Fix Acrobat 2017 Creating Extremely Large PDFs from PowerPoint
Question details
The user is experiencing inflated PDF file sizes when converting a small PowerPoint presentation to PDF using Adobe Acrobat 2017.
- Product
- Adobe Acrobat 2017
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Converting a PowerPoint presentation to a PDF document.
- Observed behavior
- A 4.85 MB PowerPoint file results in an exceptionally large 775 MB PDF in Acrobat 2017, whereas older versions like Acrobat XI produced much smaller files.
Ensure your PowerPoint file doesn't contain hidden high-resolution media that might naturally inflate the PDF size during conversion, and temporarily save a local copy of your presentation.
Bypass Work Proxy or Corporate Network
In some environments, corporate proxies interfere with the Adobe conversion workflow, leading to massive file size inflation.
Although the Save as Adobe PDF function does not explicitly call any internet services, background processes and network proxy configurations can severely disrupt the file creation workflow in Acrobat 2017, generating excessively large files.
Save your PowerPoint file directly to your computer's local hard drive rather than a network drive.
Disconnect your computer from your corporate VPN or disable the work proxy network temporarily.
Open PowerPoint while disconnected from the proxy network and go to File > Save as Adobe PDF to retry the conversion offline.
Use PowerPoint's Native Export to PDF
Bypassing the Acrobat PDFMaker add-in and using Microsoft's native PDF export can prevent size inflation caused by Adobe's conversion engine.
Convert Presentations to PDF Smoothly with WPS Office
If Acrobat and PowerPoint are causing file size bloat or network proxy issues, try WPS Office. It provides a lightweight, free alternative that natively exports presentations to highly optimized PDF files without relying on external plugins.
- 1. Open in WPS: Open your presentation file using WPS Presentation.
- 2. Export to PDF: Go to the 'Menu' in the top-left corner and select 'Export to PDF'.
- 3. Adjust and save: Adjust the export settings to optimize file size, select your save location, and click 'Export'.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does Acrobat create such large PDFs from PowerPoint?
Large PDFs are typically caused by uncompressed high-resolution images, embedded fonts, or in some specific environments, interference from corporate network proxies during the conversion process in Acrobat 2017.
Does the 'Save as Adobe PDF' function use internet services?
The 'Save as Adobe PDF' function does not explicitly call internet services, but network proxies can still interfere with Adobe's background processes, leading to unexpected conversion behavior.
How can I reduce the PDF file size after it has been created?
You can open the large PDF in a PDF editor like WPS PDF or Acrobat, and use the 'Compress PDF' or 'Save as Other > Reduced Size PDF' feature to drastically shrink the file size without re-converting.
