How do I reduce the size of a PDF when I export?

[Anonymous]

I am exporting a drawing as a pdf from AutCAD 2015 for Mac. The pdf is very large. Is there a way to make it smaller while I'm exporting?  

I have attached a file that I'm working on as an example. 

[Emmsleys · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous, 

I went ahead and downloaded you file and ran through some basic file clean up steps which brought the file size down from 3.7 MB to 1.0 MB. 

I was missing a object enabler that you have for this drawing and the plot style but my PDF output was about 1.0 MB. I would try running through the file clean up steps in your AutoCAD environment and see if that helps make a difference in regards to file size. 

• Run RECOVER, at the command line and select drawing.
• (-)PURGE > Regapps > Enter>No
• (-)PURGE>ALL> Enter>No
• AUDIT> Yes
• PURGE > Select Purge nested items> Select Automatically purge orphaned data > Purge All

I attached your files as well the PDF is missing the custom plotstyle you have.  

[maxim_k]

Hi @amywolf,

Yes, @Emmsleys is right: without having at hand Plot Style table you using in this drawing it is hard to say about all possible reasons of large PDF size issue.

And what do you mean by "large"? How large is PDF you get from this file?

Maxim

[Anonymous]

Thanks @Emmsleys !

Can you give me a little more direction for typing this into the command line?

Is it an entirely new command when you type (-)? 

do I press Enter every time you typed > ?

I did not see an option to purge "nested items" 

Amy

[Anonymous]

Hi @maxim_k,

The pdf was 3.7 MB. I am importing the pdf into an InDesign file, and it made that file 21 Mb. Way too big. I notice when I remove the text or tables, the file also gets smaller. But I don't really want to remove all this text. I changed the font to Arial, but I don't think that helped. 

I took a screen shot of the plot style I created. I made the Colors 1-6 print/display in Black. All of the other colors are supposed to display/print in the correct color. 

Any ideas? 

[maxim_k · Accepted solution]

I think in this case the problem is in the way how AutoCAD for Mac 2015 convert text objects when you save PDF file: it outlines all text objects and creates additional data in PDF which increases the size of the file.

AutoCAD for Mac 2016 creates real text objects (from TTF font based text style) when you save PDF, but 2015 version can only save outlined text objects.

As workaround you can try to use AutoCAD360 web to save your file to PDF with text represented as real text.

Maxim

[Emmsleys · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous, 

Sorry about the mix up the Purge command is featured differently on the MAC versus the windows you can run through the -PURGE, AUDIT, RECOVER though as you have seen.

The (-) does not make it a new command it just forces AutoCAD to use the command line in this instance. 

I would try the suggestion made by Maxim who did an awesome job of explaining the influx in size. Test that option and let us know if it will be a suitable workaround. Or if you have any other questions post back when you can.