PDF Size increased by 50% after reinstalling Windows?

[Former Community Member]

Hi there,

I created a Livecycle PDF form a coupld of months ago - it was 1.5 MB.

I've just reinstalled Windows (upgraded to Windows 7) - opening the same file in LC Designer ES1 SP2, and press save (nothing else) - the size balloons to 2.2MB

What's happened??  How can I tell what made the file larger???

Thanks

Tim

[Niall_O_Donovan]

Hi,

There was a bug in earlier versions of LC Designer that added an additional line over and over. Check the XML Source for "<?templateDesigner StyleID aped3?>".

It was fixed in an update, see: http://blogs.adobe.com/livecycle/2009/03/post.html

The only other interaction between LC Designer and Windows that I can think of is the fonts. If you are using an unusual font that you don't have in Windows 7 and it has replaced the font. Or if you are using a serif font like Times New Roman, then that might be affecting the file size. Go to File > Form Properties > Save Options and untick 'embed fonts' (if this is ticked) and see does that make a significant difference. If it drops down to a couple of hundred kb, then that may be part of the problem.

Niall

Assure Dynamics

[radzmar]

Possibly the fonts you embed into the form are the reason.

[Former Community Member]

It's not the Template designer issue.

I'm guessing it is fonts too, but I am surprised that it causes such a difference between XP and Win7.

I've run it under Acrobat Pro > PDf Optimiser "Analyse", it it's definitely increases the size of the embedded fonts on Windows 7.  It's only using standard web fonts (hopefully), but I thought it was always better to embed for quality, assuredness of consistent output

[Niall_O_Donovan]

Hi,

I would agree about embedding fonts, I was just trying to pinpoint the issue.

I would tend to use Myriad Pro font which is efficient and as a san-serif font works well on screen.

Good luck,

Niall

[mmgiath]

Hi Niall,

If I use Myriad Pro and do not embed the font, still the layout will be the same for the other users intrenally in my company?

What other fonts can be "save"?

Embeding fonts always increase file size which can be a issue!!

Any ideas or suggestion about embedinng or not fonts!

Thank you

[Former Community Member]

We are only using Arial and Courier New, which was specified by the designer - it's hard to imagine that the footprint would change so much between the two operating systems.

I'm also wondering what impact this has for our release mechanism.  We may need to have an XP Box to produce our final release.

[Niall_O_Donovan]

Hi,

When you purchase a font, you need to check if the font allows embedding.

See Adobe: https://store2.adobe.com/type/browser/info/embedding.html

See LinoType: http://www.linotype.com/2800/generalquestions.html#print

There are four basic licenses (afaik):

• Cannot embed
• Can embed - print and preview
• Can embed - editable
• Can embed - user can install on their computer.

Our license for Myriad Pro allows embedment and editing by the recipient.

I tend to embed fonts, as I tend to only use Myriad Pro in forms. While it does increase the file size, with this font it is a fairly small increase in size. For example a form with fonts embed = 180kb. The same form with the Myriad Pro font not embed = 50kb. I appreciate that this is over three times the size, but it is still only an additional 130kb. Now, if I had used Times New Roman and embed the fonts the file size would be 1.1MB!!!!!

Where you are distributing a form and you have not embed the font(s), then provided ALL users have these font(s) on their computers then yes, the form will appear and print as you have designed it. If the user does not have a font, then Acrobat/Reader will substitute it. This may change the look and feel of the form.

If the form is for internal use, then you can make a judgement call, but if it is likely to be used outside of your organisation then embedding may be safer.

The Myriad Pro family has intermediate weights that work well, so generally I would recommend only one font and make sure it is an efficient and has a small file size.

Hope that ramble helps,

Niall

[Niall_O_Donovan]

Well, just for comparison, saving the same 50kb file with Arial and Courier New font embedded swelled the file size to 1.4Mb.

Niall

[mmgiath]

Thank you Niall

[Former Community Member]

Thanks Niall - but my observation is that the amount of extra space used by the fonts is different if saved by Designer running on XP or Windows 7.

On XP - approx 700 MB

On Win7 - 1.4 MB

It's something to be aware of.

I will investigate whether we can skip embedding.

[Niall_O_Donovan]

Good point!! All of the stated file sizes above are on Windows 7 and LC Designer ES2 (v9).

N.