InDesign Document - HUGE!

[Wing1]

Hi all,
I'm working on a 290+ page document, placing hi-res photos into it. It's getting ENORMOUS in file size. Is this normal? Should I be concerned? Should I consider splitting the thing up into pieces? Or something else?

Quark never did this... :(

[PrintDriver]

Errggg. Quark comparisons...

What is your image format?
Which version of InD?
Mac or PC?

[Wing1]

Image format is .tif, I'm using InDesign CS for Mac.

(sorry for the Quark comparison... I do like InDesign better, this is just my first LARGE job in InDesign so I don't know what to expect.)

[Django]

I'm not an indesign expert in any way, but aren't there two ways to put an image into the file...embed and link, the former making the file size bigger.

And what do you mean by enourmous? how big?

[PrintDriver]

If you are using .tifs you shouldn't be encountering any problems. InD uses low-res previews just like Quark. Do you have a lot of text wrap and clipping paths?
What exactly do you call a 'large' file size?

I don't work with InD docs much over 40 pages myself and those run in the 20 to 40mb range for a file size and they are pretty image intensive, but maybe not as intense as a catalog.

Maybe someone else in the 4-color arena will chime in. It's still a holiday weekend so they may be slow tonight.

[PrintDriver]

You have to literally tell InD to embed. You can't do it by mistake like in Illustrator.

Don't worry about the Quark comparison. I use both. I just don't like it much when a GD discovers something InD does differently and states, 'it isn't like Quark'...
:D

[Wing1]

The doc is currently around 175mb in size. There are 2-3 pics (300dpi originals) on each page, and there is quite a bit of text wrap.

The job is a coffee table book, 290 pages...

[Django]

Wing, just to fulfill my own curiosity, I placed an average 300dpi / 3MB tiff into a 1 page INDD doc and saved it, image linked. The file size turned out to be 560K. Image embedded it was around 2.89MB.

Then I made a 20 page doc thinking the file size would multiply by 20, but it stayed the same, even with extra images.

Maybe it is the text wrap.

I'm just guessing, I'm new to indesign and really getting into it!

-Django

[PrintDriver]

The math works out Wing (Average 30mb for 40 pages = about 210mb for 290 pages). At least in my experience and the files I work with contain clipping paths, text wrap to path and transparency effects.

But let others have a go. Maybe someone else here uses InD for book size projects but I don't think 175mb is out of the question. Do you have a printer lined up for this project? Might want to give them a jingle if you haven't already (you should have to get their print specs...)

[Wing1]

Thanks, you're probably right. It just seems so large! I might have to split it just to make it move a little quicker.

I've spoken with the printer and I just need to supply hi-res pdfs for him, so it won't be a problem trying to send the file and its support bits, thankfully.

If anyone else has some input, i'd be happy to hear it :)