Home Base References
How do I upload large legal documents such as Truth in Housing and Inspection Reports?
Can I scan a paper document and upload it to NorthstarMLS?
Can I convert my document created with my word processor?
How do I adjust my PDF conversion settings to get a file
size under 400K?
NorthstarMLS limits me to one PDF upload per listing.
What if I have more than one?
Can I scan a paper document
and upload it to NorthstarMLS?
Yes, however this is not the ideal method. You will need to get the file
size down to no more than 400K. This is the maximum file size for any supplement
upload to NorthstarMLS. The problem with scanning is that it takes your paper
documents and converts them into one very large graphic file. Even converting
the graphic to PDF may result in a file size many times larger than the 400K
limit. Try adjusting your scanner settings to get the graphic to under 400K
and keep it legible.
Can I convert my document
created with my word processor?
Yes, we recommend that the documents be converted from a word processor format
(such as Microsoft Word) to PDF format using Adobe
Acrobat software. (Note: You must have the full version of Adobe Acrobat,
not the free Acrobat Reader that most users have for simply viewing PDF files.)
NorthstarMLS allows up to one PDF media upload per listing up to a maximum
file size of 400K. Converting a large legal document may require you to tweak
some of your PDF conversion settings to get under the 400K limit (see below
for details). If you run into any problems using your Adobe Acrobat software,
contact Adobe
Technical Support.
How do I adjust my PDF conversion settings to get a file size under 400K?
- In your authoring application's (e.g. MS Word) Print Setup dialog box, select Acrobat Distiller as the printer, and click the "Properties" button. (The following screen shot examples are from MS Word.)
- Click on the "Adobe PDF Settings" tab, then click the "Edit Conversion Settings..." button.
- The most important setting you can make that will save the most space, is to not embed the fonts in your PDF document. When creating your word processing document, we suggest using common Windows fonts (such as Arial and Times New Roman) that users will likely already have on their system. To unembed fonts, click the "Fonts" tab. Click to uncheck the font embedding check boxes.
- We recommend that you eliminate any graphics that are not essential to your document, as they do a lot to increase the file size. However, if you have a photo, logo or other graphics that are important to maintain, we suggest adjusting the graphics settings. Click on the "Compression" tab. Select "JPEG" compression and "Low" Quality for both color and grayscale images.
- After clicking the "OK" button, choose a file name for your new settings. Whenever you need to convert a PDF document with these optimized settings, you may select your saved Job Options File in the Print Setup dialog box to apply them.
- If you run into any problems using your Adobe Acrobat software, contact Adobe Technical Support.
NorthstarMLS limits
me to one PDF upload per listing. What if I have more than one?
You may combine multiple PDFs into one single PDF file. First, create each
of your PDF files. Within Adobe Acrobat, open one of the PDF files you just
created. From the menu bar, select Document>>Insert Pages...
Select your second PDF file to insert and click the "Select" button. In the Insert Pages Dialog box, identify where you want to insert the second document and click the "OK" button.
Repeat this process for as many other PDF files you want to combine into this one. Be sure to save the PDF file when you are done. If you run into any problems using your Adobe Acrobat software, contact Adobe Technical Support.