Optimizing a PDF document with Acrobat 9

Learn how to use the PDF Optimizer in Acrobat 9 Pro to make a document more efficient.

By Donna Baker – July 20, 2009

 

Donna Baker

Some projects are quite involved, and the finished document reflects that complexity. There may be all sorts of nonoptimized content, such as images with overly high resolutions, multimedia renditions added and deleted, or pages inserted and removed. Acrobat Professional has included the PDF Optimizer in the last few versions; Acrobat 9 Pro includes new enhancements.

For removing 'regular' types of extra content, such as comments and hidden text, run the Examine Document process. For making a document the most efficient without sacrificing its quality, turn to the PDF Optimizer in Acrobat 9 Pro.

Choose Advanced > PDF Optimizer. The first step is to analyze the document to see its contents. Click 'Audit space usage' at the upper right of the PDF Optimizer dialog. Acrobat examines the document and displays a report (Figure 33a).

Figure 33a: See what is contained within a document before deciding how to optimize it.

Depending on the document's contents, you see listings for such elements as fonts, comments, and images; each is defined both in percentages of the entire document size and in bytes. Click OK.

The default settings in the PDF Optimizer are the same as those of the document. If you select another program version from the 'Make compatible with' menu, the Settings name in the upper left of the dialog changes from Standard to Custom. The options available in the different panes of the dialog vary according to the selected program version.

Click a label in the left column of the dialog to display settings (Figure 33b).

Figure 33b: You can customize dozens of settings in the PDF Optimizer to precisely balance the quality of the document against the file's size.

As you look through the list, deselect items that you don't want to optimize; look for optimizing in these areas:

• Images. Define settings for color, grayscale, and monochrome images. Choose compress types, quality, and downsampling values. Select 'Optimize images only if there is a reduction in size' to prevent bloating the file size.
• Fonts. The fonts in the document are listed in the dialog, and fully embedded fonts are subset by default. You can unembed those you don't need, such as system fonts or common fonts. If a document is intended for departmental circulation, for example, and you know everyone viewing it uses the same set of fonts, you can delete those from the list.