Shrink large PDF files: The difference between ‘Save’ and ‘Save As’

If you’re finding that the size of files when using the Save feature in Nitro PDF Pro is on the large side, try using the Save As feature instead.

PDF files have something that is called incremental updates, where any changes that you make to a document is appended to the end of the file without doing a complete rewrite. This is why the Save feature is much faster than a Save As, and also why PDF files saved this way can be large. The Save As feature will rewrite the entire file and provide you with a smaller file size.

If you’re interested in learning more about incremental updates, I suggest you read section 3.4.5 in the PDF Reference available from Adobe’s website.

PDF Reference - http://www.adobe.com/devnet/pdf/pdf_reference.html

This entry was written by Chris Dahl and posted on November 27, 2007 at 1:43 pm and filed under knowledge, tips. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

One Comment

Fulgurator

Posted May 15, 2008 at 3:11 am | Permalink

Thanks a lot! My PDF files are about 10 times smaller now!

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By 5 Tricks to Shrink/Reduce PDF File Size « The PDF Blog on February 11, 2008 at 10:24 am

[...] functionality to trim some fat off your PDF files. Chris Dahl explained it succinctly in a recent post: PDF files have something that is called incremental updates, where any changes that you make to a [...]

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