Provisional 4 stars

I’ve only just installed this and so far, so good. I do a monthly 8-page newsletter with quite a few pictures in it for both print and email distribution. I am not yet sure whether I should transmit the full-size version to the printer as usual (they’ve never complained about file size) and just condense the electronic copy for distribution to 80+ email addresses. Yesterday I was sending my draft copy out for review and noticed it was taking a LOT longer to load than usual, so I checked and saw that the file size was 11.5MB i(t is usually well under 10.)

I did not even know there was such a thing as PDF file reducers, but I went into my layout application (iStudia, available right here at the App Store) HELP function and found a section on PDF file sizes. THAT’s where I first learned of “PDF Squeezer” and other filters to reduce the size of PDF files.

ONE THING I DID NOT DO - as instructed by iStudio HELP was to click on their link to install filters. It said : If your computer is running Mac OS X 10.7 Lion or later, you. may need to complete the following steps…to make the Library folder visible in Finder, after which it told me to enter a command in the Terminal folder (under Utilities) and then (regardless whether I was running Lion or an earlier OS) to unzip the filters. I say I did not, but I thought about doing it and then thought, hey, I don’t know if I should be messing around with any utilities - so I backed out and just came to App Store to find the Squeezer.

IT WAS SUPER EASY to install and is very intuitive to use. Only after condensing my 11.5MB file down to 4.3MB, when I went to attach it to an email, it was still 11.5MB so I thought I had done something wrong — but how could I - it’s easy as pie to drop your file into the one box and see it appear in a second box quite a bit smaller. So I did it again, with the same result. I had to rethink whether I really needed to go into Utilities and tinker with the Terminal commands.

THEN I tried the Sueezer process again and slapped my forehead with a rueful “DUH” when I reailzed that I had not hit the save button after the compression had completed. Well, now, I thought “Bob’s yer uncle” and saved the darned thing - I attached my 4.3MB file to an email to the draft reviewer, and off it went.

The reason for the “provisional” 4-star rating is that I have examined both PDF files - the original large one and the squeezed down one - and I must say there was no cutting off on the right side of the page as one reviewer here reported, BUT there is ONE LINE of text at the top of one of my eight pages with a little blurring in it. I am going to try to live with that but, if it happens again or if it gets worse, I will have to decide whether the loss of quality is worth reducing any but the largest files. After all, I have been transmitting unreduced versions of this newsletter for 4 years now and never noticeed the need to condense it before.

The only other comment I’d like to add concerns the review below by apachestar, who had a 50 page, photo heavy 11MB file to reduce — WHAT APPLICATION are you using to produce a 50 page photo heavy document that is only 11MB - and how, I wonder, can my little 8-page newsletter with a few pictures in it have become 11.5MB? But I presume that my issue here is more a function of the application (iStudio, which, though I can’t say I LOVE it, I am pretty happy with) that I am using for my newsletter. The only other document I produce on a regular basis is an annual 44-page membership directory which is all text and no pictures and is printed as a half size publiation (8.25”x 5.5”) anyway, which is primarily distributed as a print document with an electronic copy on our website - no email distribution - so size is not a problem there.

CricketNoel about PDF Squeezer 3, v3.5.2