PDF Print Files Loose Quality or are too big?

[Guest]

I seem to have uncovered a bizzare problem in MS Publisher with its
printing:

I have a 10 page document with about 7 pictures in it. When I print
this to a PDF Driver (Pdf995, PdfCreator, PrimoPDF, AdobeDistiller all
been tried) then I have two outcomes:

* With normal compression settings etc, and the document set to print
at 75dpi (for web viewing) I get a perfect quality image but at 13Mb
sixe. (its not 75dpi!)

* With Maximum compression or LZW Compression (depending on pdf driver)
I get 1/2 the photos printing perfectly fine and half printing
compressed beyond recognition. And the file size drops to a managable
450Kb.

I assumed this was a PDF issue, but having posted to a PDF Forum they
think not. Three reasons why: They say LZW compression shouldn't
reduce the image quality, they say the compression algorithm is
actually increasng the file size (they've studied the pdf file in
detail) and thirdly it only happens when I print from MS Word or MS
Publisher... (The same photo printed from a graphic package doesn't
compress at all with LZW, and compressed significantly with 'normal'
JPEG Compression when printed to PDF)

If I save as post script I get same problem, but viewing the post
script in GhostView the post script is perfect quality (but ++large)

Can anyone:

a. Tell me what MS Pub is doing to the embeded graphic to print it

b. Tell me if this is a known bug (I can't find it reported anywhere)

c. Tell me how to fix it (short of changing DeskTop Publishing
Software.)

Cheers

Calum

[Win2K, Running Publisher 2002]

 

[Chuck Davis]

Use an image editing program that can save the images for the web and place
the image into the Publisher document.

 

[Mary Sauer]

What version Publisher? It does make a difference if you are using 2000.

Image compression options
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HP010309991033.aspx

 

[Guest]

Sorry I missed some of the detail... The document I am producing is
originally intended for paper publishing (hence high quality graphics).

I need an electronic version for a web site etc, but obviously don't
want 13Mb file. I am trying to avoid the need to remove all the
graphics and re-insert them at 75dpi... ...that would be a pain and
would risk that the cropping etc might be done differently between web
version and paper version.

Calum

 

[Guest]

Using Publisher 2002.

It doesn't seem to offer these compression options (Doesn't seem to
offer many options in Tools/Options!)

So it seems the choices would be:

* Live with it and re-insert the web version images
* Upgrade to MS Pub 2003 and *hope* the problem is solved
* Buy an alternative publishing programme (Serif claim a lot of PDF
compatability, or obviously Illustrator would be able to produce PDF's
with its eyes closed)

* Anyone got any other suggestions?

Calum

 

[Ed Bennett]

(e-mail address removed)-online.co.uk was very recently heard to utter:

* Live with it and re-insert the web version images
* Upgrade to MS Pub 2003 and *hope* the problem is solved

Publisher 2003 (once you have SP1) has a tool that allows you to compress
all images in a publication to a particular resolution - which would seem
perfect for this circumstance.

* Buy an alternative publishing programme (Serif claim a lot of PDF
compatability, or obviously Illustrator would be able to produce PDF's
with its eyes closed)

I would not recommend Illustrator as a DTP tool (I have never heard of it
being used as such) - it's more of a Draw app like CorelDraw rather than
DTP-oriented. InDesign, QuarkXPress and PageMaker are the traditional
powerhouse DTP apps.

 

[Mike Koewler]

* Live with it and re-insert the web version images
* Upgrade to MS Pub 2003 and *hope* the problem is solved
* Buy an alternative publishing programme (Serif claim a lot of PDF
compatability, or obviously Illustrator would be able to produce PDF's
with its eyes closed)

* Anyone got any other suggestions?

PagePlus does give you several options when creating a pdf file, from
print industry standard pdf/x1-a to web graphics. The same file could be
from several Ks to several megs, depending on your preferences.

Mike

 

[Guest]

Have now teid down the source of the problem:

It appears that some of the graphics have been coverted to 'greyscale'
in a graphics package but were still saved at 24bit colour - it is
these that are the problem...

Converting them to 8 bit resolution resolves the problem and they then
print to PDF with LZW Compression no problem.

<B>Final question? </B>
Does Publisher actually pay any attention to the dots per inch
settings? I would expect file size to be affected by this but it
doesn't seem to make any difference...

Calum