# How to convert Word doc to pdf on Mac without ballooning file size? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 14, 2009, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-convert-word-doc-to-pdf-on-mac-without-ballooning-file-size/521222 "2009-12-14T16:07:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-convert-word-doc-to-pdf-on-mac-without-ballooning-file-size/521222/1 "2009-12-14T16:07:42Z")
I have a Word document that has nine photos, all of which I have saved to the minimum size I can as jpg files. The Word document is not tiny - something like 5.6mb - but it’s not insane, just big. When I go to convert to pdf, however, the file becomes a whopping 58mb. This happens whether I use “save as” in Word, or go to Print and use the “print pdf” function. Help! I need to create a rational-size pdf file, but don’t know how. Any advice will be much appreciated, thank you in advance. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-convert-word-doc-to-pdf-on-mac-without-ballooning-file-size/521222/2 "2009-12-14T17:03:58Z")
Do you have Distiller? That will allow you to down-sample the images, which are probably being saved at full resolution. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-convert-word-doc-to-pdf-on-mac-without-ballooning-file-size/521222/3 "2009-12-14T17:12:29Z")
My thought was to wonder if the fonts are being embedded. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-convert-word-doc-to-pdf-on-mac-without-ballooning-file-size/521222/4 "2009-12-14T17:15:18Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Do you have Distiller? That will allow you to down-sample the images, which are probably being saved at full resolution. Yup. It sounds like the images aren’t being compressed so the files is probably being saved at a really high resolution for fancy print output. If the Distiller setting are set for a web-optimized PDF the file size should be pretty small. We use immense graphics and never crack 500 KB. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-convert-word-doc-to-pdf-on-mac-without-ballooning-file-size/521222/5 "2009-12-14T17:16:27Z")
Hmm, I never have this problem really. I just save to PDF in my word processor. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-convert-word-doc-to-pdf-on-mac-without-ballooning-file-size/521222/6 "2009-12-14T18:14:31Z")
Keep in mind that Word generally stores only preview-quality pictures in its .doc file, and is counting on the files on your hard drive to get decent print quality. When it prints to PDF, all that extra data gets brought in and you wind up with a large file. I’m assuming you’re not using Acrobat and don’t have Distiller as an option (since Save to PDF is built into Mac OS X). My recommendation is to take the large PDF file and open it in Preview. Choose Save As… from the File menu. In the Save As dialogue box, there are two drop-down menus that control the output. The first “Format:” should already show PDF. The second “Quartz Filter:” probably shows None. Choose the Quartz Filter for “Reduce File Size” and see if that helps anything. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-convert-word-doc-to-pdf-on-mac-without-ballooning-file-size/521222/7 "2009-12-14T18:18:20Z")
Try using [OpenOffice.org](http://OpenOffice.org), which may use a better PostScript distiller than whatever comes with Microsoft Word. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-convert-word-doc-to-pdf-on-mac-without-ballooning-file-size/521222/8 "2009-12-14T23:25:14Z")
**dracoi’s** suggestion in post #6 worked like a charm. Thanks so much, and thanks to you all for your insights. ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-convert-word-doc-to-pdf-on-mac-without-ballooning-file-size/521222/9 "2009-12-14T23:48:39Z")
What Dracoi said with Preview-- I use it to get PPT-\>PDF down from, oh, 108 MB to 5 or so. Has improved my life.