pages saved to pdf...file size still too large?

I used all 6 of the template pages of the newsletter "Extreme" to make:

*Method 1:* Export to pdf with setting "Good" +Result: 836 kb+

*Method 2:* Export to pdf with setting "Better" +Result: 1.8 Mb+

*Method 3:* Export to pdf with setting "Best" +Result: 1.9 Mb+

*Method 4:* +Menu > File > Print > PDF (button bottom left of dialog) > Save as Postscript…+

Open resultant file in Preview which will convert it to .pdf and resave. +Result: 5.3 Mb+

*To keep the final size as small as possible:*

Trim all photos to cropped size outside Pages and use as few fonts as possible and as many pdf vector graphics as possible in place of bitmaps/photos.

I have a similar problem creating PDFs using MS Word. My word doc is significantly less than 1MB, it is all text with 2 images, 40K & 120K respectively. When I "Print to PDF" it creates a file in excess of 7MB!

If I remove the images from the document and then "Print to PDF" again it creates a PDF file of a size comparable to the original (less than 1MB).

This seems rather absurd considering my PC at work (which I HATE) does this just fine.

Thanks for your feedback!

I've had trouble exporting a Pages file as a PDF set at "good" or "better" quality to decrease the file size. (Some graphics turned black or different colors when I do this. Same with using a "decrease size" quartz filter when saving in Preview.)

This was my work-around that took quite a while, but worked:
1) Save Pages file as pdf
2) Open pdf in Preview
3) Save each page as an individual jpg (I reduced the quality of each to about halfway on the sliding scale)
4) Open jpg in Preview
5) Adjust size to 8.5x11 (in tools menu)
6) Save each jpg as pdf
7) Bring all pages into one pdf

This helped me go from 14.5 MB original pdf (from Pages) to 2.5 MB. My total amateur attempt, but it worked for me. Would love to hear of other ways to do this. Thanks! (Off to go read about what vector graphics are...)

How do you create the PDF? Do you go through Export > PDF > Image Quality "Good"?

That's the way that shrinks the files the most.