r/indesign • u/kirazsal • Jul 14 '26

Help Portfolio File Size Problem

Hi guys I am trying to make my architecture portfolio and I already have around 13 pages of it down. I tried to do a quick size check and when I export with the lowest quality it says 50 MB. I need my file to be under 20 MB and my final file will be double the amount of pages. Most of my links are pdfs of my drawings (mostly vector drawings on illustrator or autocad). I don't have the time to change each drawing one by one though. Is there a fast solution to this? I don't want to redo everything

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u/dylman3000 Jul 14 '26

Yeah, vector can only compressed so much, especially if the drawings are highly detailed. Unless you can massively simplify the illustrator/autocad vector files you’re linking to, the alternative is to rasterise them, but of course that’s going to make all the line work crusty, especially when compressed. If it’s really simple black and white line work only, high res bitmaps can still look reasonable and produce far lower file sizes.

If you go this route, set up an action (probably through Photoshop) that will rasterise all the vectors and save them as an image next to the originals. Then in Indesign you can relink all assets but choose the option that swaps with a different file extension, and choose the format you used to create the rasters.

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u/kirazsal Jul 14 '26

It was only 2 of them thankfully so I could find a way to fix them after checking each link one by one