topic Re: Exporting to PDF from ArcGIS Pro is producing large file sizes in ArcGIS Pro Questions

Exporting to PDF from ArcGIS Pro is producing large file sizes

SarahAcMoody — Fri, 08 Jul 2016 19:19:17 GMT

Hi all,

I've reproduced some of my old map documents in ArcGIS Pro, believing there would be some efficiencies in this. When I export these layouts to PDF, the resulting files are about 5x larger than the same maps exported out of ArcMap (~5MB vs < 1MB). The export options are set-up the same in both Pro and ArcMap and I've also experimented with Resolution (dpi) & Image Quality, to no avail. Even at a 96 dpi and "Fastest" imagey quality, I'm getting 5MB PDF's.

Any thoughts? I've looked all around and cannot find any articles addresses this issue.

Thanks!

Re: Exporting to PDF from ArcGIS Pro is producing large file sizes

JeremyWright — Fri, 08 Jul 2016 20:17:01 GMT

ArcGIS PRo maintains the vector content in your maps, whereas ARcMap rasterized things that were below transparent or rasterizing features. This means if you've got a lot of vector content, you may see a size increase versus an ArcMap export.

Re: Exporting to PDF from ArcGIS Pro is producing large file sizes

SarahAcMoody — Mon, 11 Jul 2016 12:34:16 GMT

Thanks Jeremy,

Are there any future plans to allow users the option to rasterize exports to a PDF? The majority of my maps are vector based and most of my maps need to be in PDF format. If Pro continues to export vector based maps resulting in large file sizes, utilizing Pro for cartographic based outputs won't be a practical option for me.

Again, thank you for your quick response.

Sarah

Re: Exporting to PDF from ArcGIS Pro is producing large file sizes

DanPatterson_Retired — Mon, 11 Jul 2016 12:39:10 GMT

here is the new pro 1.3 what's new What's new in ArcGIS Pro 1.3—ArcGIS Pro | ArcGIS for Desktop

and the release notes .. aka... bugs fixed Release Notes for ArcGIS Pro 1.3—ArcGIS Pro | ArcGIS for Desktop

Re: Exporting to PDF from ArcGIS Pro is producing large file sizes

JeremyWright — Thu, 14 Jul 2016 19:54:37 GMT

Sarah,

If you have a map which has this problem (e.g. exports at same dpi to PDF in ArcMap are significantly smaller than exports to PDF from Pro 1.3) please package it up (File->Share As-> Map Package) and send it in to technical support so we can get a developer's eyes on the issue.

As to your question - it is something we have considered and discussed at length on the dev team for a future release.

Pro (and ArcMap actually) attempt to create "rich" PDFs - they have layers, geospatial info, etc. If you want a really small PDF, one workaround is to use Adobe Acrobat's "optimize pdf" option - which strips out all the rich info and creates a small, "just for viewing/printing" PDF.

Regards,

Jeremy W.

Re: Exporting to PDF from ArcGIS Pro is producing large file sizes

deleted-user-AAb7-r4fhb6g — Wed, 19 Jul 2017 08:35:19 GMT

Hi Jeremy,

I've just exported a map from ArcGIS Pro v 2.0 and the size of my pdf is 33x (!!!!!) bigger than the size of the same map exported from ArcMap.

As a part of our GIS project I have to create 76 of these PDF maps every month and the size is going to be a big issue.

You mentioned in your post above that your team has considered allowing rasterization. Any update?

Regards,

Monika

Re: Exporting to PDF from ArcGIS Pro is producing large file sizes

MarcoBoeringa — Wed, 19 Jul 2017 15:29:50 GMT

Monika,

I really doubt this 33x difference is caused by just the difference between ArcMap and Pro. In my experience, with both pure 100% vector maps, and mixed raster & vector maps, the difference between ArcMap and Pro PDF file size output is more likely to be in the 2-3x range max.

I therefor recommend you to carefully review your export settings. E.g. if your map contains raster data, changing the output dpi from e.g. 300dpi to 600dpi, will already cause an approximately 4x times bigger file size. This is unrelated to the difference between ArcMap and Pro, but purely because of a doubled raster image resolution in the PDF output.

Considering you have a 33x times larger file size, suggests you may be using a dpi export value about 5,75x bigger, e.g. instead of 300dpi, something like 1800dpi.

Generally speaking, you should never need a higher value than maybe 600dpi. Even at 300dpi, print quality should be acceptable for most applications. At 600dpi, it should satisfy even the most demanding printing processes. This is especially true for Pro, as text halos are better handled than in ArcMap. In ArcMap, with lower dpi values, text halos (e.g. white background behind black text) may be of lesser quality, as the halos are not stored as text, but as vector graphics using a vector coordinate snapping grid equal to the dpi value. The higher the dpi, the smoother and more accurate the text halos become in ArcMap. This is not the case in Pro as far as I can tell from reviewing maps. Pro will output good quality text halos even at the relatively low recommended base dpi setting of 300dpi.

Marco

Re: Exporting to PDF from ArcGIS Pro is producing large file sizes

SteveCole — Wed, 19 Jul 2017 15:45:13 GMT

Do you have access to Adobe Acrobat Pro? I'd suggest creating a PDF using Adobe's Distiller option as a test. I'm not currently using Pro but, my experience within Arcmap tells me that using ESRI's export to PDF option typically produces larger PDF files than printing to Adobe's PDF Distiller virtual printer. This is my preferred method of producing PDFs within Arcmap.

I will say that Pro is built from the ground up with an entirely new graphics pipeline so it is possible that comparing previous experiences with Arcmap are no longer applicable. Anyways, worth a try if you have that ability.

Re: Exporting to PDF from ArcGIS Pro is producing large file sizes

deleted-user-AAb7-r4fhb6g — Wed, 23 Aug 2017 09:18:50 GMT

Hello,

thank you for you reply.

The DPI export value is 100 in both cases - ArcMap and ArcGIS Pro.

I'm only using vector data. I also removed any labels and marginalia (scale bar, logo, legend, copyright, ... ), exporting only polygon features. The size of the PDF file exported from ArcMap is 382 KB, same map exported from ArcGIS Pro - 33,109 KB.

Any idea?

Re: Exporting to PDF from ArcGIS Pro is producing large file sizes

MarcoBoeringa — Wed, 23 Aug 2017 14:51:18 GMT

Monika,

Are you absolutely sure you don't have one of ESRI's basemaps in the bottom of your Pro TOC checked ON?

By default, Pro seems to start out with the World Topographic basemap for any new map created in Pro project. This is an image service. If you don't explicitely check it OFF, it will be incorporated in the output PDF, even if all of the surface of the view extent is covered by vector layers on top of it. You may not even be aware it was incorporated because of this.

As a consequence, I have seen some of my exported PDF maps where I forgot to check that layer off, also explode in size. Checking the basemap OFF (setting it invisble) before exporting, solves this though. It will also lead to faster exporting, as it will no longer need to download all the background basemap data.

Re: Exporting to PDF from ArcGIS Pro is producing large file sizes

deleted-user-AAb7-r4fhb6g — Thu, 24 Aug 2017 08:43:14 GMT

Hi Marco,

absolutely sure - no basemaps on... I'm happy to share Map packages.

http://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=284d5eda304043e48ecd4b2fa48ab5c0

http://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=d3750bce4a4a4357be469a3ac6a7fcc1

Thanks, Monika

Re: Exporting to PDF from ArcGIS Pro is producing large file sizes

MarcoBoeringa — Thu, 24 Aug 2017 12:00:55 GMT

Hi Monika,

Thanks for sharing the map packages (note to other readers of this thread: you must be logged in to see and download those!).

I now had a look at the map packages, and exported them to 100,600,1200 and 3600 dpi PDFs in ArcMap, and 100 and 3600 dpi in Pro.

Look at this first image:

The first 4 listed files without "_Pro_" in the filename, are the ArcMap export. Notice that with increasing output dpi, the file size also increases. Now look at the last two files from Pro, and notice that although there is a size increase, it is relatively small.

Why is this?

There is a fundamental difference in how Pro and ArcMap handle the vector PDF export: in Pro, almost all the coordinate information of the original polygons and lines, will be retained in the PDF output, even if you set a low dpi output resolution. Pro will always (attempt to) generate high quality vector output. This means that linework of polygons and polylines will remain smooth - at least if the dataset is suitable for the scale at which it is being used - and things like text halos will be of high quality in the PDF output, even when zoomed in at e.g. 800% percent in Adobe Reader.

In essence, although this is not entirely true, the Resolution (DPI) as displayed in the Pro export dialog, is meaningless if you only export ***100% vector*** PDFs!!! Note: with raster or image layers in your map document, DPI is meaningful and will strongly impact output file size and quality.

ArcMap on the other hand, due to using a different display pipeline, has a dependency between the dpi setting and the vector output quality: the lower the dpi, the coarser the vector output in the output PDF!

Look at the images below, which are 800% zoomed in screenshots from the export as seen in Adobe Reader. First look at the top two images, which are 100dpi output from ArcMap and Pro respectively. Notice how, zoomed in at 800% in Adobe Reader, the ArcMap output looks "blocky", almost rasterized. Even though it looks rasterized, it is still vector data, but the coordinates of the vectors have been snapped to 100dpi coordinate grid. This causes the "blocky" appearance. This is the way how ArcMap handles this, and is a direct consequence of the different display pipeline in ArcMap versus Pro.

Now look at the second ArcGIS Pro image, also 100dpi output: notice the detailed - but jagged - linework? This is caused because your data is at very high true coordinate resolution compared to the scale at which you are trying to display it. Since Pro will output nearly all coordinates, the final file size is big as well (see the first screenshot above), but this is direct consequence of using highly detailed apparently "local" data displayed at "country" scale in the layout.

Now look at the subsequent images from ArcMap at 600, 1200 and 3600 dpi output. Notice that with increasing resolution, the images start to look more and more like the Pro export: lines are more detailed, but start to look jagged due to an abundance of detail in the original datasets. Also notice the increasing file size because of this, going from a mere 0.4MB at 100dpi, up to 7.6MB at 3600dpi.

Now how to solve this?

There are two aspects to this:

- Clearly, the data you are using is far more detailed than is needed for a country overview. To get better quality output in ArcGIS Pro with smaller output PDF file sizes, without the jagged over-detailed linework, you should generalize the datasets using e.g. the Simplify Polygon tool.

- A second aspect is that it would be good if ESRI allowed some form of target vector output resolution for Pro, automatically mildly generalizing or simplifying the vector output if the underlying datasets are of a higher resolution than is realistically necessary for high quality output. In ArcMap, this functionality was a direct consequence of the used Windows GDI display pipeline. For Pro, using a different display pipeline, this probably requires another solution.

Re: Exporting to PDF from ArcGIS Pro is producing large file sizes

DEAF_PROBERT_68 — Mon, 28 Aug 2017 21:33:28 GMT

If you have Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, you can reduce the file size by going to File --> Save Other As -- > Reduce File Size .

Re: Exporting to PDF from ArcGIS Pro is producing large file sizes

MonikaHonkova2 — Tue, 29 Aug 2017 09:56:23 GMT

Hi Marco,

thanks for your detailed explanation.

I'd rather avoid creating generalized feature classes - I have close to 100 different PDF maps to create. But by the sound of it, I will have to go down this route.

Re: Exporting to PDF from ArcGIS Pro is producing large file sizes

RachaelChasse — Wed, 18 Oct 2017 14:19:35 GMT

Hi Robert,

I was having the same file size issues as the poster and tried so many different export options out of ArcGIS Pro to reduce the file size. We create 11x17 documents using aerial imagery and many detailed vector layers. The files were exporting to PDF at around 20 MB (150 dpi).

I tried using the Acrobat DC option "Save as PDF, optimized", which brought it down by a few MB. This still wasn't a realistic file size, and I was getting ready to resort to PNG files--until I saw your suggestion.

This worked perfectly! The file is now 1.6MB and all vector data and the original image resolution has been retained. I'm not sure what this option does differently, or what kind of info it is removing, but it does the trick. You made my day--thanks!

Re: Exporting to PDF from ArcGIS Pro is producing large file sizes

VincentLaunstorfer — Wed, 18 Oct 2017 15:35:08 GMT

Hi,

I confirm Marco's comment as I had to investigate this issue last week. ArcGIS Pro produces true vector in .pdf output and not the vectors "snapped to dpi coordinate grid" set with the dpi parameter. Dpi in ArcGIS Pro only matters for raster layers in the .pdf. ArcGIS Pro .pdf exports are much smarter.

In the files attached, when zoomed in Acrodat Reader at 500%, you can clearly see the ArcMap snapping effect. As a result, ArcGIS Pro produces .pdf files much larger than ArcMap. For my test map, ArcMap output 2Mb vs ArcGIS Pro 25Mb!

For the time being, I experimented 2 workarounds:

*In Adobe Illustrator, I imported the 25mb .pdf and just resaving as .pdf reduces the file size down to 13Mb! Then, simplifying line vectors by only 1% and the newly exported .pdf was about 7Mb. However, what is the effect of only 1% simplification in terms of actual vector shifts (and actual shift in meters)? Is it acceptable? For printed maps, you can hardly notice the 1% simplification and it removes about 80% of the vertex. But I would prefer to apply this vector simplification when exporting .pdf directly from ArcGIS Pro. Also, the Illustrator option leads to another problem, importing and manipulating .pdf file in Illustrator is cumbersome for simplification operation. And unfortunately, .ai exports are not available in ArcGIS Pro...

*In Adobe Reader Pro, the only workaround I can suggest to keep and deliver a smaller .pdf for printing/viewing is to rasterize the .pdf. This can be done with flattening to 100% raster. Flattened at 300dpi, my new .pdf is 1.2Mb! A regular 300dpi .png export is 2.2Mb. Again, ArcGIS Pro could include an option to rasterize completely the .pdf for printing/viewing purposes.

Hope this helps

Re: Exporting to PDF from ArcGIS Pro is producing large file sizes

emmornile1 — Tue, 14 Nov 2017 00:18:44 GMT

I don't understand why the functionality of Pro is so different from 10.5

I am doing a simple vector map that is 5 MB in 10.5 and 37 MB in Pro 2.0, the Image Quality setting changes nothing and the DPI is 96

It is absurd that the "solution" is to buy Acrobat

Pro is still quite young in the lifecycle

Re: Exporting to PDF from ArcGIS Pro is producing large file sizes

VincentLaunstorfer — Tue, 14 Nov 2017 08:34:40 GMT

Thanks Robert for the File --> Save Other As -- > Reduce File Size...

I just tried it on an A1+ poster which was 37,965 KB and is now 10,097 KB. A good improvement! But if I try "Save as PDF, optimized", it produces the exact same size 10,097 KB. However, the PDF Optimizer dialog box gives much more control on how to optimize.

Also, as mentioned previously, in Acrobat Pro, resterizing the .pdf with Tools pan -> Print Production tab -> Flattener Preview gives a 3,368 KB file size for the same poster. But it is now rasterized like a .png and just "encapsulated" in .pdf to be convenient to use...

Re: Exporting to PDF from ArcGIS Pro is producing large file sizes

RachaelChasse — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 08:20:49 GMT

I posted an idea for generalizing vector data on export, if anyone wants to vote for it.

https://community.esri.com/ideas/14201

Re: Exporting to PDF from ArcGIS Pro is producing large file sizes

ChrisMathers1 — Thu, 18 Jan 2018 17:21:12 GMT

I am in the same boat with three county atlases I converted to a Pro project. at 300 dpi each exported from ArcMap to about a 75 mb PDF. The same PDF from Pro at 300 dpi is 1.25 gb. This is a 151 page document that only has two feature classes in the map frame, street centerlines and water bodies. If you export the map series to PNG, which isnt an option in the GUI you have to do it from python, you can merge those into a single PDF using any number of free or paid PDF tools. Its not a great solution but it works.

edit: a bit of script for the export to PNG is available already written at the bottom of the map series class documentation.