Apago Releases Update to PDFshrink PDF Compression Tools for Mac OS X
— New version 2.0 optimizes both text and graphics to reduce PDF file
sizes up to 90%
— Free upgrade available for registered users of PDFshrink 1.0
PDF Conference West, Las Vegas; November 22, 2002 — Apago, Inc., a leading
developer of workflow efficiency software, has released version 2.0 of its
popular PDFshrink(TM) and PDFshrink Lite(TM) software tools for users of
MacOS X. By operating on text and other elements as well as images, the new
versions of PDFshrink can reduce most types of PDF files from 5% to 90% of
their original size.
“PDF files are used in many different ways, but once a PDF file is created
there is no way to optimize or repurpose it without using an Acrobat
plug-in such as Apago imageAlter(TM) or converting the PDF to PostScript
and redistilling it with a different job options setting,” explains Dwight
Kelly, president, Apago, Inc.
PDFshrink tools allow MacOS X users to optimize PDF file size and quality
for each type of use. The software works with PDF files generated by MacOS
X’s “Save as PDF” function and by popular applications such as Microsoft
Office and Adobe(R) Acrobat(TM), Adobe InDesign(TM) and Adobe
Illustrator(TM).
In addition to optimizing image resolution and compression, version 2.0 of
PDFshrink and PDFshrink Lite reduce the size of PDF files by removing
duplicate images and other elements such as metadata, page thumbnails, and
Photoshop and Illustrator edit information.
The smaller-size PDF files optimized by PDFshrink tools can be stored,
transmitted and downloaded more quickly, making them more efficient for use
on the web, archiving, e-mail, and reading on-screen.
Full-featured PDFshrink
PDFshrink provides extensive control over image compression and resolution.
It supports JPEG, Flate, CCITT G3 & G4 and Packbits compression methods and
optimizes the resolution of each image in the PDF file. PDFshrink preserves
annotations, form fields, Javascripts and digital signatures that can be
lost by other repurposing techniques.
An enhanced interface in version 2.0 gives users more control in setting
different compression and resolution choices for color, grayscale and 1-bit
images. The software ships with four common configurations and users can
create unlimited custom configurations. PDFshrink takes full advantage of
Mac OS X multithreading for fast batch processing. Users can automate the
process with constantly monitored Hot Folders or manually load multiple
files into a processing queue.
Economical PDFshrink Lite
PDFshrink Lite is an economical version with a drag-and-drop interface that
makes it easy to automatically optimize PDF files for use on the web, as
e-mail attachments, and for onscreen reading. Color and grayscale images
are reduced to 72 dpi and compressed with JPEG. The user may select the
JPEG quality. Monochrome images are reduced to 200 dpi and compressed using
CCITT G4 compression. Version 2.0 of PDFshrink Lite also features an
improved image scaling filter and an enhanced user interface.
“Most Mac OS X users will find PDFshrink Lite perfectly acceptable for
reducing the size of their PDF files,” says Kelly. “The full-featured
PDFshrink version is intended for PDF power users who need the flexibility
of customized settings and the added workflow efficiency of hot-folder
automation.”
Platforms, Availability and Pricing
PDFshrink and PDFshrink Lite are compatible with PDF 1.4 and support PDF
created by virtually any application. Fully compatible with Mac OS 10.1 and
10.2, both are multi-threaded for maximum performance on single and dual
processor Apple Macintosh G3 or G4 computers with at least 128MB RAM.
PDFshrink Lite is priced at $35, while the full-featured PDFshrink retails
for $125. Registered users of PDFshrink tools can upgrade to version 2.0
for free. The software can be purchased from Apago’s on-line store. A fully
functional 10-day trial version can be downloaded from
http://www.apago.com/pdfshrink
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About Apago
Founded in 1991, Apago is a privately held corporation that develops and
markets software primarily for the graphic arts, prepress and printing
industries. The company has licensed its PostScript, PDF and raster imaging
technologies to industry leading companies including DuPont (NYSE: DD),
Creo (NASDAQ: CREO; TSE: CRE), Fujifilm USA and Dainippon Screen, among
many others, and counts AOL Time Warner, R.R. Donnelly, Vertis, Brown
Printing, R.E. May, CMP Media, Ogilvy & Mather, and Saatchi & Saatchi
Rowland, among its many retail customers. Apago supports ANSI and ISO
standards including TIFF/IT and PDF/X. The company is headquartered in
Alpharetta, Georgia, USA, just north of Atlanta. More information about
Apago is available at www.apago.com.
