Making a PDF smaller

Do you have distiller?

 

It all depends on what programme you are using to create a pdf.
I know Signlab, Corel and Adobe allow you to change the size of the pdf.

SC

 

Document > Reduce File Size (in Acrobat)
Or change your settings in Illustrator. Possibly the number of vector points is too complex to reduce any further & that's the minimum you get from that original document. Rasterizing the files (save for web) and placing those into another "proof" document may reduce file size some more, but small file size & nice proof do not go hand-in-hand sometimes.

Also Yousendit.com has a free large file email process that we use frequently when the images are too big to be emailed.

 

If you use something like drop box. You can restrict the access to your files. You can make them where they are viewable only. That way they can't be downloaded or shared. That is what we recently started doing and it works great. Also, don't have to worry about file sizes as much then.

 

I do multiple pages in Illustrator, then print out to file in .ps format then go to distiller where you have various options on file size.... I have a few 80 page documents only hitting 8-10 mgs on the smallest file size.

If you have all the pages together in .pdf, you can do what jfiscus mentions and make the file smaller in Acrobat Pro