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Last post:
Oct 13, 2007 11:08 AM by
smax013
Re: PDF - File Size Help Needed
Hi Jochnois. Welcome to PCWorld. 
I am not sure how much help I can be for you at this point. From what I know, .pdf documents are just like any other file system, more pages equate to larger file size. Also, the complexity of the page changes the file size as well. For example, if there is a lot of black on one page, that will drastically increase the file size.
I have a few options for you. One may be more acceptable than the other:
2) .doc
3) .tif
These file formats will be smaller than a .pdf file. However, a 90 page document will be large no matter what file format you use. It's like saying what weighs more, 90 pounds of bricks or 90 pounds of feathers.
If you use any of the methods listed, and depending on the actually file size, you can still send the files electronically for free. A site called YouSendIt will allow you to email up to an 100MB file for free. This way, you save valuable hard drive space and still have the ability to email the documents as needed.
This is my personal Dream PC: http://forums.pcworld.com/blogs/mphenterprises/2007/12/21/my-gift-to-myself
I am not sure how much help I can be for you at this point. From what I know, .pdf documents are just like any other file system, more pages equate to larger file size. Also, the complexity of the page changes the file size as well. For example, if there is a lot of black on one page, that will drastically increase the file size.
I have a few options for you. One may be more acceptable than the other:
- Change the setting for the scanning application so that the pages are not scanned in as .pdf files. Your options may be:
2) .doc
3) .tif
These file formats will be smaller than a .pdf file. However, a 90 page document will be large no matter what file format you use. It's like saying what weighs more, 90 pounds of bricks or 90 pounds of feathers.
- Scan less pages at a time. This may not be acceptable to you because of the fact that you would want to keep all pages of a document together.
- Scan the pages to the hard drive and then either burn them to a DVD, save them to an external drive, or send it to an online storage site. I can only imagine how large this files will get. Since the end result is to eventually email these documents at some point, you would want to conserve hard disk space as much as possible.
If you use any of the methods listed, and depending on the actually file size, you can still send the files electronically for free. A site called YouSendIt will allow you to email up to an 100MB file for free. This way, you save valuable hard drive space and still have the ability to email the documents as needed.
This is my personal Dream PC: http://forums.pcworld.com/blogs/mphenterprises/2007/12/21/my-gift-to-myself
Re: PDF - File Size Help Needed
jochnois wrote:I am using a Canon AIO to scan file cabinets full of documents into PDF's. The idea is to have a paperless office. However, when I scan a 90 page manual or document, the file is HUGE. In fact I can't even send it as an e-mail attachment. Is there any way to scan an original document into a PDF and make is smaller? I'm assuming that the PDF maker on the AIO scanner makes it an image and then converts it into a PDF. I'm just looking for a solution to make the file size manageable.
The problem is the scanning. Scanning generally results in a graphic/photo file, which are typically rather large in size. It takes a lot of information to describe all those "dots". When dealing with graphics files, paint type files (where the graphics are described by individual dots for lack of a better description) will be larger typically then vector/draw type files (where the graphics are described by mathimatical expressions for the elements). This same level of complexity is replicated in PDFs.One suggestion would be to try OCR software. This will scan text and "convert" it into actual text in a word processing document. This can result in a smaller file before converting to PDF and thus should result in dramatically smaller PDF files. I am not sure how OCR programs handle mixed text and image documents...I have not really used OCR too much myself (paper still has value in my life...I don't know what I would with the clutter of paper in my office!
).The other option is to scan to a graphic file like JPG like MPH Enterprises but scan at lower resolution. Then convert to PDF with Acrobat and user lower quality setting in converting to PDF (you should be able to adjust the compression level that Acrobat or any other PDF creation software uses...at one point Acrobat Distiller would allow you to select the PDF creation to be optimized to print, to on screen use, etc...my PDF software allows me to select compression level). You might have to experiment with this to determine what settings will create a useable, but smaller PDF.
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