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
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
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

52 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2018-07-12T10:56:31+00:00

    I also have exactly the same problem. I have a personal template file with a specific image in the background. For instance; I create a presentation with this template with a size of 2.8Mb by using PowerPoint for Mac ver.16.15. Then I try to export this file as PDF and its size becomes 48Mb.

    After that, I transfer the same PPTX file to a Windows computer with PowerPoint 2016 (O365) and export it again. Surprise, the size of the PDF file becomes just 815Kb on Windows.

    I have tested so far many things and scenarios to understand the main cause of this problem. I have changed fonts for instance. But nothing has changed on Mac.

    However, when I remove the background image from the template and then add it as a picture file on each slide manually, the problem disappears. But, of course, this is not an acceptable solution for me.

    From my perspective, although I really like MS Office applications and have been using them happily for more than 25 years on Windows, MS Office for Mac has become a massive disappointment for me. The number of bugs and missing features on Mac version, I have to struggle with everyday are really terrific.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2018-03-29T03:36:06+00:00

    Hi soccergirl79,

    Please try reduce the size of the PDF through the method hereand check if this method works for you or not.

    Regards,

    Jerry

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2018-03-26T17:10:19+00:00

    No, this doesn't solve it. Something is wrong with your updates, because the last few have gone back and forth with fixing this problem. Some additional context from my end: my co-workers with PCs have no problem saving the file in a normal size. It only happens on Mac computers.

    Photos are all compressed, and that still wouldn't have explained why a ppt of 2-5mb would become a .pdf of 20-30mb.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments