tips to shrink a PDF's file size and help it display faster.

[mitzs]

Some projects are quite involved, and the finished document reflects that complexity. There may be all sorts of non-optimized content, such as images with overly high resolutions, multimedia renditions added and deleted, pages inserted and removed, and so on.

For removing regular types of extra content, such as comments and hidden text, run the Examine Document process. For making a document the most efficient without sacrificing its quality, turn to the PDF Optimizer in Acrobat 8 Professional.



http://www.creativepro.com/article/slim-down-your-pdfs

[Lukas Engqvist]

I use the optimser all the time, but it is an analysis tool that is a little tricky to understand. For exmple if you get images means anything that is bitmap, irrespective if it is an actual image or text/graphics that has been rasterised as a result of flattening (text under an image that has transparent areas is still a common problem).
Flattening can only go one way. So by all means use it to get to know how a PDF is built but you may find you will get smaller files by retracing your steps to the source.