Faster View in Acrobat

[kaiserwilhelm]

I have the latest Acrobat. Nice one year old iMac with 64 gig of ram.
Customer sent us INDD files that have a bajillion illustrator points in them.
Created a 200 meg PDF.
Initial view is PAINFUL.
Is there a setting in preferences to help with files like this?

 

[jwheeler]

There's a few options...

You could place the PDF into InDesign and re-export to a new PDF with your own settings.

If you are looking for options to modify within Acrobat, the first is to try File>SaveAs>PDF Optimized. You can adjust settings as you'd like before clicking save.

The 2nd option is under Advanced>Print Production>Preflight. If you're printing to a digital press, you can select the Digital Press Catergory and select the color digital press option. The default settings are usually good, but you can click Edit to customize as needed. The select "Analyze and Fix".

The 3rd option is to export as a raster image by going to File>Export>Image, then select TIFF. You can turn off compression and select the resolution you want before saving.

If all else fails, call back the customer to yell at them , then go get a coffee!

 

[Dov Isaacs]

I have the latest Acrobat. Nice one year old iMac with 64 gig of ram.
Customer sent us INDD files that have a bajillion illustrator points in them.
Created a 200 meg PDF.
Initial view is PAINFUL.
Is there a setting in preferences to help with files like this?

There is no particular preference in Acrobat or InDesign that will necessarily make any difference in terms of performance.

You indicate that the InDesign documents have “a bajillion illustrator points in them.” I assume from that comment that the InDesign document has a tremendous number of and/or exceptionally graphically complex vector diagrams placed in them.

Unless the customer did something to cause those vector-based files to be unnecessarily complex, there isn't much you can do other than to grin and bear it. Options such converting anything to raster has the effect of reducing quality including detail(possibly dramatically) downstream. And for exporting PDF from InDesign, unlike for raster imagery, none of the export options affect the complexity of vector or text output. Except for antiquated PDF/X-1a based on PDF 1.3, PDF export from InDesign does provide for lossless compression of text and vector within exported PDF (using internal ZIP compression of object streams), but this only affects file size, not performance.

FWIW, often overly complex vector content originates in CAD / Architectural software which is notoriously inefficient when it comes to output. I've also seen similar bloat from various statistical analysis software. Again, the problem is that if such content is converted to raster, detail and quality suffer.

- Dov

 

[jwheeler]

One other thought that came to mind a little after I posted...ask your customer to resave, and tell them to uncheck the "Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities". This will reduce the file size and remove any non-essential elements that are normally stored for re-opening in Illustrator.

Per Adobe Acrobat website:

Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities
Saves all Illustrator data in the PDF file. Select this option if you want to be able to reopen and edit the PDF file in Adobe Illustrator.
Note: The Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities option counteracts aggressive compression and downsampling. If file size is a concern, deselect this option.

 

[kaiserwilhelm]

One other thought that came to mind a little after I posted...ask your customer to resave, and tell them to uncheck the "Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities". This will reduce the file size and remove any non-essential elements that are normally stored for re-opening in Illustrator.

Per Adobe Acrobat website:

Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities
Saves all Illustrator data in the PDF file. Select this option if you want to be able to reopen and edit the PDF file in Adobe Illustrator.
Note: The Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities option counteracts aggressive compression and downsampling. If file size is a concern, deselect this option.

I had wondered about that. Thanks

 

[Dov Isaacs]

One other thought that came to mind a little after I posted...ask your customer to resave, and tell them to uncheck the "Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities". This will reduce the file size and remove any non-essential elements that are normally stored for re-opening in Illustrator.

Per Adobe Acrobat website:

Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities
Saves all Illustrator data in the PDF file. Select this option if you want to be able to reopen and edit the PDF file in Adobe Illustrator.
Note: The Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities option counteracts aggressive compression and downsampling. If file size is a concern, deselect this option.

That would definitely affect the size of PDF files saved from Illustrator (I would strongly discourage placing Illustrator files themselves into InDesign) although the following is true:

(1) When PDF is placed into InDesign, any and all of the Illustrator source “Pieceinfo” data in such PDF is discarded and it certainly does not manifest itself in the exported PDF from InDesign at all.

and

(2) If you are saving PDF for placement into InDesign, you should definitely use the PDF/X-4 preset maintaining live transparency and ICC color management. You may wish to modify the image resampling and/or compression settings if desired. Note though, that the PDF/X-4 preset does not even allow use of the Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities option.

- Dov

 

[wonderings]

That would definitely affect the size of PDF files saved from Illustrator (I would strongly discourage placing Illustrator files themselves into InDesign)

What can happen when placing an .ai file in InDesign? I have been doing that for years and never had an issue.

 

[Dov Isaacs]

What can happen when placing an .ai file in InDesign? I have been doing that for years and never had an issue.

You actually are not really placing Illustrator into InDesign. You are placing the PDF aspect of a .AI file into InDesign. InDesign has no “smarts” for interpreting Illustrator's private data within a PDF file. The problem is that if you edit a PDF file in Acrobat that has that Illustrator private data, those changes do not propagate to the Illustrator private data. It is very easy to get these aspects out of synchronization. That's why I believe Illustrator source data should be saved as a .AI file and you should use Save a Copy to produce a PDF/X-4 file for placement in InDesign or for that matter, for direct printing from Illustrator.

- Dov

 

[wonderings]

You actually are not really placing Illustrator into InDesign. You are placing the PDF aspect of a .AI file into InDesign. InDesign has no “smarts” for interpreting Illustrator's private data within a PDF file. The problem is that if you edit a PDF file in Acrobat that has that Illustrator private data, those changes do not propagate to the Illustrator private data. It is very easy to get these aspects out of synchronization. That's why I believe Illustrator source data should be saved as a .AI file and you should use Save a Copy to produce a PDF/X-4 file for placement in InDesign or for that matter, for direct printing from Illustrator.

- Dov

Not sure what the private data is. When I edit a placed file in Indesign I edit it from the original program it was made, so I edit in Illustrator for .ai files and if it is just a PDF I was given I edit in Acrobat if it allows it.

 

[Dov Isaacs]

Not sure what the private data is. When I edit a placed file in Indesign I edit it from the original program it was made, so I edit in Illustrator for .ai files and if it is just a PDF I was given I edit in Acrobat if it allows it.

Let me clarify. When you save an Illustrator file as PDF with the Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities option, you are creating a single file with effectively two copies of your Illustrator artwork. The first is the PDF content that you see in Acrobat and that is actually placed in InDesign. The other copy is hidden within the PDF file under a construct known as Pieceinfo which is the real Illustrator file format. The only software that can handle editing that is Illustrator itself.

- Dov

 

[gsterwald]

Use Pitstop, Clean Up Content Action

This Action uses the Crop Line Art Action and Crop Images Actions.

It removes all cropped Line Art and Image data from file.

This removes un-necessary data and can make a PDF file smaller, more efficient and easier to edit.