Re: [Gimp-user] How to Open Pdf File?

[Jan Kandziora <jjj gmx de>]

Am 04.10.2016 um 06:31 schrieb Clipper:
> This is all rather new for me and I hope this is the right place to ask this
> question but it seems that opening a Pdf file should be very routine.  However
> this is not working for me, I have a 5.3 MB v 1.4 pdf file that has 1200 ppi
> resolution and unless I reduce the Resolution Import setting to 737 it gives me
> the attached warning.  Why when it does import at 737 ppi the file "Size in
> memory:" is 5.6 GB see attached Image Properties, then when saved as Pdf it is
> 220 MB, this should be less than the original 5.3 MB with lower resolution?
>
> How do I import at full 1200 ppi resolution and save the file again as a single
> layer PDF in full resolution at a reasonable file size.
>
> Many Thanks, Clipper
You are importing a PDF file. That's not an image format, but a prepress
format containing text, drawing elements, and bitmap graphics.

GIMP cannot work on the text and the drawing elements as those. As GIMP
is a bitmap editor, the PDF importer make bitmaps from *anything* in
your PDF file. This is why the file is so big opened in GIMP and stays
big when you export it as PDF. It's all one big bitmap instead of text
and drawing elements.



If you want to edit PDFs with a low amount of bitmap graphics, or care
about text/drawing content stay as it is, GIMP is not the right tool for
you. If you want to work on the bitmaps included in a PDF, you have to
rip them from the PDF first, edit in GIMP, then put back the edited
bitmap into the PDF. Adobe Acrobat can do this, but there are a lot of
other options. Google for "replace image in pdf".


Kind regards

        Jan