I created a slideshow presentation with images and tried exporting it as a PDF using LibreOffice. No matter how I did it—whether I used the 'Export as PDF' option or 'Print to file'—the resulting file ended up being huge: 8.8 MB for just a single page. The total size of the images I used was around 560.4 KB, and there were only 5 images. I even tried another software, Officemaker, and that produced an even larger file of 9.6 MB. However, when I booted into Windows and used WPS Office to print to PDF, the result was significantly smaller at just 722 KB. Why is this happening? I want to rely less on Windows, but these issues make me hesitant.
4 Answers
Double-check your settings when using 'Print to PDF'. It might be treating your document as one big image rather than embedded images, which could inflate the file size!
You might want to experiment with different software options, too. The compression algorithms for PDFs can vary widely between programs, so trying something like OnlyOffice could yield better results for you.
It sounds like the Windows program is applying better compression by default. When you export as a PDF, make sure you select the compression settings you want for the images to keep the file size down.
I did a test with LibreOffice Writer and got different sizes based on how I exported. Using the 'Print to file' option, my PDF was 6.3 MB, but when I used 'File > Export > Export to PDF', it dropped to 536.1 KB. You should check the DPI settings for your images when exporting; using a lower DPI, like 150, can really help reduce file size!
Oh, interesting! I might try the export option next time instead of just printing.