Digital Parsimony

I just learned something new today. I’ve been using Quartz filters in OS X’s Preview for the longest time to reduce the file size of PDF presentations. My only gripe has been that the image quality is significantly reduced and visible.

The built-in “Reduce File Size” Quartz filter can take a 10.2mb presentation down to 0.6mb in a flash. I’ve always wanted an in-between; something that can take 10.2mb down to 3.0mb or so and still look nice. To do this, you use a little built-in utility called ColorSync.

ColorSync allows you to create your own Quartz filters.

1. Open ColorSync (Applications > Utilities > ColorSync Utility)
2. Hit “Filters”
3. Hit the arrow to the right of the “Reduce File Size” filter and select “Duplicate Filter”
4. Double click on the new filter “Reduce File Size copy” and rename it to something like “Reduce File Size HQ”
5. Hit the drop-down arrow next to “Reduce File Size HQ”
6. Hit the drop-down arrow next to “Image Sampling”
7. Fill in the following options:

   Scale: 80%
   Resolution: <leave blank>
   Max: 768
   Min: 128
   Quality: High

8. You’re done! Now open any PDF, and select File > Save As…
9. Select your newly-created Quartz filter under the “Quarts” drop-down menu, and save your new PDF.

Mimsy: Quality reduced file size in Mac OS X Preview.

Over time, Microsoft has increased the importance of security in their pecking order, but Microsoft Excel’s password protection is still rather lack-luster. A few days ago, a co-worker had asked me for help in recovering a password she had forgotten for an old Excel spreadsheet. Luckily, this can be done with absolutely no additional software.

This routine provides a password to unprotect your worksheet. However, it may not give you the original password that was used. Read the rest of this article »