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Home > Creating Optimized PDFs for the Web
PDF 123 - Instructions for Creating a Web Optimized PDF using PDF Writer
The following guidance is provided to assist in creating PDF's optimized for the web though the use of Adobe Acrobat. Screen views are applicable to Acrobat version 6.
Download File for Automatic PDF Web Settings :: (New!)
Background:
File Size Guidelines::
Document Description for Web Indexing::
Acrobat Settings and Procedures::
Download File for Automatic PDF Web Settings
If you have Adobe Acrobat, simply download and copy the file below to the settings folder:
*C:\Documents and Settings.All Users\Documents\Adobe PDF 6.0\Settings\
and it will be added to the list of available PDF conversion settings for you to choose from when creating or optimizing a document (see below).
Download File: smallest_WEB.joboptions
* C:\ or you local drive where Acrobat is installed. Your version number in the path may also differ i.e. 6.0 or 5.0) depending on which version of Acrobat you have.
Background:
The goal when creating PDF files for the web is to reduce the file size so that the user can download the file in a reasonable amount of time. PDF files can be created from numerous original source files and this variable can make optimization vary from file to file.
There are several ways to optimize PDF files for the web and each is fairly simple.
Below, we have provided step-by-step instructions for creating and optimizing files for the web.
For Acrobat 6 Windows users there is an option off of the file menu for reducing file size. File > Reduce File Size. My recommendation is to use this automated option first and then follow the additional steps provided here.
Please note you can choose web friendly settings when originally creating a PDF file from another document type (like Microsoft Word or Excel) but it is important to know that you can re-optimize an existing PDF file with web friendly settings as well.
Please note in some cases PDF files even after optimization are still very large (over 4 MB) and in that case you can split the PDF into multiple PDF documents. However, if you have bookmarks utilized in your PDFdocument, editing may be required to ensure that the proper presentation of your bookmarks.
File Size Guidelines:
< 1 mb (1000 kb) preferred
1-2 mb's – ok for a really big file
3-4 mb's – the maximum recommended for the web
5 mb's – really too large for the web (should be split into smaller files or made available by request on cd).
Document Description for Web Indexing:
To ensure that your file is located and described sufficenly to the web visitor via the web search capability, some brief descriptive information is required.
1. Open your PDF file
2. Choose File>Document Properties
3. Fill in the 4 Description fields (see below).
Acrobat Settings and Procedures:
1. Open the file you want to convert in its native format (ex. MS Office, MS Excel, etc.)
2. Choose the PDF Writer as your printer:
File> Print> and then choose PDF Writer as your printer and then select the Properties button (see below)
3. In the PDF Settings tab chooses Edit - don't worry about changing the default settings you will save it with a new name later (see below).
4. Under the Edit panel choose the General tab set resolution to 72 dpi and make sure Optimize for fast web view is checked (see below)
5. Next choose the Images tab. Set the compression and images quality setting to JPEG LOW and 72 pixels per inch as pictured below.
6. You are now ready to choose the Save As button. You will save these setting with a new name. Call it "Smallest Web".
Congratulations! You have now saved this setting and may use them whenever you create a PDF for the web!
7. Now that you have permanently created your "smallest Web" setting, you only need to do the following from now on to create the pdf.
1. Open your file in its native format
2. Choose PDF Writer as the printer and click Properties and choose Smallest Web
4. Save your file with the correct naming conventions.
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