Files size VS Quark

[Karl_Cartwright@adobeforums.com]

I am getting reports from some of my artists that Indesign CS documents are about 2 to 3x the file size as thier Quark 4 equivalent. They have done 2 tests: importing the quark document into Indesign, as well as re-creating the document in Indesign from scratch.

Assuming all is equal, same images, placed not embedded, no special effects, etc... Is this typical?

thanks
-kaz

[Guy_Smiley@adobeforums.com]

The value of the time your artists have spent "testing" could have been
used to purchase enough extra hard-drive space to make any such
difference irrelevant. Tell them to quit tinkering and get back to
work.

[Bob_Levine]

All is not equal. ID has more features and more power. Yes, the file
sizes will be bigger.

Two things to try to shrink them up if it's that big a problem.

1. Use a file>save as
2. Export to INX format and then open that. Do not overwrite your
earlier file, since this isn't a fully supported method of shrinking
file size.

Bob

[Karl_Cartwright@adobeforums.com]

Thanks Bob,

That's what I needed to hear. I have tried the inx format and was impressed with the file size, but I wonder what's being left out. I anything being lost with this format? (So far, it looks ok to me)

Thanks again
-kaz

[Simon Warner]

I sometimes get Quark 4.11 docs from designers we work with. When I
import them into InDesign and clean them up, they are almost always a
lot smaller than the Quark originals.

Perhaps you have designers who know how to make svelte and healthy Quark
docs, while maybe I don't.

[Jay_Chevako@adobeforums.com]

Karl_Cartwright wrote:

> I have tried the inx format and was
> impressed with the file size, but I wonder what's being left out.

Image previews.
Jay

[Karl_Cartwright@adobeforums.com]

Simon,
Thanks for your input. It could be that we are not so good at building ID files :-)...I don't think there is anything that they are doing to create smaller Quark files, but I see what you are saying. Makes me wonder what it takes to make sure you have the smallest size file. What are the factors that affect file size? I know that question will bring obvious answeres, but are there any less obvious things to think about?

Number of pages
Amount of text
Special effects (Drop Shadows, etc...)
Number and size of images (If linked, how much does the original linked file size/resolution affect the ID document)

Is this stuff already covered somewhere? Seems to me that most people are not too worried about file size these days...

Thanks Jay
I would assume then, that ID strips the previews while saving and re-builds them while opening, which is why it takles so long to open this file format...

I appreciate all your input, this really helps me.

-kaz