Hi

We have some products with very high-res PDF files.

This seems to result in significant delays with regard to:
-Load of the preview thumbnail (on User Data Input page)
-Generating the softproof (the loader bar takes a looong time!)

Even though only a preview (thumbnail or softproof) is being rendered to the browser, the processing takes awhile because the master file is very large (in our case, 35-50mb filesizes)

Is there any way to make the user experience quicker in these situations?

Can we use a lower-filesize PDF as the master file for the preview thumbnails and softproof? And when the final job is submitted, it will use the original higher-res master, like usual?

THanks!

RandomPHPDev,

Unfortunately, it is not possible to use a different file for the preview. And yes, a 35-50 mb pdf file will most definitely take time to process. It isn't recommended to use files that are that large.

The best thing you can do is try to regenerate the image into a smaller-sized one. Save it to a .ps file, and if you have Distiller, try to regenerate it using a lower version of pdf. You can also adjust the resolution. The lower, the faster, but of course, you might lose quality in the process if you make it too low.

It's worth trying. I've seen some pretty large pdf files becoming about five times smaller by doing this, and without losing quality. Depending on the tools you use to build the pdf in the first place, the pdf can sometimes contain more stuff than it needs to(libraries, codes, etc...). Regenerating it may elimitates these, and makes the file smaller.

Regards,
Raphaël Lalonde Lefebvre