How can i reduce the file size of my images in Pages on my iPad?

Question

Our school teacher is using an iPad to take photo's of their artwork, etc and then using Pages (on the same iPad) .. creating a quick 'page' or two (inserting their artwork) and then emailing the page to the parents (as a pdf).

Unfortunately, the pdf is massive. Too big for most of us.

I'm guessing this is because the PDF is using the original size of the images.

When I send images as attachments in an email on my iPhone I get asked which size I would like - eg original, or small, etc. etc.

Q1. Is there a way we can get Pages to use a smaller image size? Q2. When I sent an email to myself from that iPad and attached a single image, I was not asked to resize it :( Is there a way to do that, also?

Otherwise - what options do we have?

We do not what to leave the iPad to send these images. (ie. sync somehow and then use a desktop to do all of this).

Please help!

Answer 1

Best is to reduce the photos before they are added to Pages.

For printing they do not have to be more than 300 dpi.

For viewing on the screen about 75 - 100 dpi.

Pages doesn't do the job as you found out.

You can do it in Preview > tools > Adjust size (on a Mac)

If do not ant to leave the iPad then you can use one of the many external apps to do it.

Simple Resize (Free)

or Image Resizer+ ($0.99)

Additional Info:

_{The Resolution has the biggest impact on the file size, not so the size of the image.}

Answer 2

There is not a lot you can do once the document is already with you, other than resampling the entire PDF into a lower quality document to lower the size. This is possible, but I am unsure from your question what device you are receiving the emails on (you make it clear how they are sent), so I don;t know whether to point you at an iOS, Windows or OS X tool to do this.

However, I think that a workflow solution for your teacher is more appropriate, rather than trying to fix it after they have already sent you a large file with full resolution pictures included. As such requesting them to send a reduced resolution picture in the document in the first place seems the easiest way.

This can be done easily enough on iOS, but not within the standard photo viewer app which can only crop or alter aspect ratios etc, so you will need to get a 3rd party app to do it for you. There are many to choose from on iOS, I personally use one called ResizeHandler (I should note that this is an iPhone app, not universal for iPad also, but it works just the same in 2x mode). Although it's not one of the free ones I find it is one of the simplest, allowing you to reduce a photo to specific preset dimensions with a single click (custom with a few more clicks)

Answer 3

In Pages '09 v4 you can just right click on an images in Pages and select Reduce Image File Size. Seems to work.

Answer 4

Take the photo from a little further away then crop it.