How to reduce PDF export file size

Some album companies require the album design to be submitted in a PDF format, and often it is required that the PDF is under a certain file size. If your album contains many spreads, it's possible that the print lab will reject your design due to the fact that the PDF file is too large. To address the issue, you will need to reduce the file size by changing the image quality of the export by following the directions below.

Changing Export Settings

1. Enter Preferences.

Mac
Click on  SmartAlbums in the top left corner of your screen and select Preferences.

Windows
Click on Tools, select Preferences, and choose the Image Quality tab. 

2. Reduce the JPEG output quality setting from the default of 100. This setting affects the PDF export, as well as JPEG export.

How JPEG Output Quality Affects File Size

At the setting of 100, the exported images are not compressed in any way, and are exported at the maximum possible quality, which greatly increases the file size. As soon as the quality setting is reduced, even if by 1 point, some compression is applied to the export, which greatly reduces the file size of the exported files. Here is how the  JPEG output quality setting affects export sizes. Note that the percentages below are estimates, and are not intended to be precise.

• JPEG output quality of 99 - exported file size reduced by 70%
• JPEG output quality of 80 - exported file size reduced by 80%
• JPEG output quality of 50 - exported file size reduced by 90%