EXP Systems Forum: file sizes from Adobe and Foxit

Message

   Michel:
I recall sometime ago reading in the forum that you were not surprised that printing to pdfRedirect from Foxit Reader created a larger file than printing from Adobe Reader. I think you said this was due to Foxit processes images while Adobe processes objects...

First, why do I want to create pdf from pdf? To compress it. I get monthly statements from a couple places that are often 150K to 200K PDF files, or about 50K per page. When I re-print these from Adobe Reader to pdfRedirect the output file is typically 5K to 10K per page with no apparent degradation! Reprinting instead from Foxit Reader yields no such dramatic shrinkage.

So... I was considering upgrading from Adobe Reader 7 to the latest (9 at this time) but first I tried it on a secondary machine, not my primary. Printing the same file from Adobe Reader 9 yielded 24K per page. 

A second issue I found relates to the fact that the original is a 14" page size. When I print this I print to 11" because I want to just chop off the extra 3 inches. The catch is that I want to chop off the *top* 3 inches. In Adobe Reader 7, I simply rotate the page 180 degrees, then print to pdfRedirect and it chops off 3 inches from the new bottom (which used to be the top) as I want. But mysteriously it ends up rotated back to "right side up" when it arrives in pdfRedirect! When I try the same trick in Adobe Reader 9 it does not work: even though the print preview from Adobe shows the page upside down, it does not honor that, instead trimming 3 inches from the original bottom.

Any thoughts on these...?

Thanks,
~~Michael Sorens
~~Software Design Engineer
~~Author (http://cleancode.sourceforge.net/wwwdoc/articles.html)
~~Open Source Developer (http://cleancode.sourceforge.net/)
~~Member: LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelsorens)

Author	Message
msorens Newbie Joined: 12 Mar 06 Posts: 10	Topic: file sizes from Adobe and Foxit Posted: 21 May 09 at 3:39PM
	Michel: I recall sometime ago reading in the forum that you were not surprised that printing to pdfRedirect from Foxit Reader created a larger file than printing from Adobe Reader. I think you said this was due to Foxit processes images while Adobe processes objects... First, why do I want to create pdf from pdf? To compress it. I get monthly statements from a couple places that are often 150K to 200K PDF files, or about 50K per page. When I re-print these from Adobe Reader to pdfRedirect the output file is typically 5K to 10K per page with no apparent degradation! Reprinting instead from Foxit Reader yields no such dramatic shrinkage. So... I was considering upgrading from Adobe Reader 7 to the latest (9 at this time) but first I tried it on a secondary machine, not my primary. Printing the same file from Adobe Reader 9 yielded 24K per page. A second issue I found relates to the fact that the original is a 14" page size. When I print this I print to 11" because I want to just chop off the extra 3 inches. The catch is that I want to chop off the top 3 inches. In Adobe Reader 7, I simply rotate the page 180 degrees, then print to pdfRedirect and it chops off 3 inches from the new bottom (which used to be the top) as I want. But mysteriously it ends up rotated back to "right side up" when it arrives in pdfRedirect! When I try the same trick in Adobe Reader 9 it does not work: even though the print preview from Adobe shows the page upside down, it does not honor that, instead trimming 3 inches from the original bottom. Any thoughts on these...? Thanks, ~~Michael Sorens ~~Software Design Engineer ~~Author (http://cleancode.sourceforge.net/wwwdoc/articles.html) ~~Open Source Developer (http://cleancode.sourceforge.net/) ~~Member: LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelsorens)
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Michel_K17 Moderator Group Forum Administrator Joined: 25 Jan 03 Posts: 1673	Posted: 21 May 09 at 11:27PM
	Hello Michael, Nothing really "jumps" at me as to why there are such large differences between v7 and v9 of the Reader. It's interesting that you have been getting such good luck at compressing the PDF: that kind of behaviour is rare. With respect to FoxIt vs Adobe's Reader, FoxIt certainly loses the font information. So, for example, the letter "e" will now be described every time it is used whilst the Reader sends the font with the description of each letter, and then makes reference to that every time the letter "e" is used. As a result, the FoxIt version will be indeed larger. For the other differences, it really has to do with the Adobe Reader, and how it decides is the best way to "print" the file - I tried looking for an option to print the file upside down, and could not find one. So, what I did is to rotate the page clockwise in PDF Reader twice until it is upside down, and then to choose Print to PDF reDirect, and that seemed to make a difference. Does that work for you too?
	Michel Korwin-Szymanowski EXP Systems LLC
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Michel_K17 Moderator Group Forum Administrator Joined: 25 Jan 03 Posts: 1673	Posted: 21 May 09 at 11:29PM
	Oops. I missed your v7 versus v9 observation in your post. I have v8 (on the PC that I am on right now), and it seems to work like v7. So no, I have no idea why Adobe would change the logic for v9. Sorry.
	Michel Korwin-Szymanowski EXP Systems LLC
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msorens Newbie Joined: 12 Mar 06 Posts: 10	Posted: 09 Jun 09 at 1:51PM
	Meant to check back earlier... thanks for your thoughts on this! You have at least confirmed that it is useful to keep AdobeReader around for getting smaller files. (I was hoping to just replace it with the lighter weight Foxit.) I will continue to poke around with Adobe v7 vs. v9...
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Michel_K17 Moderator Group Forum Administrator Joined: 25 Jan 03 Posts: 1673	Posted: 09 Jun 09 at 8:55PM
	You are quite welcome!
	Michel Korwin-Szymanowski EXP Systems LLC
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