Exporting from InDesign

Exporting files from InDesign requires different configurations based on your desired output, as print-ready PDFs have different requirements than those for intended for digital viewing. Many students struggle with managing the file size of PDFs for digital use. This tutorial will guide you through the tools and settings in InDesign to effectively control file sizes and compression when exporting your PDFs.

Locate the export dialogue box

Navigate to the File menu → Export.

Select a logical save location and file name

It’s important to save all of your files systematically so you always know which is your most recent PDF file and where it is located on your computer.

Create a folder for PDF exports.
Give your PDF a logical name.
Consider including the export date in the PDF file name or the save folder.

Ensure you are exporting all pages

InDesign allows you to export a single page, a specific range of pages, or all pages in your document.

Tick All under the pages section.

For printing, use the High Quality Print preset

InDesign has a variety of preset options for exporting PDFs. The default High Quality Print option is good if you need to print your PDF, but will produce large file sizes:

Make sure [High Quality Print] is selected.

Navigate to the Compression settings

For digital-only PDFs you can adjust the compression settings to reduce image quality and lower file sizes:

In the left-hand menu, select Compression.

Reduce image quality

For most on-screen uses, you do not need high-quality uncompressed images. By slightly reducing image quality, you will see a negligible drop in visual clarity but a significant reduction in file size.

Navigate to Image Quality.
Change it from Maximum to Medium setting.
Apply the same changes to Colour images and Greyscale Images.

Reduce pixels-per-inch resolution

If you need to reduce your PDF file size further, you can also lower the PPI (pixels-per-inch) of your images. While 300 DPI (dots-per-inch) is ideal for printing, 100 PPI or less is usually sufficient for on-screen purposes.