 10.6.8, but I have another machine using Lion that I believe does the same thing to these files.

     

    So why is this happening? Workarounds?

  • by Christina Rodriguez,

    Christina Rodriguez Christina Rodriguez Jan 9, 2013 12:03 PM in response to Dannymac22
    Level 4 (1,360 points)
    Jan 9, 2013 12:03 PM in response to Dannymac22

    You can't really reduce the size of text... as it is not a raster image... There are things you can do to reduce the file size, but that all depends on what application was used to make the PDFs. For example, if you save a PDF from Adobe Illustrator, there is an option to make your PDF editable in Illustrator. If you have this option selected, then your file will be MUCH larger.... Also, in Illustrator you can outline text - BUT this will make your file even larger...

     

    I'm assuming though that you are not using Illustrator. Rather Word or Pages?

     

    Do your PDFs contain images? What are the pixel dimensions of the original image used? If the images were already small to begin with and you are suing the 150 dpi setting then you may actually be increasing the resolution...

     

    You could try Adobe Acrobat Pro. You can download the free trial and see if it works....

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