How to make Smaller Pdf Files?

Question

Level 3

514 points

How to make Smaller Pdf Files?

Hello. Previously I had asked a question on how to fit multiple pages into ONE pdf file. My questions was answered by advising me to download a program from Monkeybread Software, which I did, and which worked fine.
I now have a new problem. I have about 25 letters that I want to put in ONE pdf file, however each page is about 2.5mb after being scanned, therefore 3 pages when merged into One pdf file totals almost 10mb which is too large for sending on most servers.
The question then: Is there anyway these files can be made smaller so that all 25 pages could be put into the one pdf file and the size of that file be kept at a maximum of about 7mb?
(For info, the way I am making the files, is to scan one page and send it to my printer which has a 'Save to pdf' file on it. I then save that to the desktop and then drag each pdf into the Monkeybread program in order to merge them into one pdf) Hope this makes sense and that someone may have an answer for me. Thanks.

emac 700mhz combo (Sep 2002) OS X10.2.8, Mac OS X (10.2.x)

Posted on Oct 21, 2007 1:45 PM

Reply

Answer 1

eww

Level 9

53,052 points

Oct 21, 2007 3:33 PM in response to whiskey sour

Rescan the files at a lower resolution, or reduce the resolution of the existing scans if you have the software to do so. Scanning at half the resolution you used the first time (e.g., 100ppi instead of 200ppi) will make each file 1/4 the size it was the first time. Of course there will be a loss of quality. There is no way to make 75MB of data into 7MB of data without sacrificing some of it.

Reply

Answer 2

whiskey sour Author

Level 3

514 points

Oct 21, 2007 9:50 PM in response to eww

Thanks for your input eww, appreciate that. I will try that--somehow I didnt think it would be so difficult to put these 25 or so pages into one document and thought the pdf format would be best, but maybe there is some other way to wind up with a result that I can email and that is under about 7 mbs total. I know I have downloaded manuals in pdf form etc, that have an awful lot of pages with no problem, but I guess a download and an email must be two different things when it comes down to what can pass over a server. Again thanks for the ideas and I will see if that helps me. Cheers.

Reply

Answer 3

Oct 22, 2007 10:12 AM in response to whiskey sour

Hi,

You are right. Email usually does not let large files pass back and forth. It's not a program restriction usually, but a host restriction and how their software is configured. Another way to reduce the size is to go B&W only, or grayscale. Still another way involves getting Adobe Acrobat and using it to reduce the size of the PDF. If all else fails, you can try hosting the file and sending the folks a link to it.

HTH,
~FifthWheel

Reply

Answer 4

Allan Jones

Level 9

78,290 points

Oct 22, 2007 10:42 AM in response to FifthWheelAt80MPH

Some scanner software has a setting for "line art" that sees only black and white--no grays. I find that works best for scanning typed letter and the like. Makes very small files even at 300 dpi, which is as fine as you need for text.

The choice of resolution depends on how you intend to use the resulting pdf. For on-screen viewing, 150 or even 72 dpi is acceptable (except for those with vision challenges), but will not print very well. If you intend that the file be sent to others who will print it out for reading, then a line art setting (if available) at 300 dpi will result in decent print output without making a gargantuan file.

In the long run, having a scanner capable of optical character recognition (OCR) may work best because you can then paste the resulting files as plain text into one word processing document. A text-only WP file of 25 pages is doable for most mail servers. Remember: when using OCR, check the final document for scan errors. Example: the letter "i" may get picked up as a capital "I", the number 1, or an exclamation point ( ! ). Usually such errors are minimal and are often flagged by the WP program's spell checker.

Reply