Converting PPT to PDF on Mac Results in HUGE file

Anonymous
2018-03-14T22:14:05+00:00

Over the last few weeks, I've had problems creating PDFs from Powerpoint. When I try to convert a 3-5mb file to a PDF it balloons up to 20-30mb which is way to large to email. 

From reading other threads, it looks like this might be a result of embedded fonts. I just had a recent update from microsoft that totes embedded fonts as a good thing, but I think it's terrible and I would like to turn them off. 

Does anyone have any suggestions? How can I turn off embedded fonts on a mac using PPT version 16.11? 

Any help would be much appreciated. Microsoft support has been utterly useless. 

Thanks!

Microsoft 365 and Office | PowerPoint | For home | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments No comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2018-07-20T06:49:51+00:00

Hi all,

After a lot of frustration I finally figured it out.

While on Powerpoint, click on Apple and Preferences.

Click on General and change the setting Print Quality (Paper/PDF) Desired Quality to "Medium".

Hope this helps someone else, because it frustrated us for about 2 weeks.

Thanks,

Matias.

Was this answer helpful?

700+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments No comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2018-10-04T04:42:52+00:00

While on Powerpoint, click on Apple and Preferences.

Small correction (at least on macOS 10.13 High Sierra and Powerpoint 16.18) - You want to click on "Powerpoint", not "Apple/"

The setting is under 

   Powerpoint > Preferences > General > Print Quality (Paper/PDF)

Was this answer helpful?

400+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments No comments

52 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
  1. Anonymous
    2019-02-10T09:11:26+00:00

    I totally agree. I don't understand how people here can satisfy themselves with a super low-quality pdf conversion.

    I have to handover all the presentations I wish to convert into pdf to a friend with a non-Mac laptop.

    Is this is an Apple ploy to force me to use Keynote, a Microsoft trick to tempt me away from Apple, or an Adobe scam so I pay for their services?

    Painful indeed.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  2. Anonymous
    2019-02-10T00:02:07+00:00

    Is there an update to fix this silly issue?

    I have a file with 10 slides ALL TEXT and one table.

    Powerpoint file size 2MB

    PDF in Mac 17 MB

    PDF in Windows 207 KB

    After changing print quality to LOW (Powerpoint->Preferences->General), 

    PDF file size in Mac is reduced from 17MB to 7MB

    Second Powerpoint file with pics etc.:

    ================================

    Powerpoint file size 5.8MB

    PDF in Mac 80 MB

    PDF in Windows 2.5 MB

    After changing print quality to LOW (Powerpoint->Preferences->General), 

    PDF file size in Mac is reduced from 80MB to 74MB

    This is totally irrational and a total waste of time.

    We would expect someone like Microsoft to release a fix for this. It's unbearable and painful

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  3. Anonymous
    2019-02-04T07:43:13+00:00

    Thanks a lot.

    I also have been frustrated by this and could get files out to customer.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments