PDF Size Limit Question

[LeicaMan123 0]

Can someone please clarify the limit of the size of a pdf file attached to a note?

I believe that the size of a note is 100MB and so that implies that a pdf file cannot exceed 100MB in size. So does that mean that one cannot attach two pdf files of say 60MB each?

Also I read somewhere that any pdf file cannot have more the 100 pages regardless of the size. Is this true? That is a shame if true. I have seen many pdf files which have more than 100 pages get are tiny like 2-3MB in size.

A complete clarification would be very helpful!

Thanks.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Can someone please clarify the limit of the size of a pdf file attached to a note?

I believe that the size of a note is 100MB and so that implies that a pdf file cannot exceed 100MB in size. So does that mean that one cannot attach two pdf files of say 60MB each?

Also I read somewhere that any pdf file cannot have more the 100 pages regardless of the size. Is this true? That is a shame if true. I have seen many pdf files which have more than 100 pages get are tiny like 2-3MB in size.

A complete clarification would be very helpful!

Thanks.

 

Hi. Here are some limits for your account.

http://www.christopher-mayo.com/?p=169

 

Specifically, regarding your question, there is this: 

• PDF OCR (Optical Character Recognition): You must be a Premium subscriber, the raw PDF must be 50 megabytes or less, the scan must contain no more than 100 pages, the raw PDF cannot already contain “searchable” text that you can select and copy, the PDF can’t be encrypted or protected with a passphrase, and the PDF cannot be a handwritten document. If you want to get more technical, text must have an approximately 0, 90, or 270 degree orientation.

 

(1) 100 MB is the total amount of everything in the note, so two 60MB files cannot be attached.

(2) No. You can have PDFs as large as you would like. OCR by Evernote, though, will not occur on files larger than 100 pages. 

[LeicaMan123 0]

Thank you so much for this very informative reply.

 

Can I please ask some more questions:-

 

1) What if a PDF file is mixed up of both text based and scanned pages? For example I often merge a text based PDF (no need for OCR) along with a PDF of scanned pages, yielding a mixed PDF file. Would I then be able to search it? Would it apply OCR to the non text pages?

 

2) Are you sure that handwritten scans in a PDF will not be OCRed? That is a pity if true. So how can OCR be done on handwriting? Only .jpg? So if I scan, say 5 pages of handwritten text and save those 5 pages as a .pdf file then it won't OCR them, but if I save them as .jpg it will?

 

Thanks!

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Thank you so much for this very informative reply.

 

Can I please ask some more questions:-

 

1) What if a PDF file is mixed up of both text based and scanned pages? For example I often merge a text based PDF (no need for OCR) along with a PDF of scanned pages, yielding a mixed PDF file. Would I then be able to search it? Would it apply OCR to the non text pages?

 

2) Are you sure that handwritten scans in a PDF will not be OCRed? That is a pity if true. So how can OCR be done on handwriting? Only .jpg? So if I scan, say 5 pages of handwritten text and save those 5 pages as a .pdf file then it won't OCR them, but if I save them as .jpg it will?

 

Thanks!

Hi. Glad I could help.

(1) I doubt it will OCR them, because it detects text that has already been generated. You could write support and ask, though, for a definitive answer.

(2) It will try and OCR them, but won't be using the handwriting recognition software, so the result will most likely end up as gibberish. Again, for a definitive answer, I'd ask support.

[LeicaMan123 0]

Thanks again for your help.

 

1) I will be making a mixed .pdf file and see what happens for myself and see if it is able to search the non text parts.

 

2) Very interesting. I did not know that there are different algorithms for recognising handwriting and typed text. Again I will try making a pdf from some images already uploaded on Evernote and see if it works...

 

By the way, you have a great blog! Very helpful.

[LeicaMan123 0]

I just uploaded a single page of badly written handwriting as a .pdf file. And OCR works   It took a good 5-10 mins then magically I could search the text.

 

However it is just a single page as I don't have access to Acrobat here, so I will do a thorough test later...

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Great to hear! And, thanks for the kind words about my blog. Perhaps I now have something for a new post

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

Can someone please clarify the limit of the size of a pdf file attached to a note?

I believe that the size of a note is 100MB and so that implies that a pdf file cannot exceed 100MB in size. So does that mean that one cannot attach two pdf files of say 60MB each?

Also I read somewhere that any pdf file cannot have more the 100 pages regardless of the size. Is this true? That is a shame if true. I have seen many pdf files which have more than 100 pages get are tiny like 2-3MB in size.

A complete clarification would be very helpful!

Thanks.

 

I highly recommend that you try compressing your PDF files before attaching to Evernote.

I just created a PDF of web page that was mostly images.  The PDF size was 170MB.  

I used Adobe Acrobat X Pro, using the File > Save As > Reduced File Size option and it reduced the file to only 6MB !!!!

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Personally, I avoid compressing PDFs, because it tends to ruin the images and sometimes (depending on the type of file), blur the text. Instead, I "textify" the PDF (extract the text), put that in Evernote, and save the full PDF elsewhere (preferably somewhere accessible, like SpiderOak). I'm not particularly keen on disfiguring a file to squeeze it into Evernote, and I do hope that Evernote will raise the note size limits someday to accomodate larger file sizes.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

Personally, I avoid compressing PDFs, because it tends to ruin the images and sometimes (depending on the type of file), blur the text. Instead, I "textify" the PDF (extract the text), put that in Evernote, and save the full PDF elsewhere (preferably somewhere accessible, like SpiderOak). I'm not particularly keen on disfiguring a file to squeeze it into Evernote, and I do hope that Evernote will raise the note size limits someday to accomodate larger file sizes.

 

I have NOT observed compressing  to "ruin the images and sometimes (depending on the type of file), blur the text."  In the example I cited, I reviewed the "reduced size" PDF with the original, and I did NOT see a significant difference.  If you are a photo/image purist, then you might find some faults.

 

I would always recommend comparing the "reduced size" (compressed) PDF with the original to ensure that it is acceptable to you.  But it definitely worth trying.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

 

Personally, I avoid compressing PDFs, because it tends to ruin the images and sometimes (depending on the type of file), blur the text. Instead, I "textify" the PDF (extract the text), put that in Evernote, and save the full PDF elsewhere (preferably somewhere accessible, like SpiderOak). I'm not particularly keen on disfiguring a file to squeeze it into Evernote, and I do hope that Evernote will raise the note size limits someday to accomodate larger file sizes.

 

I have NOT observed compressing  to "ruin the images and sometimes (depending on the type of file), blur the text."  In the example I cited, I reviewed the "reduced size" PDF with the original, and I did NOT see a significant difference.  If you are a photo/image purist, then you might find some faults.

 

I would always recommend comparing the "reduced size" (compressed) PDF with the original to ensure that it is acceptable to you.  But it definitely worth trying.

 

 

But JM, didn't you also say that Adobe Acrobat Pro X looks fine on your MBPr? I think we need to get your eyes checked

 

Sure, I don't doubt that compressing things (which, almost by definition involves the loss of fidelity) will work for some materials better than others. Speaking from my experience, though, it is best avoided. It doesn't hurt to try, of course.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

Sure, I don't doubt that compressing things (which, almost by definition involves the loss of fidelity) will work for some materials better than others. Speaking from my experience, though, it is best avoided. It doesn't hurt to try, of course.

 

 

You need to check your facts GM.  Loss of fidelity depends on the method of compression, and whether it matters or not on the end users device/eyes/ears. 

 

My point is that it costs little to apply the compression, and then each person can judge whether it matters or not.

There is MUCH to be gained. 

 

I guess my main point is for most Evernote Users, don't just blindly attach a large PDF to Evernote without testing and evaluating compression using tools like Acrobat X Pro.  It should also be noted that there are several levels of compression/fidelity available.

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

Just to add my experience here: I have noticed wildly varying results in PDF compression. In many cases I have noticed poor results from extreme compression, but as has already been pointed out, this depends a great deal on numerous factors. Compression method, content, whether the text is text or an image of text, whether the text was regular text recognition or ClearText, the type of compression, and the extent of that compression all make a difference. 

 

In general, I have found compressing PDFs comprised entirely of ClearText text has produced good results, though often ClearText PDFs require almost no additional compression, they're already fairly small. 

 

Some very large PDFs, I simply cannot get down to a reasonable size using any compression method, there's just too much cruft that Acrobat can't get rid of. Relying on heavy compression in this case just makes the PDF unreadable. 

 

So my method is largely one of using Cleartext first, and if that doesn't get the size down enough I'll attempt additional compression (saving duplicates for comparison and safety). 

 

If you have image heavy PDFs, then compression of almost any kind can REALLY takes its toll, as normally it is images that increase file size, so they're the ones to get down-sampled and more heavily compressed.