exporting document from Publisher with vectors in the document

[Keller Damm]

Hi all,

the images in my exported pdf document look very low quality.

I am importing vector PDFs to my Affinity Publisher documents. Once I am exporting the document, I have to choose "Raster all items" and set the dpi setting to maximum 72 dpi if I want to end up with a PDF document that is fast to view with no long loading time (with mac os 12.6.3 Preview). If I export with 96 dpi, it takes up to 10 seconds to load a page in Apple Preview. However, using 72 dpi, the images in my exported pdf file look very much compressed, see attached.

The workaround is to export the PDF with 300 dpi and to compress it on ilovepdf.com. Or to NOT TO import vector based PDF files to Publisher but convert them first to pixel based images and import these to Publisher. However I would love to spare these extra steps.

Are there any suggestions?

Thank you

[laurent32]

You need to increase DPI to have good quality when you export.

But then, if you're on Mac, you can use imageOptim (free app) to reduce the overall size of the output and keep good quality… Working with PNG, JPEG, etc… but not PDF…

What is the size of your document and how many ko do you expect ?

[Keller Damm]

Hi laurent32,

Thanks for your answer. I am exporting PDF files so I cannot use imageOptim to reduce the file size. I am using ilovepdf.com to reduce the file size, however I would like to have a solution within Affinity Publisher.

A pdf file with the built-in export setting "pdf print quality (300 dpi)" delivers good image quality, but a high file size (55 mb for 7 pages, only text on 2 pages) and the loading time of the PDF in Apple Preview is way too long.

My issue is mostly the low quality of the images with 72 or 96 dpi, and the long loading time of the PDFs.

[Old Bruce]

In general a file with lots of image detail will take longer to load. No way around that.

[laurent32]

A PDF of 55mo for 7 pages => wow, I think there is something wrong !

To have an idea, your pages are A4 = 21 x 29,7 cm ?

[Keller Damm]

5 minutes ago, laurent32 said:

A PDF of 55mo for 7 pages => wow, I think there is something wrong !

To have an idea, your pages are A4 = 21 x 29,7 cm ?

they are A3 = 29,7 x 42 cm

[laurent32]

A3 is bigger…

How many PDFs per pages (in general) ?

Original size of the source files (PDFs imported) and/or are they imported at 100% or maybe less if the originals are big ?

[Keller Damm]

10 minutes ago, laurent32 said:

A3 is bigger…

How many PDFs per pages (in general) ?

Original size of the source files (PDFs imported) and/or are they imported at 100% or maybe less if the originals are big ?

in general about 20 pages, the pdf file I mentioned here with 55 MBs has 7 pages

original sizes are sometimes A0 as vector PDFs, are about 20MBs each.

[Old Bruce]

You may be better served by opening the PDFs in Designer and copying the items you want to appear in the final product. Then Pasting those items into a new proper sized Designer document.

[laurent32]

1 hour ago, Keller Damm said:

original sizes are sometimes A0 as vector PDFs, are about 20MBs each.

A0 is really big, you don't need that size… right from the start you should make a smaller version of the files ?

- Maybe you could take a look at the one that is the less reduced in the publisher file, let's say imported at 30%, and resize them all to 30% ? Yes, even if they are vectors…

- Maybe you use only fragments of the files, then you should have trimmed version of those source PDFs <= real important

I'm sure that it will make things much faster and less heavy…

After that, you'll have to tuneup the export to PDF files with Affinity.

Maybe 200dpi is good enough…

I'm sure you'll output much lighter PDF files.

[Keller Damm]

On 2/9/2023 at 7:39 PM, Old Bruce said:

You may be better served by opening the PDFs in Designer and copying the items you want to appear in the final product. Then Pasting those items into a new proper sized Designer document.

Hi, thanks for your reply. My main goal is to restrict my workflow to one application, so that I do not need to use other applications to compress or handle files that are used in my Affinity Publisher document.

[Keller Damm]

On 2/9/2023 at 8:51 PM, laurent32 said:

A0 is really big, you don't need that size… right from the start you should make a smaller version of the files ?

- Maybe you could take a look at the one that is the less reduced in the publisher file, let's say imported at 30%, and resize them all to 30% ? Yes, even if they are vectors…

- Maybe you use only fragments of the files, then you should have trimmed version of those source PDFs <= real important

I'm sure that it will make things much faster and less heavy…

After that, you'll have to tuneup the export to PDF files with Affinity.

Maybe 200dpi is good enough…

I'm sure you'll output much lighter PDF files.

I use A0 files as they are generally needed in my industry. I would like to avoid making a smaller version of the files, as this is an extra step in the workflow. I am looking for a solution within Publisher.

[DWright]

You can try changing the place PDF passthrough option from Passthrough to Interpret

[Keller Damm]

On 3/1/2023 at 5:53 PM, DWright said:

You can try changing the place PDF passthrough option from Passthrough to Interpret

thanks for the suggestion. I have tried the setting, it did not solve the problem unfortunately (pdf size is still big, loading time is still long).