1. How to Optimize a PDF
PREPARED BY @THEOFANNING
02.16.11
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2. Overview
๏ What is a PDF?
๏ G.I.G.O.
๏ It starts with an export
๏ Optimizing with Acrobat
๏ Final thoughts
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3. What is a PDF?
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4. A brief History
PDF (Portable Document Format) is a file format
developed by Adobe as a means of distributing
compact, platform-independent documents. It is
superficially similar to HTML; a PDF document
may contain images and text, as well as
hyperlinks. However, as PDF is based on a
variant of PostScript, each document is self-
contained, packing text, graphics, and fonts into
a single file.
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5. Garbage in. Garbage out.
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6. Some helpful document creation tips
๏ Start with quality
• If your images look bad before you start, they will get worse after optimization
๏ Bigger isn’t always better
• Don’t enlarge your images or art larger than their original size
๏ Stick with the tried and true
• Use trusted image formats (jpg, gif, png, tiff)
• PDF images often have other data that can get corrupted
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7. It starts with an export
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8. Three ways to export your file as a PDF
๏ Print as PDF
๏ Save as PDF
๏ Export as PDF
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9. Print as PDF
๏ Pro: This works in most programs
๏ Con: Not a lot of control
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10. Save as PDF
๏ Pro: This works in most programs
๏ Con: Not a lot of control
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11. Export as PDF
๏ Pro: More options and control
๏ Con: Not always an option
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12. Optimizing with Acrobat
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13. Two ways to optimize your PDF with Acrobat
๏ Easy way — reduce file size
๏ Better way — PDF optimizer
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14. Reduce file size
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15. PDF optimizer
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16. PDF optimizer
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17. Final Thoughts
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18. This can happen to you
Even if you follow these simple
steps, programs (like Keynote) still
have little issues with exporting
certain features and functions.
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19. Thank you
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