received recently:

My [Fujitsu] ScanSnap makes PDFs that are too big . . . like around 60K per page!
What can I do to make these smaller in Acrobat?

I have to eFile [with the Federal Court] and am having to split the filings into
many segments to go through the [Court] gateway. The issue seems to be with
documents that are scanned on our network scanner. PDFs produced directly from Word
are a lot smaller. Is there some trick to reduce the size of scanned files?

Before covering how to reduce the size of scanned documents in detail, let�s
discuss four factors that affect the size of scanned images:

Scanning Resolution
A scan at 600 dpi results in a much larger file than at 300 dpi.
Color Space
Color and grayscale files result in much larger files than black and white files.
Physical dimensions of the scanned page
A legal-size scan will be larger than a letter-size scan, with all other factors
being equal.
Compression
Raw scan data can be compressed to make it smaller.

Compression Types
Lossless compression retains the exact appearance of the original.

Two common types of lossless compression are ZIP and CCITT Group 4.

Lossy compression makes some (hopefully) non-noticeable visual trade-offs to

further reduce file size.

JPEG is a common lossy compression method.

Ideally, you would control all of the above factors yourself by scanning at 300
dpi, black and white and using an efficient compression algorithm.

Unfortunately, you many not have that option. Many desktop and network scanners
offer limited or confusing options� or� the scanned PDFs arrived from outside your
firm.

Legal Scanning Recommendations

In almost all situations, scan at 300 dpi, black and white.

For the purpose of this article we will make a couple of assumptions:

You have a black and white scanned document of unknown dpi and compression
You have already OCR�d the document, or don�t need OCR
Read on to learn how to reduce the file size of scanned documents using Acrobat.

Black and White Image Compression

There are three common types of compression used on black and white scanned images:

Compression Type Avg Size per page Notes

CCITT G4
50K Most commonly used type of compression
JBIG2 Lossless
36K Good lossless alternative to
CCITT G4 compression
JPBG2 Lossy
15K A lossy compression scheme which often does a good job on typical legal
documents

For most 300 dpi black and white scans, it can be very difficult to spot any visual
differences.

Comparison of Compression, 300 dpi, 200% Enlargement

Compression comparison

Using "Optimize Scanned Image" in Acrobat Standard and Pro

The Optimize Scanned Image feature performs various image clean-up tasks (de-
skewing, edge enhancement) and also nicely compresses files.

Here�s how to use this feature:

Open the PDF you wish to optimize

Choose Document�> Optimize Scanned PDF. . .
The Optimize Scanned Image window appears.
Choose the appropriate level of compression and click OK.
What do the settings mean?
The slider at the top of the window has six clickable positions:

Optimize Scanned Image Window

For 300 dpi black and white scans, only options a, b and f result in different file
sizes.

Results for a 4-page scanned document

Original
a
b
c
d
e
f
199K
55K
55K
55K
55K
132K
199K
a, b, c and d = JBIG2 Lossy
e = JBIG2 Lossless
f=CCITT G4

Using Acrobat�s PDF Optimizer to Compress Scanned PDFs

The PDF Optimizer can be used to analyze and selectively compress documents. Sorry
Acrobat Standard users� this feature is in Acrobat Pro and Pro Extended only.

Analyzing File Size of Scanned Documents

To better understand why a document is big, view the statistics available via the
PDF Optimizer.

Open the PDF you wish to analyze

Choose Advanced�> PDF Optimizer . . .
Click the Audit Space usage. . . button

The Audit Space Usage window appears:

Audit Space Usage Window
The window above reflected the state of a 4-page scanned document:
A)Total file size about 200K
B) Over 190K was allocated to images!

We can do a lot better than that . . .

Reducing the Size of an Individual Scanned PDF using the PDF Optimizer
Open the PDF you wish to compress
Choose Advanced�> PDF Optimizer . . .
The PDF Optimizer window appears:
PDF Optimizer window

In the list on the left, ensure that only Images and Clean Up are checked:
Choosing PDF Optimizer categories
At the bottom of the window, set the following for black and white documents:
a) Set to 300 ppi
b) Set to 300 ppi
c) Set to JBIG
d) Choose Lossy or Lossless
PDF Optimizer settings for B&W files

Save your setting so you can easily recall it:

Saving PDF Optimizer settings
a) Clickthe Save button at the top of the window
b)Give the setting a name and click OK

Note: The PDF Optimizer may be used in batch mode which allows you to process
hundreds of files. See my article on Batch OCR with Acrobat Pro.

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By Rick Borstein
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CreatedHow to Reduce the Size of an Image Using Photoshop
With Photoshop open, go to File > Open and select an image.
Go to Image > Image Size.
An Image Size dialog box will appear like the one pictured below.
Enter new pixel dimensions, document size, or resolution. ...
Select Resampling Method. ...
Click OK to accept the changes.
How to Resize an Image - All About Images - Research Guides at ...
guides.lib.umich.edu/c.php?g=282942&p=1888161
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