Two Similar Files, Wildly Different File Sizes and Export PDF Sizes

[SamMN]

I realise this is a tale as old as time, but I'm struggling to get my head around why two documents with similar images and page length have wildly different file sizes, and export PDF size differences which are, frankly, insane.

Both documents link to the same folders on my laptop, both files sit in offline folders. The images all sit in a synced OneDrive folder.

 

First document

For context, our company has a document I work on for pitching for business. It's a few years old and has been updated a lot over the years. No history saved. Files are set to prefer linked, but some are embedded.

Pages are 210mm x 210 mm (but set to spread, so 420mm wide). 300 DPI.

42 pages total (single page count, but they're set in spreads)

Embedded files total ~7 MB (8 files, all vector; EPS, SVG)

Linked files total ~45 MB (29 files, mostly JPG or PNG, some vector)

File size of the Publisher document is 567 MB.

Export to PDF, (default settings) Digital (High Quality): 709 MB

 

Second document

Fresh document (first created a couple of months ago), same page size, DPI setting, no history saved. Fresh file, but I copy / pasted pages (text, images) from the first document (as it's another pitch, but more tailored).

54 pages total (again, that's single page count, but document is in spreads)

Embedded files total ~9 MB (11 files, same vectors as other doc, plus a 1 or 2 others and 2 JPG)

Linked files total ~44 MB (32 files, again mostly the same JPGs and PNGs, some vector)

File size of the publisher document is 233 MB

Export to PDF, (default settings) Digital (High Quality): 94 MB

 

Those differences are nuts. Is the first document file essentially broken and needs starting afresh? Is the second document more the sort of file size you should expect from a Publisher document? (it still strikes me as quite high?)

[NathanC]

Hi @SamMN,

Could you possibly send over the Publisher documents from both examples so we can look into this further? I have included a private upload link below.

Since you've used external resources, so we can access these files could you possibly save the document as an .afpackage file? This can be done via File > Save as package > Save to an empty folder in finder > Compress the folder to a .ZIP > Repeat for second document.

Upload link: https://www.dropbox.com/request/I6carFP1tAXo1CQdpbWm

Thanks

[SamMN]

Uploaded! Thanks for helping!

[SamMN]

Wondering if there's been anything discovered about this? Is the huge file just a bit broken and needs to be redone from scratch? Is there anything in particular which caused the ballooning file size?

[Hangman]

Hi @SamMN,

It's difficult to comment without having seen both files in the flesh but out of interest if you create a new single-page RGB document using the same page size, dpi and image placement policy and then use Document > Add Pages from File... select your First Document and choose All Pages and Replace Page 1 to add all the pages from the First Document to a New Document then Save and export using the same Digital (High Quality) PDF Preset, is the exported PDF file still 709 MB?