Pages creating larger PDFs than before

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Level 1

4 points

Pages creating larger PDFs than before

This has been posted a number of times as far as I can tell.

When you export a Pages Document to PDF it ends up being way larger than the original file (in my particular case it goes from 3.2MB to 19.3MB). There's text, a few links and two images in my Pages Document.

All the normal ways don't work - when you export with Image quality set to good or better, the PDF ends up having only a few hundred KBs, and the images are blurry. If you export via Preview and the quartz filter it's the same. I even tried a work-around with exporting the individual pages of the PDF to JPG and then back to PDF, which would theoretically work, but you lose the Links in the process.

Is there any way to customise the file size you want to get to (other than reducing the original image size in the Pages doc, which I've done to the point where the quality is just about good enough)?

I read in a thread that this issue might have sth to do with a Pages update.

Any pointers/solutions?

Thank you,

DRP

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 15.3

Posted on Feb 25, 2025 07:16 AM

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Answer 1

VikingOSX

Level 10

122,136 points

Feb 25, 2025 08:31 AM in response to danny-o-cool

In a nutshell, you are in control of the image type, its DPI, and size placed in Pages, and whether you enable drop shadow, borders or other uses of transparency which add dithering to the content. Some image types natively compress better than others when created. Then, you have selectable control over the PDF quality on export, or the result of choosing the File menu > Reduce File Size panel prior to export. Beyond the preceding, you have no control over the behavior of the Pages translation into PDF using Apple's PDF framework. That is analagous to a roach motel.

I just tossed three paragraphs of text into a new Pages document. I then dragged and dropped two PNG images into the document, changed their Text Wrap to Around, and rescaled the images for fitment in the text that now flowed around the images. One image had a transparent background and the other did not.

Without using the Reduce File Size menu item, I exported to PDF Best and the resulting file size was 188 KB. I then exported the Pages document to Word and opened that document in Microsoft Word v16.94 on Sequoia v15.3.1. When I exported it from Word as PDF, I chose best for electronic distribution (135 KB) and Best for printing (373 KB). Word does not offer Best, Better, or Good options.

Both PDF documents were written using Apple's Quartz PDF Context framework when using Best and the PDF version generated was PDF v1.4. Word's best for electronic distribution showed no entry for Producer and its PDF version was 1.7. As that was even smaller than Pages PDF Best, it may have something to with with newer PDF versions and internal efficiencies. At best, Pages will write PDF v1.4.

Pages has written bloated PDFs for several versions now and that is owing to its internal translation process from Pages document internals to PDF using Apple's aging PDF frameworks.

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Pages creating larger PDFs than before

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