Compress Images in PDF Document automation action

Question

Compress Images in PDF Document automation action

Hi all

Adapted a Microsoft Powerpoint automation workflow to save a file as PDF and then compress it, as follows:
- Save PowerPoint
- Close PowerPoint
- Convert PowerPoint to PDF
- Compress Images in PDF Document

But the compress action doesn't seem to do anything as all settings from lowest to highest compression produced same size PDF - which is same as original.

The Apple Quartz Filter > Reduce File Size filter works but I cannot edit the filter's Image Sampling options so only end up with low res images and I want somewhere in between.

Can any help please?

MacBook Pro 15" 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, Mac OS X (10.5)

Posted on May 15, 2009 10:23 AM

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Answer 1

M Sauder

Level 1

10 points

May 17, 2009 2:43 PM in response to Craig Roberts1

You can make a new filter, similar to Reduce File Size, but not as agressive. Go to Applications : Utilities and open the ColorSync Utility. Click Filters. Check out the options under "Reduce File Size". Click the + button to create your own filter, "Reduce File Size II", for example. Click the little down arrow on the right side to choose the filter options; look for Image Sampling and Image Compression. For Sampling, I used 300 pixels/inch and left everything else blank; Quality: High. For Compression, I used JPEG and moved the slider closer toward Max. Close the utility. You should now have a new Save As... Quartz Filter option. If you want smaller file sizes, use more agressive compression and 200 or 100 pixels per inch.

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Answer 2

May 18, 2009 6:30 AM in response to M Sauder

Thanks for that.

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Answer 3

i.3d

Level 2

420 points

Jun 1, 2009 6:44 PM in response to M Sauder

Brilliant! Thanks for that.
However the obvious question is whether the Compress Images in PDF action is buggy.
It indeed seems to do nothing at all, regardless of the compression settings...

.

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