PDF file help

[jyeh74]

Why is it when I scan a 4 page document to my computer and save it as a PDF file, it is 4 MB (only 4 pages)?
But when I download PDF from bank statements or online, it can be like 100 pages but significantly smaller in size compared to when I scan myself?

[poisondeathray]

You probably didn't use any optimizations. In acrobat pro, advanced=>pdf optimizer

Often the prepared pdf documents have optimizations like fonts not embedded and such, and rely on end user installed fonts to save space

You cannot use some of these optimizations for a scanned image, it is an image file as opposed to text (unless you OCRed it), but some of the image compressing options might apply

There are many tutorials on optimizing pdf's if you search Google

[jyeh74]

so you are saying with scanned images and docs, it will always be bigger than something you download online?

[poisondeathray]

so you are saying with scanned images and docs, it will always be bigger than something you download online?

Scanned images will always be larger than their text based equivalent. But, it also depends on how the downloaded one was prepared and if it was optimized, and it depends if any accompanying images were pre-processed (e.g. you might denoise them to reduce the filesize even farther)

[lordsmurf]

OCR it.

[jyeh74]

OCR it?

Doesnt matter if I save as PDF or PDF-searchable. same size problem

[AlanHK]

OCR it?
Doesnt matter if I save as PDF or PDF-searchable. same size problem

PDFs can contain text and images.

If you generate a PDF from a DTP app, it will be pure text. These are very compact, and print perfectly, as the fonts are also included and will print at whatever resolution you like.

If you make a PDF from a scan, it is a series of bitmaps -- JPEG, TIFF, whatever. These are much less compact.

If you zoom the respective files you will see that the "text" PDF remains smooth no matter what zoom, the scan will soon show pixels.

There are utilities that OCR a scan image and add searchable text.

What they actually do is make an invisible text layer corresponding to the image. So these files will be a bit larger.

If you have the right tools you can delete the image and make the text visible (though it may not be very nice looking), This would give you a compact text PDF.

To make a clean text PDF from a scan, you would use an OCR app, export that as text to a word processor or layout app, tidy it up (OCR is never perfect) and then generate a new PDF.

I've actually done this when republishing old books when only hardcopy of the text was available.

[jyeh74]

hey alanhk, I didnt know a simple scan and save to pdf would require extra work to make it compact? I just dont like scanning 10 pages and attaching it to an email = 8-10MB.

[minidv2dvd]

you can crush it a bit using advanced/pdf optimizer.

[jyeh74]

ok guys, without going into the logistics of shrinking it, is there an easier way I can incorporate it with my HP scanner/fax/printer? Simple steps?

[Webster]

ok guys, without going into the logistics of shrinking it, is there an easier way I can incorporate it with my HP scanner/fax/printer? Simple steps?

scan it at 72 dpi

[jyeh74]

hmm, I dont know what the settings are on the scanner, I have to check though.

[AlanHK]

ok guys, without going into the logistics of shrinking it, is there an easier way I can incorporate it with my HP scanner/fax/printer? Simple steps?

There will be settings in the scanner software to adjust quality and type of scan.
Probably presets for colour photos, b/w text (presumably what you want), etc.

But if it doesn't have to look exactly like the original document, OCR and just paste the text into your email.

[lordsmurf]

If you want "easy", then print it, and stick it in an envelope and mail it.

[Rudyard]

If you have photoshop you can use the 'save for web and devices' option to save your scanned images in a highly compressed file. Works great in reducing size and still can maintain good quality (you can actually use the quality slider to adjust image size v quality).

Then use those images in the PDF. I do this all the time to reduce large scanned PDFs.