Transferring files from Mac to PC

[Sarah Raleigh]

I have often send files (PDFs or JPEGs) from my Mac (OSX 10.2.6, using Entourage email program) to PC users - and according to the person on the other end, they come out larger than they are supposed to. Why is this??? I've tried using encoding for "all computers" and for "Windows", and neither one seems to work. What's the deal?

[Paddy]

Hi Sarah,

Well, I think this is your answer:

"213) I sent myself a photo in .gif format. It left at 172K in size and arrived back at 226K. How do you account for that? Keyword: size of attachments                                        

The size display in Entourage is the total size of the source of the message. This means that any encoding is included, together with headers, body text etc. That would account for your 172k image blowing up to 226 without any problem.                                      

The next problem arises with Entourage's rounding. It switches from kb to mb at 512kb. It then rounds everything to the nearest mb, so a 600k message will show as a 1mb message, as would a 1500kb message.                                      

As a final thought, when sending images its always worth stripping out the preview, custom icons and other resource info. This can often amount to 150-200kb on it's own. GraphicConverter has a 'save web ready' option for this, and also a 'strip resource fork' conversion mode for trimming down individual files or batches of files.

From: http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq/faqs.html#Anchor-213

I've noticed that too...

The entire Entourage help page ( http://www.entourage.mvps.org/toc.html ) is worth bookmarking - lots of useful bits of information!

[Sarah Raleigh]

The problem is the actual dimensions of the page size increase... I recently sent an ad that was 9.5 wide, and when it got there it was over 10.5 inches wide. It could, however, be something to do with the operator on the other end, I know for a fact he's not very computer literate.

Thanks for your help....
Sarah

[Paddy]

Oh.

Never heard of actual dimensions changing...that IS weird. Any image/page size/resolution defaults that he might have that would be interfering with all of this? Is this on screen, or when he prints or both? I can't imagine why this would happen in Acrobat unless it's just when he prints - in which case he may unknowingly have a default setting that is enlarging every page. In Photoshop, I could see him somehow messing up the resolution, which could affect the image size, depending on what he does.

What happens if he sends them back to you? (both before and after he opens and saves them - because if they're fine if he doesn't do anything more than save 'em to his desktop, then we know it's something HE is doing when he opens them)

[tacit]

QUOTE(Sarah Raleigh @ Jun 6 2003, 7:08 PM)

The problem is the actual dimensions of the page size increase... I recently sent an ad that was 9.5 wide, and when it got there it was over 10.5 inches wide.

 For starters, never send a JPEG as an ad. It's an inappropriate format to send ads.

Here's what happened:

You created a JPEG at some resolution. You sent it to someone who looked at it in a program like a Web browser or an email program.

Web browsers and email programs do not pay any attention at all to a JPEG's resolution. All JPEGs are considered to be the same resolution as the monitor. On printout, all JPEGs are considered to be 72 pixels per inch.

Say I send you a JPEG that is 3 inches at 300 pixels per inch. You open it in your Web browser and print it. When you open it in your Web browser, it fills most of your screen, because it is 900 pixels wide. When you print it out, it prints 12.5 inches wide, not 3 inches wide, because the browser thinks it is 72 pixels per inch, not 300 pixels per inch.